Page 74 of Adrift

“May I have your hand, then?” I remind him with a grin.

“Oh. Oh, yes.” Kieran blushes, unwinding his left arm from around my neck to shyly present me with his left hand like he can’t quite believe what’s happening.

As I slide the ring onto his finger, the whoops and hollers start up again—and then I pull him to his feet to kiss him as deeply as he deserves.

Or as close to it as I can get in public, anyway.

When we finally pull apart, staggering and laughing, Berty grins into the microphone. “All right, folks! Now, speaking of manual labour, I think I’ll just let the happy couple do it, huh?”

I laugh as Berty takes the apple tree out of the bucket, pretending to buckle under the weight of it, and plops it into the hole.

He holds it upright and gestures with a flourish toward the pair of shovels.

“I guess it’s our turn,” I grin at Kieran, leaning over to grab a shovel and hand him the other.

He works right alongside me to shovel in as much soil as we can, and then he gets onto his knees right alongside me to pack the mud in tightly.

“There,” Kieran says quietly, covered in mud as he looks at me across the tender little tree. His face shines bright with so much hope and joy. “This is gonna be happy to stay right here forever.”

I beam back at him, barely even registering the phones all around us as I lean in for one more kiss. Then I pull back enough to rest my forehead against his. “Yeah,” I murmur back. “I’m gonna make sure of it.”

Chapter

Twenty-Six

KIERAN

I can’t believetoday is ending so much better than it started. In fact, I’d be hard-pressed to remember when I started my morning any worse… or when I finished the day any better.

There’s nowhere I’d rather be than right here, wrapped up in Gage’s arms. My first Canadian beach bonfire is finally dwindling to embers. The mainlanders have left, and most of our neighbours, and we’re down to the last few of us.

The conversation has finally died down alongside the embers, and everyone’s starting to yawn and rub their eyes.

It’s just us Sunrise Island Brothers left. And Gage and I are in that group now—it’s WhatsApp-official.

I can’t stop running my fingertips over the simple, hand-carved wooden ring. I’ve never been so touched as when I learned that he’s spent the last week making it.

The first thing Gage did was promise me that I’ll have a real ring for the wedding. I don’t think he expected me to tell him that I’m going to damn well wear this one right alongside it, then.

I knew I was right to trust my heart… and to trust him with it.

Gage presses his lips against the top of my hair again as I snuggle up to him, my spine against his front. His arm is casually slung around my waist, keeping me in place on his lap.

The world goes a little bit blurry again, and I clear my throat.

“Smoke?” Gage murmurs, looking over my shoulder at the bonfire.

“Yeah,” I snort. My voice is a little bit raw from the last few hours of bonfire smoke drifting my way whenever the breeze changes. But this time, that’s not it. “Among other things.”

This is home.I found what I was always looking for.

Gage rests his cheek against my temple, leaning down over me to tuck me even more tightly up against his chest.

“I guess we should head out now,” Felix finally says, standing up and smiling over at Carter. “We’ve all gotta be up in the morning.” Then he winks at me.

Alph grumbles at his little brother. “Not all of us have to—ow! I mean… yeah. We should,” he changes his tune in a hurry as Ronan innocently bats his lashes.

I giggle as we all stand up and stretch and trade our parting thoughts over hugs, back slaps, and arm squeezes. And I even beckon Murph over when he tries to slip away, making sure that he can’t get away without a hug.

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