Page 83 of The Moment Promised

How will we do that with Jason covering her eyes?

I won’t text her or call her. I don’t know if Jason will hear, what he will do to her the second she hangs up the phone. The situation is too fragile to mess with blindly. I need to access my mother’s state of mind before moving forward. I pocket my phone and take a deep breath. I inhale Authensville’s woodsy air. I pull in the memories I’ve made, the people I’ve come to love. When I exhale, I close my eyes, my mind painting pictures for me. Finn’s husky laughter from my unfunny jokes, the warmth of his arms holding me while we sleep, the way he makes me feel like the most special thing in any room.

The uncertainty of what happens now becomes so real. Will everything Finn and I built come crashing down? Did I have enough time to make him want me after of this trip?

Jason has a miraculous talent for sucking dry my happiness.

I hate him.

I hate him.

I fuckinghatehim.

I still had a week left with Finn.

A week to make love with him and pretend he loved me too.

A week with my new best friend, Chloe. With Charlie who mends together all the wounds Jason left me with.

Jason has ruined everything for me. Again.

“We do this together, Adeline. I won’t make you do anything alone, ever. You hear me?”

“I know.” I lace my fingers into his, squeezing as I rest my head on his shoulder.

I smile at the city surrounding us. The last bit of sun that’s about to dip below the mountain I hiked with Finn when we first got here. Little did I know I was going to fall in love with this town, meet my soul sister, and a guy who can heal any internal wound with just a smile. A part of me will always belong here. The hollow piece in my heart already aches as the sun finishes its descent, leaving the sky purple, then blue, and eventually black.

“Are you ready?” Finn finally breaks the silence with the one sentence I’ve dreaded since we got on this roof…since we got to this town.

“No,” I admit.

“Neither am I.” His gaze meets mine. “Let’s be unready together, yeah?” His big hand engulfs mine. The simple gesture touches my heart in ways no one else can.

“Yeah.” I find myself smiling, hardly surprised by Finn’s ability to make me smile despite the current circumstance of mylife. He hasn’t changed one bit from that little boy holding a baby gecko.

“Did you pack your chargers? Maybe we should go buy you one just in case,” Chloe says franticly, pulling out drawers and checking under the guest bed.

“I triple checked everything, Chloe.” Finn’s voice comes from behind me. His presence felt in every cell of my body.

Chloe hardly acknowledges him. She circles to the other nightstand and pulls it away from the wall, checking behind it. She moves around the bedroom, causing chaos in her wake. “We have a lot of cardboard boxes piled up, why don’t we have a campfire?” Chloe finally faces us. There’s a single stress line between her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

“We should really hit the road, Chloe.” Finn’s voice is gentle.

“It’ll be really fast. Promise.” She musters a persuasive smile, but her voice cracked over the last word.

“Chloe,” I say, outstretching my arms.

Her eyes quickly turn to glass, a storm of sadness brewing within them. She pulls her shoulders back and shifts her features, but she doesn’t fool anyone.

She wants us to stay, and based on a conversation we had weeks ago, she thinks it’s selfish to feel that way. Which is ridiculous.

She takes three small strides and welcomes my embrace. Her body shakes and I feel the waterworks begin within my own body.

“I’m really going to miss you, Addy.” Chloe’s voice is higher pitched than usual.

“Likewise.” I sniffle. “I can’t believe how fast this ended.”

“Promise you’ll call?” The way her voice dips, I can tell she is afraid I won’t. That this is it, I’ll abandon our relationship just as her mother did.

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