Page 60 of Someday Not Soon

Every mile brings us closer to the shore and further from our worries, as if the ocean itself is pulling us toward freedom. Everything else fades away—the fears, the uncertainties, the weight of decisions yet to be made. All that remains is the way her dark hair whips around her face, her smile as wide as the horizon. She glances over at me, and the pure joy in her eyes is infectious, making my chest tighten with a happiness that feels almost too big to contain.

Sometimes, the future isn’t some distant, far-off thing. Sometimes it’s right here, unfolding before your eyes, waiting for you to recognize it. Seeing her here, radiating happiness in the passenger seat of my car, I know without a doubt—this is what my future looks like. It’s her.

We arrive at the beach and quickly set up, placing our blanket in the sun-baked sand right beside the rock jetty. The waves crash rhythmically against the shore, and a group of tiny plovers scurries along the edge of the water, their little legs a blur of motion.

As we settle in, a memory pops into my mind. “Hey, do you remember how we used to play the ‘Did You Know’ game?”

Her face lights up. “Of course I do. That’s how I found out that narwhals are in fact very real and not some imaginary, mythical creature.”

“I still remember the look on your face. You thought I was full of it.”

“I did,” she admits. “And in my defense, you also thought Transylvania was a made-up vampire town.”

I grin. “I still won’t believe it until I see it for myself.”

“We should play it again,” she suggests, shading her eyes from the sun with one hand as she turns to face me. “Tell me a fact. About yourself, or something I may not know.”

There’s a lot I want to share with her—both the random medical trivia cluttering my brain and the overwhelming feelings I have for her. But I’m not sure how far to push it.

I decide to start with something disgustinglyinteresting and light. “Lobsters urinate from their faces—right underneath their eyeballs, to be exact.”

Her expression is a mix of both horror and amusement. “What. The. Hell,” she laughs. “That’s vile, and I love it. Oh, I’ve got one,” she says, trying to speak without laughing. “I recently found this out while pet sitting my neighbor’s dog and doing a deep dive on the Internet at two in the morning.” She leans in closer, holding my gaze as if to emphasize the gravity of what she’s about to say. “Dog food taste tester. It’s a real job.”

“You’re fucking with me.”

“Unfortunately, I am not. It’s true. Supposedly they’re highly trained and well paid too.”

“Well, I’d certainly hope they make loads for having to eat dog food. I’m still traumatized from the dog treat I tried as a kid.”

Playing this old game we used to play brings a wave of nostalgia. If I could sit here on this beach with her, listening to her talk, watching the seagulls dive for crabs and the sky fade into twilight, I’d be content for the rest of my days.

I unpack the insulated cooler full of food that I brought, lying it all out on the blanket.

I’ve thought and rethought some grand speech of what I want to say to her before it’s too late. I need to make my intentions clear. This time it will not be some mediocre repeat of ten years ago where we danced around confessing our feelings because we were young and dumb. I’ve grown and learned my lesson. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

She looks me up and down like I’m about to crush her world. “About what?”

I take a deep breath, my heart pounding as I muster the courage to put it all out there on the line. “I want this thing between us to be real.”

“It is real, it’s always been real,” she replies, her voice soft but sure.

“I know, but it needs to be different this time around.”

“Different how?”

“Different, meaning we make it work. That I fight to keep you, and you don’t run away from me either.” I take her free hand, the one resting on the blanket, and hold it tight. “I don’t have any intention of fucking things up with you this time. I’m all in. Even when you’re back in Washington, I want to make it work and do long distance.”

She searches my face for any hint of doubt. But whatever she sees in my expression seems to ease her nerves. “I’m all in, too, then,” she whispers, her expression softening with happiness.

What a fucking relief. I feel like I can finally breathe again as I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her close into my body as we face out toward the lapping waves of the ocean. With a bend of my head, we kiss as the setting sun shines down.

My lips move on hers as the world around us fades to a faint background noise. We’re completely unaware of the passersby strolling down the shore or the seagulls scuffling around. As we sit on the beach, wrapped in the security of making our relationship official, I hold onto the hope that even eight hundred miles won’t be enough to break what we’ve started.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jude

Present

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