Page 20 of Velvet Varnish
She lifts her head and pouts. “I don’t get to read all the notes now?”
“How about each week I choose a book for you to read and you can see the note?”
“And I’ll get to read all the notes?”
“Eventually.”
She smiles. “Okay.”
I settle my hand low on her back. “I have one you can read now.”
“You do?” She sits up on my chest. We both groan at the movement and she pulls herself off me gently.
My hands rest on her hips, and I nod to the couch. She notices the book and leans over to grab it. It’s one of her new obsessions. I bought it this morning after talking to Chloe. I open the book to the right page and spin it so she can see the note.
March 5th, 2024
Welcome home, my love
She grins and flings the book on the couch, the most careless I’ve ever seen her with a book.
She kisses my cheek. “I love you.”
I wrap her in my arms and haul her closer. Nothing is going to take her from me now that I have her. She’s mine and I’m hers.
Forever.
8
ISLA
Six months later
I swingour hands between us as we walk and grin into the warm morning air. The sky is streaked with pink, the water already sparkling, and our shoes left by the boardwalk to stroll with our hands free. The sand’s already warm. Hopefully, we don’t regret leaving our shoes, but if the sand begins to burn, we can always splash through the water.
I glance at Dom when he squeezes my hand and smiles at me. These past months have been the happiest. I can finally touch more than his hands, I can see him as often as I want, and we can talk about books every day if we want to. More often than not, we do.
We didn’t last long before we moved in together. We’d both been in love with each other for so long we didn’t want to wait. Now my collection of books mingle with his. The ones he bought me and wrote notes in stand pride of place, front, and centre. My copy of the books happily shoved to the bottom shelves.
“We should get a dog,” I say, watching a woman throw a stick for her black dog to chase after.
“What kind do you want?” He wraps his arm around my shoulders.
“The kind that likes to cuddle.”
His eyes widen dramatically. “My cuddles aren’t good enough for you?”
“Your cuddles are the best, but dog cuddles are in another league.” I peck him on the cheek.
He laughs. “You’re right. We’ll get one soon.”
“Soon?”
He stops us in the place where he’d shown me the note in the book for the first time, when I’d walked along the beach trying to convince myself I didn’t love him. “I have something to ask you first.”
I wait while he gathers his words. He looks pale and his hand shakes in mine. I frown at him. “Are you sick?”
He exhales a shaky laugh and shakes his head, releasing my hand. He pulls something out of his pocket and drops to his knee.