The air around us went silent. It was like one of those dramatic pauses that you only see in the movies. Her shoulders started to shake just as a soft breeze blew, causing her hair to flutter around her shoulders. I barreled on. “I miss you, so much. I miss talking to you, and joking around. I miss seeing you at work. I miss you telling me off when you’re mad. I don’t know what happened here, but I want to fix us. Please tell me how to fix us.” I was begging now. Everything I told her was the truth. I did miss everything, the good and the bad.
“You can’t fix this.” She wrung her hands in front of her as she stood up. “It’s not something you can fix.” She started pacing. This made me think of what my dad was saying. Maybe he was right, this has nothing to do with me lying to her.
“At least let me try.” I stood, but didn’t move. I wanted to give her her space.
“No, you can’t.” The tears started falling, and she angrily wiped at them. “You can’t fix me.”
“Why?” I begged.
“Because I don’t know what’s broken.” She cried.
“What are you talking about? You’re not broken. You’re perfect. You’re Riley McKay and there’s nothing about you that’s broken.” I stepped closer, and she didn’t move away. “Talk to me.” I attempted to wrap my arms around her, and instead of pulling away, she fell into them.
“He didn’t want me. Why? Why didn’t he want me?” She cried as her whole body shook with sobs.
It took a minute for my brain to figure out what she was saying. I’d spent the last week and a half trying to sort through all the things that I could have done wrong. It had never occurred to me that she wasn’t really upset with me. I thought my dad was crazy when he told me that. “Is this about Alex?” I squeezed her tighter as her head nodded against my chest. “Rils, he’s not worth all of this.” I soothed. “You need to let this out, but then let him go. You have a family here that loves you. I love you. All this hurt isn’t good.”
“I know.” She sniffed before lifting her head. Her teary eyes blinked as she stared into mine. “I’m sorry. I’ve been horrible to you, and it wasn’t even your fault.” A lone tear escaped before she released a shuttering breath.
“It’s ok.” I rubbed her back. “You’ve been dealing with a lot and I think you didn’t realize the impact of our trip until you were home and had some time to process it all.”
“But I took it out on you.” She sniffed. “You didn’t deserve that.”
“And we’re fixing it now.” I smiled before I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “It’s ok,” I whispered against the sweaty skin.
“Did you mean what you said? That you still love me?” Her voice cracked.
“Yeah. I love you. It’s not something I can just stop doing.”
“Even after all of this?” She waved her arm around.
“We’ve both made mistakes. I’m always gonna love you, Riley McKay. I think I always have, I’m just finally old enough to do something about it.” I hugged her tighter. “How do you feel about getting out of here? Maybe we could grab some ice cream, and then I’ll take you home?” I released her, and reached for her hand.
“I need to find Claire and let her know I’m leaving. She’s out there somewhere.” Riley shrugged.
“Ok. I’ll meet you on the beach.” I headed for sand while she went to find her friend. After a few minutes she joined me.
“So where are we walking to?” She swung her sandals in her hand as we stepped away from the firelight and into the darkness.
“My truck. I didn’t know exactly where you were, so I’m parked way down there.” I pointed to a street light shining in the parking lot in the distance. “Your dad just said you were at the beach.”
“Dad.” She laughed. “He knew where I was. He wanted you to work for it. So, ice cream.” She smiled up at me.
“That’s the plan.” I reached for her hand, linking our fingers. “Ice cream with lots of kisses.”
“Huh?” She started to say something else, but I stopped her. We were far enough away from the party to have some privacy, and I’d waited long enough for this. I pulled her against my chest as I sealed our lips together in a deep kiss. She swayed into me as I deepened it, and I proved right there on the beach how much she truly meant to me.
Epilogue4 years laterRiley
“I can’t believe in a few days this will all be a memory,” I murmured as I stood in the middle of my bedroom. Graduation was next week, and I was moving back home. My roommate had already left, and I’d been packing nonstop since then. I never realized how much junk I’d accumulated over my time here. Caleb was supposed to be coming over to help, but he was late. My phone dinged with a message.
Dad: Cut Caleb some slack. He was helping me.
Then another ding.
Caleb: I’m almost there. Sorry
I fought against the smile that was trying to creep in. I had to stay mad, otherwise he’d have nothing to make up for. I decided not to answer and let him a stew a bit. I tossed my phone on the bed, and grabbed another box. As I began placing books in the box there was a knock at the door. I smiled, knowing it was him, but asked anyway.
“Who’s there?” I giggled.
“Delivery for Riley McKay.” A muffled voice came through the door.
I laughed as I opened the door. Caleb was standing there with a
