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“We’ll be fine, too,” he says. “You’ll see.”
He laces the fingers of our left hands together, then brings mine to his lips and places a kiss right next to the small princess-cut diamond ring he gave me a few weeks earlier.
“Are you sure? Because when I close my eyes and try to picture my future, I can’t see anything.”
“The future isn’t real,” he says. “That's why. You can’t wake up every day trying to live for a moment in time that doesn’t exist, or you’ll miss everything. You’ll make yourself miserable for no goddamn reason.”
I sigh. “I know you’re right. It’s just…I can’t get this voice inside my head to agree.”
“That’s because you’ve dedicated way too much time and energy to trying to prove yourself to other people. And you never needed to. I see you—I know who you are. You’re rare. You have a fierce and wild spirit that sucks people in and doesn’t let go. You're a literal forest fire, Mel. There are thousands of Heathers. There is only one Amelia Walker.”
“You just called me a natural disaster. You realize that, right?”
He laughs. “Only for the people who can’t handle you—the Heathers of the world. Not me. You just keep me warm.”
“I love you,” I tell him.
“I love you, too,” he says. “Whatever you do—whatever we do together—it’ll be amazing. Just…do me a favor, okay? Stop letting this imaginary life somewhere in the future control what you do and how you feel right now, okay? We’re young and we’re alive and we’re together. You have friends who would die for you and a little sister who thinks the world only spins because you tell it to. I know that’s the only reason mine does.”
“What did I do to deserve you?” I ask.
He wipes the tears from under my eyes. “It’s got nothing to do with deserving. You’re my missing piece. I need you, Mel; I need you whole, too. Promise me you won’t let this take from you anymore.”
“I promise to try,” I tell him.
“You better,” he says. “If we have to have this conversation again, I’m not going to be so nice about it.”
“Maybe when they’re all gone, it’ll be easier.”
Ty shakes his head, visibly frustrated. “It’s easy right now, Mel.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “If these things I say upset you, I’m sorry. It’s never about you. You’re my missing piece, too. I don’t want any future that doesn’t have you in it.”
“Well, that’s something you’ll never have to worry about,” he says, then glances at the clock on the dashboard. “And now, you’ve already made me late for work.”
“Sorry,” I say and press my lips to his. “I’ll miss you tonight.”
“I’ll miss you, too. I’ll come and get you in the morning for the lake.”
“Can we…do something else? I don’t really want to be around everyone right now. I just want it to be us.”
“Of course,” he says. “Whatever you want, Mel.”
“Thank you,” I tell him, and kiss him again, this time deeper, gripping the back of his neck. His own hands make their way down my back and under my ass, lifting me until I’m straddling him and I can feel him hard against me under my skirt. I rock my hips against him and he pulls away from me.
“Mel?”
“Yeah?” I reply, my breath heaving.
“Get out of my truck before I fuck you in the driveway in broad daylight and you really make me late.”
I smile. “Okay.”
I straighten my skirt, kiss him one last time, then head inside. I pull the door closed behind me and turn just in time to see a bloody woman running in the dark before the television screen goes black.
I narrow my eyes at my nine-year-old sister. “Emma, what were you watching?”
“Nothing,” she says. “I was just flipping through channels. There wasn’t anything on.”
