Page 50 of Cherry Moon

I remember the first time you bought me flowers. Yellow roses. For no reason. Just because you could.

No response.

No response.

There’s nothing I could ever say to best describe our love, G. I could wax lyrical for hours, paint a thousand canvasses to try and capture the feeling and still never get there. It’s bigger than anything, so beyond colors and words that even the stars don’t have a clue what to say.

“G!” I sobbed. “Please!”

An angry red line marked the skin of his neck.

“Please…”

We survived so much darkness, didn’t we? We got to come out of the fire, covered in ash for sure, but on the better side of the pyre.

Our love is not a weakness. Bony Hag doesn’t have a clue what love is, only how its destruction tastes.

She can go hump a grenade. She doesn’t get to break us.

Nothing will break us.

I don’t want to be afraid anymore.

I just want to love you.

Time is precious.

And so are you.

“Gabriel.” I was weakening so I took a pause. I gazed down at him. Sweat dripped off the tip of my nose to splash his cheeks. “I’m not letting you go.”

Another kiss.

Just another kiss.

I pressed my lips to his again, closing my eyes.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

GABRIEL

Three days of living in our cottage.

Three days of a new life surrounded by boxes.

And three days of heavy rain.

I pulled into our driveway, the downpour giving my windscreen wipers a workout. Killing the engine, I sat in the vehicle for a moment, regarding the building.

Light shone in the windows in the darkness of late afternoon. I noticed Aki’s shadow moving and dancing.

What was he doing? Having a little boogie? He loved to boogie, especially when baking.

Wake up now and see him boogie across the years to come.

I reached over for the bouquet of yellow roses beside me, a finger snagging on a thorn.

Come back.