Page 96 of The Way We Fell

Jay gazes longingly at Pup’s harness hanging on a hook by the door as we leave.

“It already feels strange to go anywhere without him. Is that weird?”

“No,” I say. The sea breeze picks up my hair and flings it into my face. I tug my hand free from Jay’s just long enough to secure a messy ponytail with the scrunchie from my wrist, and then I wriggle my fingers between Jay’s again. “It does feel wrong. He’s such a big part of us already.”

We walk in comfortable silence until we reach the shore. Distant laughter carries in the wind from the other end of the beach, but along this stretch, the coastline is a little too rocky and bedraggled for sandcastles. There are only a handful of people out here—a man walking a dog, a couple with two small children, and a woman sat on a bench, nose buried in a book. The children shriek with excitement as they’re chased by their parents, and a small smile curls my lips as I imagine doing the same thing with Jay someday.

“What are you thinking about?” Jay tugs lightly at my arm, turning me to face him. “What’s going on in that beautiful brain?”

“What if that could be us?” Jay follows my gaze to the family playing a hundred yards away. “What if I stop taking the pill?”

“Is that—do you want to stop taking it?”

“I want everything with you.”

“If you want to stop taking it, Princess…”

“I don’t know,” I whisper.

“Be certain, Katy. That’s not a decision you’re gonna make on a whim.”

“Do you want a baby?”

“Someday,” he says with a slight nod. “Someday, I will give you as many babies as you want, Princess. Call me old fashioned, but I want to marry you first.”

“Okay.” The word comes out in a rushed exhale, quiet and breathy.

“That wasn’t a proposal.”

“Okay,” I whisper again.

“Someday, I’m going to ask you to marry me, Katy Keller,” he promises. Both of my hands are held in his as the coastal wind whips around us. His eyes shimmer with a million and one promises, and more love than I ever could’ve imagined, even in my wildest dreams. “And when I do—”

“Someday, when you ask me,” I interrupt. “I’m going to say yes.”

“Good.” He leans in to kiss me, and I taste salt from the air on his lips.

This is better than all the romance novels said it would be.

Our attraction burned like a wildfire, hot and bright and engulfing us both before we ever saw it coming. That was the way we fell into bed: lustful and primal, full of frenzied passion and carnal desire.

But the way we fell in love—that’s our tale as old as time.

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