Page 80 of By the Book

Turning to face me, he wraps his arms around my waist. “The way they should, huh?”

“Yes,” I nod decidedly, laying my palms flat on his chest.

“And how is that?”

“The way I see you. Smart, brave, selfless. There’s no way they can recall you now.”

He tilts his head down to whisper in my ear, “I hate hearing his name too.”

“Is this bothering you too? We could go.”

“I just keep thinking about how I failed you, I didn’t keep you safe.”

“You did!”

“I wasn’t there when he… when he was holding a gun to you.” Tripp’s voice cracks on his reply and I press tighter against him, reminding him that I’m here, everything turned out fine.

“You weren’t there because I did something unsafe,” I remind him.

He quirks his eyebrow at me, “Yeah actually let’s talk about that.”

“Can we talk about it in the maze at least?”

He concedes, taking my hand once again and leading me towards the towering rows of hay. After the first few turns, he picks the conversation back up. “Please explain to me why you didn’t call me when you got to the store and saw it unlocked.”

“If you recall, I actually do have a reason for that,” I tell him as we come to our first split in the maze.

Looking up at him, I wait for Tripp to pick which direction we take. He doesn’t seem concerned with getting through the maze though. Instead, he stays planted in place and asks, “And you didn’t go find someone else to call me from their phone?”

“Well in hindsight, sure. That would have made more sense.” I tug him to follow me down the path on the left and he happily obliges. We weave through the hay, moving deeper into it until we hit a dead end. I turn to go back the opposite way when he pulls me back to a stop.

“When in doubt, you call me. For anything. I don’t care how silly it feels. A ride for girls’ night, someone looks at you the wrong way, anything.”

“Anything?”

“Box of books too heavy, someone put olives on your pizza, I want to be there.”

I lift up on my toes and snake my hands around his neck. “I love you,” I tell him before our lips meet. His kiss is tender at first, modest for the public setting. But I don’t feel like being modest. I open so his tongue can slip in and taste me.

“Is this how it’s going to be now? You two making out in the streets? Because I approve.”

We break apart as Poppy approaches, heat searing my face. I lay my head against Tripp’s chest and smile sheepishly. “What brings you to our corner of the maze?”

“You’re right next to the exit,” she points around the other side of the hay wall, and when I turn to look past it, I’m greeted by the crowded brick streets and vendor booths once again. “I designed the maze, so it’s actually faster for me to cut through the festival this way. Come on, visit the wreath station before you get too preoccupied for us,” she teases.

Stepping under the cornstalk arch at the mouth of the maze, we cross through the crowd to a long wooden table littered with fall foliage. Stevie and Wren look up from the wreaths they’re constructing and smile as we approach.

“Seriously, I love this,” Wren waves her hand at the way Tripp’s arm falls over my shoulder, a delighted grin on her face.

“Me too,” he agrees, leaning in and kissing my temple. I wonder if I’ll ever grow accustomed to having him in all the ways I always dreamed. It doesn’t seem likely, based on the way my heart is fluttering from the simple act.

“Have you heard from Wes?” Stevie asks.

My good spirits skid to a grinding halt. My brother has either been so mad at our family that he refuses to check his phone, or he simply doesn’t care about the fact that I was staring down the barrel of a gun last night. Either way, I have not heard from him.

“Not a word,” I frown.

“Well then don’t look now, but he’s coming over,” she says, pointing down the street. Tripp and I turn in unison to see Hayden nearing us, and none other than a stoic looking Wes at his side.

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