“A lot. I was picked on a lot, but I’d do it all again if—” His voice cracked. “If I could have one more chance to tell him I love him.”
I released his hand and pressed my fingers against his back, rubbing back and forth, trying to offer him comfort even though I didn’t have the right words to say.
“It’s why I wanted you to come… I mean, initially. You make me feel strong… Crazy, right? He killed himself on Black Friday — the day has double meaning for me. Sometimes I wonder if he did it on purpose. If he chose that day because it had the word black in it, or if he chose that day because it was my mom’s birthday, and she had already been dead in the ground for a few years. I’ll never know, I guess.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “Black Friday sucks for you.”
He laughed. “You could say that again. Granted, it’s not always on Black Friday, but the day he killed himself just happened to be that day, so regardless of if the actual date is off by a week or so — I still hate it.”
“Thank you, for trusting me with all of this.” I pulled him in for a hug without even thinking. Our bodies may as well have erupted with heat the minute they touched. We fit. Every single part fit. I looked into his eyes and knew, this was the guy — he was the one I wanted to spend my every waking moment with. He was my forever.
“Thank you for agreeing to come — and for being my girlfriend. I don’t feel like I deserve you — or that I deserve this.” Our fingers interlocked as he pulled me tighter against him. “Hell, I know I don’t deserve this.”
“Life isn’t about deserving.” I closed my eyes and sighed. “Aren’t you the one always spouting all that wisdom?”
He grinned.
“If we wait until we’re deserving, we’re going to be waiting for a really long time.” I shrugged. “I’d rather appreciate the fact that I’ll never deserve anything — doesn’t make me a bad person, just makes me all the more thankful.”
“Then that’s what I am,” Wes whispered. “I’m thankful for you. I thank God for you. Maybe He can see me after all.” He tilted his face toward the sky. “In this moment I can believe He cares.”
“Why?”
Wes looked down into my eyes. “Because He gave me you.”
Breath hitched in my chest as Wes’s lips grazed my cheek and then my chin, nose, eyes, and finally my lips. “Favorite Thanksgiving ever.”
I sighed against his mouth. “We’ll have to top it next year.”
His grip tightened on my arms as he pushed me against the side of the pool, “Promise me.”
“Promise you we’ll do better?”
“Promise me that no matter what, you’ll make Thanksgiving next year better than this year.” His eyes were fierce, glowing in the moonlight. I wasn’t sure what caused the sudden attitude change.
I nodded slowly. “Promise.”
His grip loosened. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go all crazy on you.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to dunk you.”
“Huh? You didn’t—”
I pushed his head underwater and tried my best to get back to the shallow end by grabbing the side of the pool. I still wasn’t a strong enough swimmer to make it on my own. So close, and then his hands came around my waist. His fingertips accidently grazed my breasts.
I froze.
He seemed to stop breathing as he slowly turned me in his arms to face him. His hungry eyes devoured every inch of my body. I was halfway out of the water. Holy crap, what was I supposed to do?
“If I didn’t want to go to he
aven so damn bad…” He smiled sadly and released me. “Let’s go watch a movie.”
“No more skinny dipping?”
“If we skinny dip any longer I can’t make good on my promises.” Wes cursed and looked away, swimming farther into the deep end.
“Oh yeah?” I put my hands on my hips, kind of digging the fact that he was having trouble with control.