Steamroller

I shook my head. “That will fade. That’s just––”

“Maybe it will,” he agreed. “Maybe it won’t. But either way, you’re it for me. I get that we’re both young and some people will say it’s a phase or whatever, but I know better. You’re the one.”

The conviction in his voice was absolute. I was needed, wanted, a necessity for his life to be as he now envisioned it.

“We’re gonna be so happy.” He smiled up at me.

Yes, we were.

“Vince?”

“The headlines are gonna be insane,” I assured Carson after a minute.

“Oh yeah?” He took a breath. “What’ll they say?”

“That your boyfriend is going home with you to Maine.”

He nodded. “And does he love me, this boyfriend?”

Our eyes met and locked.

I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat. “Yes, he does.”

A shiver ran through him. “Yes, he does,” he repeated.

“I’m gonna drive you nuts.”

“Too late, you already do.” He waved me close. “Come give me a kiss.”

“The nurse is on her way.”

“Yeah, so hurry up and put your tongue down my throat.”

I moved as fast as I could.