Page 71 of Already Falling

He gently sweeps my hair from my neck, kissing my skin as he does, and links the necklace. It falls to my chest, and I grab it.

“You’ve had this the whole time?”

“Honestly, I forgot about it for a while. There were a lot of times I was angry and frustrated about our relationship. About how I wished things had played out differently. The necklace was a reminder of all that. Everything that didn’t work out. I guess maybe I was hoping one day it would.”

“I wish we had done this earlier. I wish I wasn’t so clueless before.”

“Hey, hey, hey.” He pulls me back to him and sways with me again. “We can’t punish our past selves, but we can learn from them. We start now, right now. We do it right this time.”

“Reid?” I say while I tug at his arm.

“Yeah, Anni?” He turns to look at me, softly stroking the side of my face.

“I’m starving.”

Everything on his face brightens, and we laugh together. “Let’s get some food. Maybe we can find a hotel instead of driving back home,” he says while giving me a little wink. I still can’t believe this is real.

“Sounds good to me,” I say, pinching his butt.

He jumps at the reaction and turns to me. “Oh, you are going to surprise me a lot now, huh?”

“This is just the beginning, Parker.”

FORTY-TWO

REID

It feels unreal. I have my arm draped over Anni’s shoulder as if we do this all the time. As if we’ve always been this close. We quietly make our way from the beach through the sand dunes back to the parking lot. I can’t help but stop at every dip in the path to spin her around and hear her giggle into my chest. Kiss every inch of her face. I’ve been waiting too long for this. Nothing has ever felt so perfect. I know it will be harder for us in the beginning. We really should unpack our history so we can move past it, but right now, I just want her in my arms. I’m never going to let her go again.

We make it back to the parking lot, and the realization that we drove here separately hits me like a meteor.

“Have you been to this town before?” She looks up at me without separating yet.

“Only once before. I think there’s a small main drag, I’m sure, that has food spots.” My stomach growls aggressively at the thought of food. It’s nearly four, and I doubt she’s eaten anything either. “I’ll text you a place, and I’ll follow behind your car.”

“See you soon, Parker,” she says as she gives me a fist bump before heading to her car. I miss her already.

The drive only takes about ten minutes until we get to the center of the tiny town, which is a few blocks with a post office, a couple of restaurants, a coffee shop, and a couple of small stores. I thought Auburn Hills was a small town, but this is like its own different planet. The street overlooks the small harbor that connects to the Pacific Ocean, and the folks of the town are milling around, finishing up their day and, like Annika and I, looking for some food. We park next to each other on a side street and wander for a few minutes before our noses lead us to a little Italian restaurant on one of the street corners. It’s decorated as if you are in a seaside town in Italy rather than Oregon. They have lattice and little grape vines hanging from them, covering the outdoor patio. Inside the walls are warm tones of oranges and greens with soft instrumental music playing. We get seated in a cozy corner spot on the outdoor patio.

We are silent as we scan the menu and order, and it’s only until we take our first bites of complimentary bread and olive oil that we acknowledge each other’s company.

“This bread is healing my soul,” says Annika as she chews slowly like each bite is her last.

“I love the little crackle of spices in the olive oil. It’s really tasty.” We chew and look at each other, smiling. “What are you smiling about?”

“I can’t believe we are here, that this is happening between us,” she says as she tears another chunk of bread off, smooshing it in the olive oil spice mixture.

“I know what you mean, but I’m ready for this. All of this. I’m ready to go all in with you, Annika.”

“Whoa, French bread makes you talk really seriously.”

I crack a smile at her hint to lighten up. “Well, you mean a lot to me. I—”

“I don’t want to lose you again, either. But you just came out of a relationship. And not even a short one, you guys dated for like a year.”

“It’s been several months since it ended.”

“What happens if we start a relationship and you start comparing us, or you realize you haven’t had enough time to heal?”