“I love you, Evan. I do,” she says, pulling me away from my thoughts.
She leans her head back, and I kiss her lips softly before I whisper, “I love you.”
She lifts her lips up to mine, kissing me with such need that my heart pounds in my chest. This girl is just incredible. I don’t know how I got so lucky to find her, but I’d be an idiot to let her go.
As our lips part, our eyes open and meet. “Can I sing something for you?”
Her eyes widen. “‘Come What May’? I’m not singing the girl part, but you can sing the guy part to me.”
A grin grows as I shake my head. “That’s Shelli and Aiden’s song.”
“So? They don’t own it, do they?”
I laugh. “No, but I found a better song for us.”
She makes a face. “But I love hearing you sing that song. I want you to sing it to me.”
“Callie,” I say, holding her gaze, “I already did.”
“Huh?”
“That day, I was singing to you.”
“Really?”
“Truly, I was. Hell, every song I sing or play has been for you.”
“Even ‘Old McDonald’?”
God, she is a dork. My dork. “Totally. We were the pair of ducks, going quack, quack, here and there,” I joke, and she giggles loudly as she leans into me.
Her lips curve as she wiggles in my lap. “Okay, I am super stoked right now. So, yeah. Proceed with the song you have prepared.”
I chuckle as I bring the guitar to my lap. She leans her face into my neck, and I close my eyes as I begin to strum the chords to Isak Danielson’s “Always.” When I start to sing, I feel her smile against my neck, and my heart soars. When I heard this song, I knew it was written for us. For all the possibilities our future holds. The highs and the lows, I want them all—as long as they include Callie and everything she brings to the table.
Her love, her drive, and her kindness. I want it all. I want her.
As I finish, telling her all the things I want to say through the song, I close my eyes once more while I lean into her. My fingers stop strumming, and the crashing of the waves replaces the sounds surrounding us. I’m lost in our love.
“That was beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you,” I declare, laying the guitar down and wrapping my arms around her so she is as close as I can get her. “I heard it and knew I had to play it for you.”
“I still think ‘Come What May’ is our song.”
I chuckle against her hair. “Fine,” I say, and then I sing the chorus softly into her ear. She leans into me, her lashes kissing her cheek, and I can’t get enough of her. When I finish, I say, “Don’t tell Shelli.”
“I’m getting a shirt made,” she jokes, and I laugh as I gather her even closer. I wish we could just become one.
“You’re a pain in my ass.”
“I am.” She kisses my jaw, and then against my skin, she whispers, “Evan.”
“Yeah?” I ask as she brings her hand up, cupping the back of my neck.
“I want to tell you how proud I am of you,” she says softly, angling her head back so she can look up at me. “I watched you stand up for yourself, and for me, while being respectful and calm. Something I couldn’t do. You were confident and strong as you demanded the respect you deserve, and Evan, I think I fell in love with you all over again.”
My heart explodes in my chest as I get lost in her eyes and her words. A lump forms in my throat as I cup her hand at my neck. “Really?”
“Really,” she promises, her lips tipping up at the sides. “I feel it everywhere, the love I have for you. Thank you. Really. For everything you said about me and yourself. It’s all so true.”
I swallow thickly as I gaze into her eyes. “I meant every word I said.”
“I know. I felt them.”
“I did too,” I admit. “They scared me to say, but I was confident in us, for the first time ever.”
She scoffs. “You’d be surprised to know this, but you’ve been confident about us long before we made the trip here.”
I laugh. “No way.”
“Evan, you proudly told your family about me, you told my coach, and you run beside me with this look on your face that tells everyone to back the hell up.”
“Because you’re mine.”
“Yes, I am, and that’s the confidence I’m speaking of.”
I look deep into her eyes, surprised by all of it.
“I was able to tell you I loved you because I knew you loved me.”
“And I do, Callie. I will for the rest of my life.”
“I know,” she says, her eyes bright and full of love. “And I plan on doing the same.” Our eyes lock as the world continues around us. For me, everything has stopped. “Trust yourself,” she begs me, and my eyes sting a bit. “Just as I do.”
“I am so glad I didn’t recognize you at first.”
She grins, her eyes blinding me. “Me too.”
I lean down, unable to resist, and touch my lips to hers. Our lips move together as the waves crash against the shore, and for the first time in a long time, I can say I feel whole.
Not weak.
Not broken.
Not pathetic.
Not a failure.
Whole. Utterly and completely whole.