“And I like cloudy nights,” she tacks on. An amused huff escapes my lips. “What?”
“Nothing, it’s just I don’t think I’ve ever noticed night clouds.”
Hannah shrugs. “It was a Maddy and me thing.”
The air goes quiet as we watch the clouds overhead. When I turn back to her, a few strands of hair have fallen from her ponytail. I sweep them behind her ear. “Everything okay?”
She looks at me for a beat, lips twitching in a forced grin before she glances away.
“No masks with me, runaway.”
A real grin this time. “Good grief, you and my mom really are besties, aren’t you?”
“Yin to my yang.”
She pauses and I watch a nervous lump move down her throat. “Do you believe in fate?” she asks.
“As in...”
“As in there’s something or…someone bigger than all of this. Like, maybe there’s someone up there who knows more than we do and everything down here that we call ‘random’ or ‘coincidence’ aren’t really that at all. But, maybe it’s all just...someone looking out for us.”
“Like…angels?”
She pops a sheepish shoulder, teeth raking over her bottom lip. “Maybe? I don’t know—I…never mind, it’s stupid.”
“Hey,” I coax, turning her so I can see her eyes. “It’s not stupid. I don’t know about angels or God and all that, but I don’t believe everything in life happens by chance alone.”
“You don’t?”
I shake my head, gaze dancing across her face. “Meeting you on that sidewalk five years ago felt like fate.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhmm,” I hum, voice dipping. “And when I concussed you with that metal door?” Her chest bounces in a tight chuckle. “Felt like fate too.”
“Fate’s kind of a bitch sometimes,” she quips.
My mouth wants to smile, but the next memory won’t let me. “And when he hurt you…” I pull her forehead to mine. “Fate, kismet, destiny, whatever the hell you wanna call it, all I know is it didn’t feel like coincidence thatIfound you.”
Her breath coasts over my jaw. “Rowan.”
“I think I was meant to find you.”
Maybe I do believe in angels or God or whatever because this thing between us has always felt bigger than me, bigger than her.
“Maybe someday you’ll find me and I won’t be such a mess.” It’s a sad attempt at a joke, but I can’t let it be funny. I won’t.
“Baby, you are not a mess. You’re strong and brave and intelligent and funny and beautiful and perfect and I—”I love you.I sniff sharply, jaw clenched to hold the words in. “You’re not a mess.”
I set my lips to hers, resting there. A breath in, a breath out.
She frees her legs and drapes them over my lap to angle herself to me, thighs nothing but skin up to the hem of the sweatshirt. Her hand finds the back of my neck and pulls me closer, gliding over my shoulders and down my bare chest.
“Can I touch your legs?”
Her nod is swift as she repositions my hand from her waist to her thigh.
I smile into the kiss, tilting my head, tongue diving deep as I smooth my palm over her skin. Up and up until my fingers dip beneath the hoodie and find only lace. “My god, baby, where are your shorts?”