Page 146 of Absolute Certainty
A kiss on his lips told him she agreed.Their lives.
He drew his mouth to her neck, lingering there as his fingers hiked up her thigh. She was wearing the same style of drawstring shorts and a matching tank top like the one she’d worn when her ankle was injured, only this pair was a bright shade of orange. He pressed a kiss to her collarbone, another along her jaw, one more to the column of her throat. Wrapping his arms around her middle, he lifted her onto his lap.
“What were you listening to?” Jay asked, inhaling the fragrance of her body wash. The citrusy smell he was growingto associate withhome.
“‘All I’ve Ever Known’ fromHadestown.”
“Oof. How hard did that one make you sob?”
“Wait, wait. Have I never mentioned my love for Orpheus and Eurydice to you?”
Peering up at her, he shook his head. “You have not.”
She looked like she wanted to cry. The enormity of her heart made himwant to cry, too. “It’s haunted me since I was a little girl. It took me over a year to finally watchHadestownbecause I knew it’d destroy me.”
“Did it?”
“I had to bite down on my fist so I wouldn’t sob hysterically. Willa basically had claw marks on her skin from my nails digging into her arm. And I mean like ugly snot-filled tears.”
He wrapped his arms tighter around her waist.
“Would you turn back? If it were me,” she asked, her peachy pink nails tracing his face.
“Yeah,” he answered without a second thought. “But I think that’s why the story hits the way that it does. When you love someone,really, reallylove them—how could you not double-check? I’d trust you, but I wouldn’t trust Hades. I’d want to make sure you’re okay. I’dneedto hear your voice. I’dneedto make sure no part of you was harmed. That’s what would kill me. Not knowing whether you’re okay.”
Her breath hitched. “I’d follow you—all the way through.”
His grin grew a little lopsided. “Yeah?”
Dipping her chin, she pressed her mouth to his and sealed her promise with a kiss. “Yeah. I love you,” she whispered.
He’d never get tired of hearing those words from her.
“I love you more,” he said. “And I’d walk through any purgatory to bring you back home to me.”
A different kind of smile dawned on her face, light sparkling in her beautiful brown eyes. “Fuck, Jay. That’s it. That’s why Katherine and Henry got me so hard. It’s that feeling that’s almost always there with fiction. How I’ve always wanted them tojust oncewalk out together.”
She trailed the pad of her thumb over his lips. “Thank you for giving me a version of that.”
“And I’ll keep giving you whatever you ask for.”
37
SAHAR
Sahar proudly watched Eloise nail every instruction she’d given her about startingBreath of the Wild.The game was mirrored onto Jay’s TV as the two of them sat side by side while he made waffles behind them in the kitchen. Between Eloise’s adorably audible reactions to her actions within the game and the sounds of Jay shuffling around in the kitchen, so much of the quiet morning was already idyllic.
It was strange how the things people were often afraid of chasing ended up being the loveliest. She had on Jay’s zip-up hoodie over her tank top again, and she twirled a drawstring in her hand as Eloise made another giddy hit in the game. “Oh, that was a brilliant move. One day, and you’re already a pro, Eloise,” she said, encouragingly.
The little girl beamed at her, and Sahar’s heart sang a new favorite song.
At the same time, Jay announced, “Waffles are ready, you two.”
“One…more…second,” Eloise mumbled as she animatedly twisted her body and expression while she figured out her next task.
At the kitchen room table, Jay had set down four plates with a chocolate chip waffle on each. The fourth, for Alex when she’d eventually come over after picking up her car from the dealership.
Eloise patted a chair beside her, saying, “Can you sit next to me, Sahar?”
