Page 91 of Broken Hearts

I laugh, straightening as I walk over and throw my arm around Alana’s shoulders, pulling her in for a side hug. “Whatever,” I say, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. I might have been pissed at how pushy Alana was back then, insisting she and I be friends even though I did everything I could to push her away, but I am glad she kept trying. “I’m kinda glad you’re a pain in my ass, you know,” I tell her.

Alana looks up at me, a confused expression on her face. “What are you talking about?”

Chuckling, I squeeze her shoulder as I say, “I’m glad you kept trying with me. That you kept pushing the friend thing.”

She smirks now, elbowing my side as she says, “Are you saying you’re glad we became friends?”

“I am,” I say with a nod.

“And that I was right and you were wrong,” she adds.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” I say with a laugh. “But yeah, I am glad you never gave up on me, Alana. It meant a lot…still means a lot.”

She’s looking up at me with a small smile on her face, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “I think being in love has turned you into a softie, Nathan Peterson.”

I huff out a laugh. “Maybe,” I tell her. “But to answer your question, I didn’t go with Sage because I wanted to give her a chance to say goodbye to her life there. Without me hanging around.”

“Without you hanging around?” Alana repeats. “What, you think she wouldn’t want to show you New York, introduce you to her friends?”

“I mean, yeah, but I don’t know,” I say, even though I do know.

Alana turns to face me now, her brow narrowed. “You’re not worried about her changing her mind, are you? Because she loves you, she’s?—”

“I’m not worried,” I say, even though a tiny part of me is.

“So what, why didn’t you go?”

I blow out a breath, shoving a hand through my hair as I try to find the words to explain it. “Because I wanted to be okay with watching her leave, with being without her even though I know she’s coming back. I don’t know, it’s stupid, but?—”

“It’s not stupid,” Alana says, cutting me off. “And I get it,” she adds, even though I’m not sure she fully does.

I raise a brow at her as I say, “You get it, huh?”

Alana smiles, putting her hand against my chest as she says, “Yeah, Nate, I do. You’re used to people leaving and never coming back. And no matter how much Sage loves you, deep down there’s a part of you that worries she’s going to be one of them. You’re protecting yourself but also trying to believe she’s coming back. Which she is, by the way.”

I smile now, slinging my arm back around her shoulder as I say, “When did you get so smart?”

Alana wraps her arm around my waist. “I’ve always been smart, Nate, you’re just too stubborn to notice.”

The week passes quicker than I expect it to. Sage and I try to talk every day, but the huge time difference between Maui and New York makes it difficult. Every day she texts me updates, though, letting me know what she’s been up to, how she’s withdrawn from school, or packed up her apartment, or shipped a bunch of her stuff.

I spend my time doing stuff in the shop, including looking into some new products, like the T-shirts I was sketching designs for. With Mitch leaving half the store to me and Sage happy to just be a silent partner, she’s pretty much told me to just go for it, do whatever I want because she trusts me.

I still don’t think she understands how much those words mean to me.

When the day she flies back finally arrives, I’m at the airport, waiting in arrivals a full thirty minutes early, my eyes on the board, waiting for her plane to land.

When everyone starts coming through the doors, I’m scanning the crowd, looking everywhere for her, my heart pounding in my chest.

“Nate!”

I turn at the sound of my name, just in time for Sage to jump into my arms, hers looping around my neck as she crushes her lips against mine. “Fuck,” I murmur, stumbling a little as my hands move to her ass, holding her to me as I deepen the kiss, not giving a shit that we are standing in the airport surrounded by tourists.

“Hi,” she says when she eventually pulls back.

“Hi,” I reply, brushing my lips against hers.

“Told you I’d come back,” she says, her eyes sparkling.

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