Page 52 of Curses and Cornstalks
“You don’t have to say it back,” he assures me with a soft smile. “I just needed you to know where I stand. I wish I couldhave done this differently but, well, none of this has been very conventional, has it?”
“You’re not wrong.” I giggle. “But I do feel the same, Atticus. Ever since that first night in the cornfield, I’ve been unable to get you out of my head. Every single day I thought about going back to see you, and now that I have you, I… I don’t think I could go a single day without you.” Weight falls off my shoulders as the words pass my lips, and fresh heat warms my cheeks. “I love you, and that scares the shit out of me, honestly. After what my last boyfriend put me through, I?—”
“Wait.” He cuts me off this time, eyebrows shooting toward his hairline. “Is that what I am? Your boyfriend?”
It sounds a little silly considering everything we’ve been through already together, but I don’t have a better word to describe him.
“If you want to be,” I laugh. “You’re not exactly my scarecrow anymore.”
“I’d like that.” He grins. “And I promise I’ll make you forget whatever your shitty ex-boyfriend did. I’ll treat you like the precious gem you are, darling. I can promise you that.”
The words ring through my head over and over, making the corners of my eyes prickle again, and I believe every one of them.
“I love you, Atticus,” I say, leaning down to brush my lips over his.
He cups my cheek with his hand. “I love you, Cassie.”
Then he seals his words with a kiss.
Six Months Later
Atticus
Trying to exist in a world that left me behind and learn over a hundred years of things I’ve missed is overwhelming.Defeating.
Some days, I feel like I’m making progress, only to be completely thrown off afterward.
Touch-screen household machines, robots that sweep the floor, toothbrushes that vibrate and spin… It’s like I went to sleep and woke up on another planet far more advanced than my own.
For every one thing I learn, there are ten more I don’t understand, and I feel more helpless than helpful. Still, through it all, there’s a single constant that makes every struggle worth it.
Cassie.
I glance down at her naked, sleeping form, nestled against my chest, and the corner of my mouth lifts into a smile. Without her, I would have given up by now.
She should be sleeping in her bedroom down the hall, as per her aunt’s rules, but she’s here in my bed, the way she’s been every night for the past six months. She’ll wake up before anyoneelse in the house, despite hating early mornings, and sneak back down the hall until her cousin comes to wake her up.
This woman is far more than I deserve.
For every question I ask and everything I don’t understand, she’s been impossibly patient and kind. If I were her, I would have surely suffocated me by now, but she hasn’t even threatened it.
She’s far better than me.
I should be asleep. We have a long day tomorrow as we head to California, but I’m too anxious to rest. Not only because Cassie is driving us there, but because I’ve never been anywhere outside of Cold Springs.
It was always my dream to travel, to see the world outside this sleepy little town, but I know I’ll be even more lost and confused when we get to a big city.
I sigh and press my lips to the top of her head, pulling the cover up over her shoulder. With a soft moan, almost like acknowledgement, she snuggles closer to me.
She looks like an angel, her red hair a halo of fire around her. Stunning, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.
I force my eyes closed, knowing that she’ll be crawling out of bed in an hour or two to tiptoe out of my room. Then it’ll only be a few more hours until we’re hitting the road and leaving this farmhouse behind.
California.
When she told me she’d always dreamed of going there, I knew we’d head there first. We didn’t have a departure date in mind until she got a call back about a job offer just outside of San Francisco; California was all she talked about after that.
“You’ll love it,” she assured me when I agreed, and I believed her. Not because I care about seeing the west coast, but because I love the way her eyes light up at the thought of it.
