Page 97 of Whatever It Takes
Our lips meet like they can’t stand to be away for a second longer. And I forget where I am. In public. In anairport. The only thing that matters is him.
My fingers slide up the back of his neck, threading his soft hair. His hand cups my cheek strongly, protectively. My head is lighter than air. Urges pulse through me, hungry for so much more. Touch. Talking. I want everything all at once.
I break from his lips first, lightheaded.
“Garrison,” I say in slight disbelief.
He’s here. I’m here.We’re together.
He hugs me again, tighter this time. My forehead presses into his chest. His shirt smells like fresh laundry detergent and orchids. Different but the same.
Our chests are flush together. His heartbeat thumps and thumps, the embrace like a comforting return home.
But he feels thinner than I remember, yet still bigger than me.
“Willow,” Garrison says quietly and tenderly as if we’re the only people in the airport. We break apart a little, his eyes flitting around me like he doesn’t want to stop staring. “You still look twenty.” He tilts his head, longer pieces of his hair falling over his brows. He pushes it back. “I could have sworn that fifty years passed since you left.”
I laugh and brush tears from my eyes. “You don’t look twenty anymore,” I say.
He’s twenty-one now, and I wasn’t here for his November birthday. Guilt tries to crash against me.
He shrugs. “How does twenty-one look on me? Gray hair. Wrinkles. I’m practically Gandalf, right?” I missed hearing his dry wit out loud. In person.
My cheeks hurt from smiling. “Gandalf is two-thousand years old. Maybe dock some years on that one.”
He smiles. “Okay, yeah. Dumbledore, then.”
“One-hundred-and-fifty years old,” I say.
“Look at that.” He grins. “I’m already a hundred. I’m in my prime.”
“You’re too pretty to be anyone other than you,” I murmur.
But the dark circles weren’t a trick of the screen. And his hoodie looks baggier on his body. Has he even been eating? Worry infiltrates, but neither of us stops touching.
My hands are still hooked around his neck. His still on my waist. Like if we completely break apart, some magical force may rip us away again.
Garrison takes a deep breath. “You’re prettier than me,” he says. “But also…” His eyes sweep my body. “Have you been eating Willow?”
I almost laugh, we’re both worried about each other. I think it’s been that way since I left. “I could say the same about you.”
“I asked you first.”
“I’ve just been busy and stressed with school.”And being away.But I don’t add that part.
He opens his mouth to reply but a man with a professional-quality Canon camera skirts over to us. “Willow!” he yells. “Where are your brothers?!”
Garrison slides his hand into mine, and he exchanges a look with me likeyeah, nothing has changed.“Welcome back to Philly.” Sarcasm drips from his voice.
Can’t say I missed this part.
Garrison reaches into his hoodie pocket and pulls out a balled up baseball cap. He passes it to me along with the bundle of orchids. I gratefully put the cap on and shield my eyes.
“Willow!” Paparazzi approaches as we start walking towards carousel six. “Look here!”
There’s only one person I want to look at.
One person I can’t take my eyes off of.
