Page 60 of Unforgettable

Before Reeve, I was just teetering on the edge. Pretending it was a hobby with no potential. Telling myself that the only way to make my parents happy is to be exactly like them while also accepting the fact that it would never happen.

But he’s changed that. He’s changed my way of thinking and he’s changed the way I see myself.

I like this version of me. I like who I am around him, and I like the way he sees me.

Knowing, maybe, I’ll be able to keep this side of myself after he leaves, but knowing I can’t keep him, has me setting plans in motion.

I want to show him how much he means to me and, even if it’s only been a short time, how much he has impacted my outlook on life and myself.

While we’re right in the middle of summer now, and July is getting underway, there is still a bit of time before he has to go back home. And even though we’re about to be a little bit preoccupied with wedding preparations, I make it my mission to plan a number of platonic dates out with Reeve.

As much as I would love them to beactualdates, and I would love for him to lift our no touching rule, it still doesn’t change how charged my body and heart feel knowing I’ll get to spend time with him.

Being around him may have turned into an unhealthy obsession, but call it what you will, I’m having the time of my life, and I will not be the one who decides rules and logic need to apply when it comes to the arrangement we have.

Kicking off my shoes, I get comfortable on my couch and send Reeve a text asking him what his schedule looks like for the next two weeks.

Me: Hey. When’s your next day off?

Reeve: Why? Are we shopping again? I think it’s family dinner day.

I smile to myself as I think about my sisters roping us both into going shopping for the wedding with them. Reeve seemed taken aback, like it hadn’t dawned on him that he would need a suit, and he wasn’t sure what to do with all the attention my sisters were giving him.

I had to admit, I wasn’t surprised at how much my family has welcomed him, but I was surprised at how they’ve changed toward me.

Especially my mother.

It probably should annoy me that she’s treating me differently now that I have a boyfriend, but I can see past her nagging and whining for the worry that it actually is.

Having Reeve around gives her a sense of security, makes her feel like what I assume to be confidence that I’m finally on the right path.

I want to be mad that it’s taken someone else for her to finally see the man I am and that I am capable, but the truth is, I seem to be a lot more like her than I realized.

Because it’s Reeve who has allowed me to see that I am capable. He isn’t the reason I am capable, and I’m well aware of that, but he makes me want a life I didn’t think… I didn’t know was possible for me.

He also makes me want a person in my life to cheer me on.

To lend their ear.

To lend their shoulder.

To offer me comfort and show me affection.

He makes me want him.

Trying again to climb back out of the rabbit hole of thoughts I’ve jumped down, I respond to Reeve’s message.

Me: No more shopping. When’s your next day off after that?

Reeve: Do we have plans?

I love that he both assumes and knows thatwewill be doing something together.

Me: I’m hoping we have plans. I want to take you out. Make up for the last time we went to a market and got nothing done.

Reeve: This feels serious. Are we finally taking this to the next level?

I laugh.

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