Page 17 of When We Were Young

I reach for his hand. Can we start again? Can I forgive him? My body’s telling me yes, but what about my head? What about all this time? He broke me before.

I try to calm myself, ignore the heat flooding me, because he’s still right next to me.

And we can do this, can’t we?

I stare at his face, inches from mine. Those lips—will they still taste how I remember?

My chest tightens, and I want this. I want him. I never stopped wanting him.

I nod. “Yes.” My word is barely a whisper, but, the moment I’ve said it, he relaxes, and then I’m leaning in toward him.

His lips are soft against mine, barely brushing my mouth at first. His arms go around me, circling me protectively in the way he knows I like.

I breathe him in as we kiss.

CHAPTER TEN

Oscar

Istand up. “I needto show you something. Wait here.”

I don’t wait to see her reaction—because if she refuses and leaves, well, I won’t be able to cope with it. So, I run. I run up the stairs, and my breaths come in short, sharp bursts.

The album.

I’ve got to show her the album.

I put it together exactly six months after we broke up. After I broke her heart.

I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Jared thought that if I put everything that reminded of her together in one place—and then burnt it—I’d get closure and be able to move on and not mind sleeping with a bunch of different girls each week.

Huh. It was a dumb idea, but, painstakingly, I went through all my things, finding every little thing that linked to her, that I hadn’t been able to throw away, and I put it into a cheap photo album. I bought it for the purpose, to hold all of her—told myself it would make it easier to burn all my memories in one go. I didn’t think I’d ever want to look at a photo album again, not after losing the one Grandmother gave me. But creating an album of Emma calmed me.

And it made me realize how much she meant to me.

I never burnt it. I couldn’t. I just told Jared I had.

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