Page 73 of Merry Me
“What should we call it?”I asked,because I already knew this moment was one I’d come back to in the quiet.
He didn’t answer right away.Just looked at me,really looked at me.His thumb continuing to brush those slow,lazy circles on my skin. The air between us felt charged,like something was about to happen.Something important.
“The Promise,”he finally whispered.
My breath caught.
“Because I promise,Nat.No matter what happens,I’ll find you.Always.Even if we’re on opposite ends of the world.Even if we losetouch or get lost or…or hurt each other.I’ll come back.I’ll always come back to you.”
There was a beat of silence,thick and fragile,hanging between us like glass.
And then I reached for him.My hand cupped his cheek,my thumb brushing over the faint stubble he’d been trying to grow.I felt my chest squeeze,something blooming painfully behind my ribs.
“Easton,”I whispered,my voice trembling as I searched for the words,my heart pounding so hard I thought it might burst. “I…I promise,too.I’ll always find you.No matter what.”
I swallowed hard,my eyes filling with tears as I let the words I’d been holding back spill out,the words I’d known were true for years but had been too scared to say.
And then,like it was the most natural thing in the world…I said it.
“I love you.”
His eyes widened just a little,and then his whole face transformed.The grin that spread across his lips was slow and breathtaking and so full of wonder that I felt it down to my bones.
“I love you too,Nat,”he whispered,his forehead dropping to mine.
Then he kissed me.
It wasn’t our first kiss.But it was the first one that felt like more.
His lips were soft and sure,coaxing rather than claiming,like he wanted to give me every chance to run—and every reason to stay.And I did stay. I kissed him back,my arms wrapping around his neck as the world slipped away.
For a while,it was just us.Two teenagers in love beneath a summer night sky,sealed together by a promise written in stars.
Eventually we lay back down,his arm a warm anchor around my waist,his chest the rhythm I fell asleep to.I remember thinking that the world could fall apart,and I’d still have this night.This memory.
“Our star,”I whispered as my eyes began to drift closed.
“Forever,”he murmured,pressing a kiss to my temple.
And in that moment,under the eternal sky and the flickering promise of constellations,I believed him.With everything I had.
I woke with a start, my breath catching in my throat like it had nowhere else to go. For a second, I didn’t know where I was.
The dream still clung to me, wrapping around my limbs like lake water—warm, heavy, impossible to shake off. I could still feel the damp summer air, the scratch of quilted fabric beneath my back, the weight of Easton’s promise echoing in my chest like it was still a teenage me lying under the stars.
I sat up too fast, the blanket slipping down around my waist. My heart was racing for reasons that had nothing to do with this soft, cozy room and everything to do with a memory I hadn’t let myself visit in years.
The other side of the bed was empty.
The pillow was warm, though, and the dent from his head was still there. My hand slid across it before I realized what I was doing, like I was searching for something to hold on to.
And that’s when I saw the note.
Folded neatly, tucked under the edge of the pillow like a secret he’d wanted me to find.
Out with Levi—he dragged me hunting. I think he might actually be a morning person?? Pray for me. Can’t wait to see you when I get back. —E
I stared at the note for a long moment, my chest aching in a way that was both too much and not enough. The handwriting was familiar, even though it had gotten slightly messier since high school. The swoop of theEat the end still looked like a flourish he’d practiced just to sign my yearbooks with something cool.
