Page 157 of Promise Me Nothing
She’s not in Phoenix.
What is happening?
I lift a hand and place it on her face, my thumb stroking her cheek in reverence as I try to convince myself that she’s really here. Right now. With me.
“I thought you left.”
She lifts a shoulder, a little shrug that reminds me of her brother. “I decided to stay.”
There’s a pulsing in my chest. A throbbing, really. Something that lights my soul on fire and has every nerve-ending on my body standing at attention.
She’s here.
She decided to stay.
I can’t help but grin, so enamored with her that my body physically can’t hold my happiness inside any longer.
She reaches up with her own hand, placing it on my cheek, mirroring my position and allowing her thumb to trace lightly under my eyes.
“You look tired,” she whispers. “Did you not get any sleep?”
I press my cheek into her hand, unable to keep this stupid, shit-eating grin off my face.
Because she’s here.
She decided to stay.
“I couldn’t fall asleep until I knew your bus got to Phoenix,” I say. I know it makes me sound like a pussy. But I don’t give a shit.
From this moment forward, every single word I utter is going to have the sole focus of making sure she knows how crazy I am for her.
How much she means to me.
How much I want her here.
“You read my letter?” I ask.
A soft expression comes across her face, and I see everything flitter across it that I was hoping for. Most importantly, I see the love shining in her eyes.
“Yeah. I read your letter.”
We just stare at each other for a minute, and I still can’t wrap my head around it.
That she’s here.
That she decided to stay.
“Did my begging work?”
Her softness shifts away and she rolls her eyes, but there’s a playfulness to it. A teasing lift that she’s given me a few times before.
And I’ll take it.
Gladly.
“I figured if you’re going to be able to show me all these things you’ve promised, it would probably help if I was around here to see them.”
I shake my head, not knowing how to express myself. Not knowing how to tell her how glad I am that she decided to believe me.
