Page 96 of Wonderstruck

I nodded, my bottom lip sinking between my teeth as his words settled in my head. “Then don’t.” My smile was gentle. “In fact, I’m not going to let you.”

Before I could do anything, his hand slid frommy chin to my jaw, his mouth back on mine before I could take a breath. It was quick. Needed. Nothing more than a promise that he was going to do exactly what I’d said and remember this the next time he got caught up in his thoughts.

When he pulled back, the first thing I saw washis smile, before his lips parted. “Is that a threat, Greene?”

I blinked up at him, shaking my head. “It’s apromise.”

1.Lord, give me strength.

chapter twenty four

Aurora Greene just kissed me.

And all I wanted to do was run after her and ask her to do it again.

chapter twenty five

i hope they can see my smile from up there

For whatever reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about my dad this morning.

These past few weeks I’d been so busy that letting him be more than a breezeof a thought was impossible. But now that I wasn’t juggling school, workandtraining, I've had time to let myself think.

But the thoughts overflowing in my headthis morning weren’t a breeze; they were gale-force winds.

I thought I saw him in my dream last night.It very well could have been him. It certainlyfelt like him. And when I woke up, I swear that I could smell his cologne. Swore that I could make him out in the shadows on the wall.

Then, for the next thirty minutes, I let myselfcry.

I was still working on not feeling guiltywhen I couldn’t bring myself to cry when I thought of him. And I was getting there. But for a brief moment when the tears became too much, when I couldn’t picture myself not crying, I was scared that my spiralling had just been delayed. That my body hadn’t had the time to catch up with reality but now that it had I was finally crumbling.

Grief was strange like that, coming back toyou in the moments where you’d convinced yourself you were moving on and reminding you, not very subtly, that it was always trailing behind. An invisible tether to what you'd lost.

I texted Daisy when I calmed down and wetalked. After losing her mom, she felt like the only person in the world who understood me at times.

Ten minutes later, I got a text from Finn.

are you feeling better?

did daisy message you?

no. we just spend so much time together that i can slip into your mind at any given moment.

so… it was daisy.

it was daisy.

i’m okay now. thank you.

how are you?

not stopped smiling since thursday

Goldie’s party.Our kiss.

me neither.

apart from this morning.

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