“Stop.” I reached for the camera but he slid it into his pocket.
“I never thought we’d be like this, all grown up and functional.” I rubbed my neck. “I’ve been thinking about it lately. Do you think we could have done that together? You know, like the five of us, together-together?”
If the question bothered him, he doesn’t show it. He just said, “We’ll never know, right?”
“No, I guess not.”
“I need to head back but before we go, I need you to do two things for me.”
“What’s that?”
“Hayden is ready to get out like this—take a few easy runs. Can you do that with him?”
“Yep.” I brushed my hair out of my eyes. “And the other thing?”
He closed the distance between us and swiftly pulled me to him. Our bodies were sweaty, gross, but my heart hammered being so close to him. He stared at my lips and I watched him stare at my lips, licking the bottom one in anticipation. “You and me? As far as I’m concerned, we’re not finished. I need you to understand that. I’m not playing games, I’m telling you how it is for me.”
I struggled to speak. “Okay.”
“So if you want this to be over, tell me. Tell me now and I’ll walk away. But if there’s a chance, the slightest chance, I’m in.”
His eyes pinned me with such an intensity, such a strength—I’d never seen Oliver like this. He’d grown stronger, not just in body but conviction. I wanted to know more. I needed to. He wasn’t the same person I’d walked away from two years ago. Neither was I. Maybe I needed to give these people a chance.
“Okay.”
“Okay, what?”
“There’s a slight chance that I’m not done with you either.”
His smile was slow and wide, like the sun climbing in the eastern sky. I thought maybe I’d burn from the intensity, but he moved his hands to my face and brought me in for a kiss. A sweaty, smelly, incredible kiss.
34
Heaven
The text took me by surprise. Not because it was 6 a.m. and I was already up and waiting for Hayden at the head of the trail, but because it was from Anderson.
Oliver got you to break your social media ban?
Good morning to you, too, Anderson.
Good morning, Heaven. So…
Yeah, I let him take and post a photo. He said it would be good for business
He’s not wrong about that. It got hundreds of likes. And a lot of questions, too.
I hadn’t looked. Just because Oliver took and posted the photo didn’t mean I had to engage in it. Anderson was being weird. Not just because he was contacting me at the crack of dawn but the simple fact he was engaging me at all. We’d always communicated better this way. Through writing; notes slid across desks. Texts or letters.
People had questions or you have questions?
Busted.
Is this how I get you to contact me? Posting on social media?
Well, I did consider maybe the apocalypse was looming…
So what’s your issue? The photo, or me in the photo with Oliver?