Page 100 of Script Swap

Bobby nodded.

“I love living here.I love our lives here.I know I hit kind of a low point the last few weeks, but I do love it, Bobby.I love you.I’m so excited you’re going to be a detective.I’m so proud of you.I love Hemlock House, and I love our friends, and I love Hastings Rock.I don’t want anything to change.”

“But things do change,” he said—albeit gently.“Eventually.”

“They don’t have to.”

In the dark, the burnt bronze of his eyes seemed so much darker.“But they do, Dash.Nothing can stay the same forever.”

“But sometimes,” I said, “they can get better.”

Some of his hair had come out of its part, and it fluttered against his forehead.

“Do you want to move?”I asked.

He stopped.He turned to face me.He took my hands in his, and he turned them palms up, and the wind off the water skated over my palms and turned my fingertips to ice.He shook his head slowly.

“Good,” I said.

“I want to say something,” Bobby said, “and I’m not expecting you to say it back right now because I know it might be hard for you.And I don’t want you to think I’m rushing things.I know I have a bad habit of—of trying to hurry things.To control things.To feel safer.But this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.And it’s something I want to talk about with you whenever you’re ready.So, tonight, I want you to know how I feel.I love you.I know nothing stays the same forever, but I want us to keep growing together.I’m so happy with you.I’d be happy with you anywhere.And I want—”

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you,” I blurted.My face was hot.My eyes stung.His face swam, the beach blurred, and I felt like my heels were coming up off the ground.

The seconds slid past, and his face gave nothing away.The waves kept rolling in.Spray tickled my cheek.I thought, for a moment, I could actually feel the weight of the moonlight on my skin.

Then his hands tightened around mine, and he ran his thumbs over the pulse points in my wrists, and he held me like I might fly away.“Hey,” he murmured, a smile in his voice.“That’s my line.”