I nodded. “Sure,” I said. “But what is even out here?”
“You’ll see soon.”
He wasn’t wrong. He stopped in front of what looked like an empty lot. There were no lights or anything else, and I didn’t know what would be out here. If it had been anyone else, I might have been worried.
But it wasn’t anyone else. It was him, and I trusted him.
“Get the rest of the food,” he said and he grabbed as many of the plastic bags as he could. “We’re going to do something amazing.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Come with me.”
After we both had a ton of things in our hands, we made our way into a field. He was holding up his phone as a light so that we wouldn’t stumble into anything. I was about to make a joke about how I would have worn something more appropriate than a dress if I had known about our plans, but I was instantly quiet when he helped me get past a large smattering of rocks. We took a sharp left, and there we were, in front of a prepared space for us to eat.
There was a round metal desk with gorgeous metal seats flanking it, fairy lights decorating the dining area. A bottle of wine was sitting in the middle of the table, with two empty wine glasses covered by a cloth blanket which seemed to be held down with heavy coasters.
My eyes widened as I looked at him. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“Yeah, but I wanted to do this,” he replied as he slid a chair out for me. I sat down and looked at him, smiling. He put the food on the round table, and sat down in front of me. It wasn’t until he was settled that I flashed him a quick smile.
“I meant it,” I said as he grabbed the wine and began to pour it into the wine glasses. “You didn’t have to do any of this.”
“I didn’t have to,” he said. “But that seems irrelevant.”
I took a sip of the wine, which was sweet and dry. “Still,” I said, looking right into his eyes. “You didn’t have to do any of this.”
“I did, though,” he replied. “Apologizing to you didn’t seem like enough. I know I really fucked up, I get that, but I want you to… I want you to understand that I didn’t mean anything by it. I want you to understand that I get that I messed up and you might never forgive me, but I want you to know that I’m going to spend as much time as possible trying to make you happy.”
“You do make me smile.”
“That’s a start,” he replied, smiling at me. “Dig in. The food is going to get cold if we don’t eat it soon.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
2019
We got back to my house at around twelve o’clock. We had spent the entire date laughing, and neither one of us had realized how late it was getting. It wasn’t until we were in front of my house that I realized how little I wanted the date to end.
My gaze darted between the front door of my house and his face, and before I could think it through, I decided to invite him inside. I wanted him to leave, but I also didn’t. I didn’t want this to end. Maybe it wasn’t as bad, or as silly, as when we were kids.
Maybe he had earned his right to forgiveness, I told myself. I wasn’t sure, but it felt like maybe he had, and that made a huge difference. I put my hand on his arm. “Do you want to come in?” I asked, my voice a whisper. “It’s late.”
He looked me up and down. “Really?” he asked. “You’re sure?”
“If you want to,” I said, biting down on my lower lip.
“I want to,” he replied.
He leaned in and kissed me on the lips, softly at first, his hand on my cheek. His hand slowly moved away from my cheek, and he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. He moved away from me for a few seconds, sighing deeply. “I just don’t want you to regret this,” he said.
I laughed, throwing my head back. “Why would I regret this?” I asked. “Don’t worry. I’m a big girl. I can make my own decisions.”
“And is this the right decision?” he said, his eyes shining.
I licked my lips. “I don’t care,” I said. “I don’t care about whether this is the right decision or not. All I care about is that I want to make this decision.”
His expression softened. “Okay,” he said. “I can’t ever say no to you.”
I kissed him again, this time a little harder, going a little further every time, until my tongue was warring against his in his mouth. He kissed me back passionately, desperately, his hand on the back of my head, until I pulled away from him to catch my breath.
“Wait,” I said. “Let’s finish this inside.”
He nodded, saying nothing, and practically jumped out of the driver seat. He walked over to my side of the car, opened the door, and grabbed me by the hand. He pulled me quickly to the porch, but I was practically running myself. As I unlocked the front door, he put his hand on the back of my neck and slowly moved his fingertips down the back of my neck, which sent a shiver down my spine. I bit down on my lower lip, then smiled as we both went into my house.
I turned around while he closed the door
