Page 76 of Petal

I bite my lip and take another deep breath. “During the last years, when I closed my eyes and forgot what happened after the Block Party, you were the one person I kept coming back to in my thoughts, Kai. Wondering where it went wrong. Wondering if there was any random chance life would bring us together. The thoughts were scary—with all that I thought had happened that night between us—yet hopeful in the most ridiculous way.”

I swallow and smile at the thought of what I am about to say. “And then I ended up here, on the island. Being a bad swimmer, I was one of the very few who survived the boat crash. And the person who brought me back was you. Against all odds.” I bite my lip, trying to control my emotions, and raise my eyes at him. “I love you.”

My silence four years ago ruined two lives. But this silence is different. It glues back the broken pieces of our shattered dream that never came to be.

“Finally,” Kai whispers and smiles.

I frown, not understanding. “Finally?”

“Finally, you are catching up with me.”

His smile grows bigger, eyes blazing. He rubs the back of his fingers against my cheek in the softest caress that makes my skin hum. “Callie Mays, I loved you for years. Since the day I first saw you blush.”

33

CALLIE

I’m free-falling.

We cup each other’s face with the desperation of death-row inmates. The air between us burns with this confession. People throw words around so easily. But it took us four years to even speak to each other again. Every word is precious. And these—these simple words—carry the weight of fifteen hundred days and six hundred miles that brought us back to each other.

“Callie, do you believe in fate?” Kai smiles, studying my face. “Mine has blond hair and blue eyes.”

I smile, soaking in his every word and touch. “Mine is tattooed and looks like a dark angel. And has a tattoo of my favorite flower on his heart.”

His thumbs stroke my jaw. My thumbs stroke his cheeks. Every touch is electric, and the words are lightning.

“I was drunk one time,” he says almost in a whisper. “I was thinking of you that night. One of hundreds of such nights. I was missing seeing you around and stared at your picture on my phone for hours.”

I close my eyes and brush my lips against his, drowning in the sound of his voice.

“And I went to my tattoo guy. Asked him to do a peony with falling petals on my heart.”

Four years.

So much pain.

So many feelings.

So much regret.

And this—the man who always kept me in his thoughts.

“Callie.” Kai’s voice is barely audible, but it’s deafening. It’s the only voice I want to hear right now.

I open my eyes and meet the dark beautiful abyss that stares back at me with tenderness.

“Callie, my heart is yours. Always has been. From the day I met you.”

I kiss him hard, trying to smother the sob that threatens to break out of my chest.

“I love you,” I whisper when I pull away.

Kai smiles, his eyes roaming my face like he is trying to learn every detail. “Your flower is next to the butterfly wing that means resurrection and new beginnings.” I look down and trace the outline of a dark-blue wing with my finger. “I always hoped that you would be happy,” he says. “Somewhere. Though I hoped one day, it would be me. It was silly, really, after all that happened and I never saw you again.” He chuckles softly. “But I kept fantasizing of different ways we would meet—on some random day, at a parking lot, or in a store, though we lived in different cities by then. I kept seeing you in the crowd. Imagined that you called me one day. It sounds like madness, I know.”

I kiss his shoulder. “Your madness sounds just like mine.” I smile, thinking that even our madness is the same.

He strokes my hair. “I kept thinking that if I met the person who made me feel that way, life couldn’t just separate us for good.”

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