Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
It had been a whirlwind of getting to know each other again, but Camden and I had made great strides in our relationship. And by this, I just meant we spent every waking minute together, bickering or laughing. Sometimes laughing and bickering at the same time.
One day for lunch, I made him a chicken salad sandwich. They were, after all, his favorite. Ham, pickle, and mustard being his second choice. His face when he realized I’d remembered was priceless. The only thing better was when he dragged me onto his lap, tore the sandwich in half, and insisted we share. Shortly after, he closed his laptop and peeled my shirt off so we could share a few other things as well.
I’d only had him back for a little over two weeks and I had no idea how I’d survived the last five years without him. He was only going to be gone for a few days and I was already dreading every single minute of it.
This time, he was coming back.
Then, the next weekend, I was going to him.
The way it always should have been.
On that thought, I climbed out of bed and made fast work of getting dressed.
After a quick breakfast and two travel mugs of coffee, Camden and I left for the airport. We’d returned his rental a week earlier, so he was behind the wheel of my Honda—a car he hated but I secretly loved seeing him drive because, well, it was mine and it was his now too.
“Now, listen,” Camden said as we drove through town. “I need you to tell Forehead Freddy you’re taken as soon as you get back to school. I don’t like the way he looks at you in pictures.”
I thought he was probably kidding, but it still made that Camden Cole warmth seep into my chest. “I’m sure he’ll be devastated.”
“As he should be.” His hand had been anchored to my thigh since we’d backed out of the driveway and he gave me a squeeze.
I tapped my finger against the window. “You should have turned there. Juniper is going to be super backed up with all the road work.”
Another squeeze. “Maybe.”
“No maybe about it. They’ve had one man single-handedly repaving that road for two years. You have to sit and wait until—” The words died on my tongue when he slowed and hit the blinker right in front of the Leonards’ house. “What are you doing?”
“We just need to make a quick stop. It won’t take but a minute.” He pulled into the long driveway leading up to the brick ranch-style home where Mr. Leonard’s elderly son, Sam, now lived.
“What for?”
He grinned. “You’ll see.”
My pulse quickened even if I didn’t understand why. He was up to something.
He stopped and put the car into park in front of the two-car garage. Still sporting a massive grin, he lifted my hand to his mouth, kissed the back of it, and said, “Come on. I want to show you something.”
There was nothing at the creek he could have shown me that I hadn’t already seen, but my stomach still dipped with excitement.
After we both climbed out, he waited for me at the front of the car and laced his fingers with mine. It had been years since I’d gone out to the Leonards’, but as Camden led me around the back of the house, childhood memories came rushing back.
Our creek had been my safe haven. The quiet lull of water had drowned out the chaos in my mind. The cute boy who’d played Slapjack with me under the trees. A friend when I’d needed one more than ever. It was my escape from reality when life became more than I could bear.
Things looked different now. The grass in the field had grown and some of the banks had washed away in a flood a few years back, but our sacred spot of dirt and beach were still there as though no more than a few days had passed since we’d last visited.
We stopped next to his favorite rock, and I could almost still see him wearing those penny loafers and perched on top of it the first day. I’d loved that boy with my whole heart even before I had known what love truly was, but the man standing in front of me now was better—so much better.
“God, I missed this place,” he whispered, hooking an arm around my hips and pulling me in for a hug.
“Me too.” Smiling, I drew in a deep breath that was equal parts fresh water, trees, and Camden Cole. The perfect scent in my opinion.
“You know, for a lot of years, I never understood why you didn’t move away from Clovert. I couldn’t fathom that you had a lot of positive memories rooting you to this place. But then, when we’re here, all the good times come flooding back.”