Page 73 of Owen

“It is, and it’s not a stupid thing to have said.”

“Yes, it is.” I slip Poppy into Jade’s arms and move away as sweat breaks out across my forehead. “It’s been three weeks. It’s ridiculous of me to think that I am. Isn’t it?” It’s a rhetorical question. “You can’t fall in love in three weeks, can you?” I look at Jade and she’s staring at me as if I’m amusing her. I start to pace when she doesn’t reply. She’s got me all in a fluster. “I mean, I dated Skye for fourteen years, and I’m not sure I was everin lovewith her. It was a high-school relationship that went on way too long. We were more like friends by the end, which was all my fault. I never let her in. I didn’t tell her things that were going on at home.” My rambles take on a new up-tempo pace as I wave my arms around in the air like a wacky promotional inflatable tub guy. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in love. Christ, I didn’t even take the time to buy Skye gifts when we were dating. I let Jacob do that. I’m not romantic. Even the boat ride and theater tickets I organized for Evangeline weren’t romantic. I was never exposed to what love really looks like, except from my friends and their families; they are all crazy about each other. My family is a mess, and I know it’s a shitty, heartless thing for me to say, but I hate my parents. Their relationship is forced, orchestrated. As a kid, they?—”

Jade cuts off my racing words. “You’re freaking out.”

“I’m not freaking out.”Why the fuck do I feel lightheaded?

“Yes, you are. Stop moving.” She’s firm with her instruction, so I do as she asks.

Hand on my hips, almost out of breath, I can barely look at her.What is wrong with me?

“Answer me this,” Jade says calmly. “Do you think about me most of the time?”

“Yes.” Constantly.

“Do you want to spend every waking hour with me?”

More if I could. “Yes.”

“Do we laugh at the same things, love the same television programs, you can’t stop smiling and feel you’re a better person having met me?” Poppy plays with the collar of Jade’s flight suit.

“I can’t disagree with any of that.” The intensity of feelings I have for Jade is borderline obsessive.

“Is having sex with me the best sex you’ve ever had?” She gives me a knowing smile.

“Shhh, not in front of the baby.” I place my pointer finger over my lips. “But yes,” I whisper, then take a slow step toward her, feeling more like me again.

She continues. “So tell me the dark cloud that was hanging over you. Has it flown away?”

“Yeah.” I nod my head.Yeah, because of you.Although I push my father’s threat of turning up away because he can make that black cloud reappear.

“And when we talk, text, kiss, touch, does it feel like we twisted that megawatt lightbulb on, causing sparks to shine brighter than any filament?”

“It’s like an explosion in my chest.” I’m only two steps away from her now.

She looks up at me. “And does it feel like someone pressedthe accelerator and everything is going so fast, and like we’ve been together forever?”

“How the hell do you know how I’m feeling?”

“Because I feel the same way, Owen.”

“You do?” Confidence blooms inside me. I close the space between us. We’re only inches apart, but it’s still too far away.She feels the same.My heart does that weird flipping thing again that it only does around her.

Reaching up, I cup her face with my palm.

“I do, Owen. I’ve fallen for you. This is all so?—”

“Incredible.” I can’t stop the Cheshire cat grin forming across my lips. For the first time in, well, ever, I feel a deep contentment, giving meaning to all the parts of my life that made little sense before now. I move in closer to her lips. “You make me feel more daring.” She makes me want to free-jump off a cliff while holding an enormous flag telling everyone I’m in love with her. Because I am. Or maybe she could teach me how to fly that awesome jet of hers and I could write it across the sky in giant letters.

She whispers, “If I make you feel like a daredevil, I should take you out flying before we leave the island.”

“I would love that.”

“You would vomit.”

“I’d be fine,” I lie, knowing she’s right. I’ll probably hurl my guts up. “I like roller coasters.” I do, but doing several loops in the air at over five hundred miles an hour? Nah, no thanks.

“It’s not the same.” She chuckles, her lips brushing mine.

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