Page 40 of Let Me

“Says who?”I ask, staring him in the eyes.He’s a smart guy, so I know he can read between the lines.He knows I was talking about him—about us.

He says, “Well, I predict that if the story goes the way the woman wants it to go, it’s going to have a sad ending.”

“But it doesn’t have to.”

“Says who?”he asks, then gets up and walks over to the coffee counter.I try not to look at him, but I can’t help it.When I glance over to see where he’s gone, I catch Luna’s inquisitive eyes.I think I’m telling on myself.I have a crush on him, and I probably shouldn’t.He has a crush on me, and he doesn’t want to.But he wants my lips, and I want his heart – something I know he’s not ready to give me.I’m more than ready to give him everything.

Right now, he’s being standoffish the same way he was at the campfire – separating himself from me intentionally when, just a half hour ago, I was hoisted up beside the wall with his tongue nearly in my stomach.

After drinks have been sipped and partial stories synopsized, I decide it’s time for me to head home.Judah never returned to the circle with the rest of us and, as a matter of fact, I don’t know where he is.No one does.

“Bye, y’all.I have to get up early for work in the morning, so I’m going to head out.”

“Okay, Autumn,” Tabitha says.“See ya.”

“Drive safe, babe,” Luna says.

“Bye,” Moriah says.

“Bye,” I tell them before finally walking toward the exit.The heat slaps me in the face as soon as I step outside.I head to my car, foregoing any kind of chance of seeing Judah before I leave.As I get closer to my car, I see his car parked beside mine.

And he’s sitting in it.

Granted the sun has gone down and the temperature isn’t in the nineties, but it’s still muggy in the mid-eighties.Why is he out here instead of in there?

When I get closer to my car, he gets out of his and says, “Surely you weren’t going to leave without saying goodbye to me, were you?”

“As far as I knew, you were already gone.”

“I’m not.”

“I can see that.”

He walks closer to me, and while his very presence makes me want more of his deep kisses, right now, I need answers.So, I look at him and ask straight-up, “Why did you leave?”

“I needed some air.”

“There’s no air stirring out here, Judah.Why did you leave?”

He sighs heavily and, after massaging the nape of his neck, he says, “I was thinking about the story you made up in there.”

“What about it?”

“There is no happy ending to it.It’s not one of those romance novels you like to read.It’s real life, andreallife, sweetheart, is a tragedy.”

“Thisis what you’re out here thinking about?”

“It is.”

I sigh and hang my head, thinking of what I can say to pull him out of this darkness he’s slipping into.

I say, “To me, a tragedy is not feeling your arms around me.”

“Autumn—”

“A tragedy is not feeling your tongue in my mouth.A tragedy, Judah Westinghouse, is the thought that you’re ready to give up on something that hasn’t even had a chance to start.”

I take a few steps over to him, rise to my tiptoes, and kiss him on the cheek.Then I say, “Have a good night, Judah.”

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