Page 30 of Promised Summer
I shot him a raised brow. “Did you forget the whole me ghosting you for a decade thing?” I muttered. I really didn’t want to remind him about it, but it wasn’t like burying it in the past would help anything, either.
I was using the same principle I did with Karla when talking about Kassy. We were taking it slow when talking about her mother, because the scars were still sensitive, but I wanted Karla to grow up knowing her mother and the beauty she left in this world.
Jones leaned in and closed the distance between us. He kissed the rest of my thoughts away, and it wasn’t until his kisses commanded the strong, steady beat of my heart that he pulled back just enough for our foreheads to press together.
“You’re here now,” he breathed, and I could feel the smile on his lips as he said those words. “You promised me you’d tell me if you ever left again?—”
“I’m not leaving,” I insisted. He hummed a sound that was more placating than true understanding. I cupped his cheeks and pulled back so he could see the truth in my eyes. “Jones, I’m not leaving. I’m not leaving Kither Springs. I’m not leavingyou. I?—”
Love you.
But the words were sand in my throat.
So much for not being the scared little kid anymore.
Jones cupped my cheeks, too, and didn’t push for me to continue. “I believe you,” he finally said and pressed gentle kisses to my eyelids.
He scooped me into his arms and held me close until I couldn’t tell where I ended and he started. We stayed like that for a moment with Jones rubbing soothing strokes along my spine that had me both sinking into him and lighting up at the feel of him.
“Plus, they’ll like you because you’re not Deke,” Jones suddenly said, breaking the quiet.
“I don’t think that’s a good reason to like someone,” I grumbled into his chest. I wished he was naked, so I had full access to his skin, but we didn’t know when Karla might wake up and come looking for me.
Jones chuckled and agreed, “No, it’s not.”
“I hate what he did to you. I hate that he even had a chance to have someone like you,” I gritted out, letting my jealousy over Jones’ only long-term relationship show.
I had an instant dislike for Deke when Jones first told me about his ex, but that had quickly turned into hate when I learned why everyone in town was whispering about the ‘poor, brokenhearted Denn boy.’
It might be hypocritical of me, since I’d been the one to betray him first by breaking our promised summers and running away, but to betray him so intimately like that? I couldn’t imagine it.
“Someone like me?” Jones asked.
I looked up at him. “Are you fishing for compliments, sir?”
“No?” His reply was more a question than an answer, and the corners of his lips twitched as he tried not to smile.
I didn’t call him out on it and played along instead. If he wanted to hear nice things about himself, I was more than happy to oblige. I could probably sing his praises until the sun rose.
“Someone who sees kindness in everyone he meets. Someone who lives in a beautiful world, because he truly believes there’s beauty in every rock, river, or hell, even a random stick found on the side of the mountains.”
“It wasonestick,” Jones muttered. “I’d never seen a stick all twisted like it was some wand from a fantasy movie.”
“And you loved your wand. Brought it with you on our adventures and waved it around like some powerful wizard out to conquer the world. It came with us every day until your cousin visited your house, saw it, and wanted it for himself.”
“Yeah, well, I couldn’t very well say no when he was looking at it starry-eyed, like it contained all the magic in the universe.”
“That’s the thing,” I said, lightly tugging the end of his beard. “You could have, but you didn’t. Because you see the beauty in the world and instead of keeping it all for yourself, you amplify it and share it with anyone lucky enough to be around you.”
“Is that how you see me?” he asked, voice thick with emotion.
“It’s how I’ve always seen you,” I answered honestly. “I cherished every single summer I had with you, because you made every moment magical.”
Jones was silent for a moment. His hand restarted its slow strokes down my spine, and I was almost lulled to sleep when he suddenly said, “We make sense.”
“What?”
He flipped us so that he was on his back, and I was lying on top of him. I rested my chin on his chest and looked up at him.
