Page 93 of The Last Dance

‘You’re not a reminder of her.’

‘What?’ She looks at me, confused.

‘I said that that before I left. That you might have sometimes been a constant reminder of everything. You’re not. When I see you, I see the girl I’ve spent my whole life with. The woman who’s been to every important event in my life and even the small ones. You’re the woman who’s always somehow known the right thing to say when I needed to hear it the most. You make me laughandlaugh at my jokes no matter how lame they are.’ She takes a sudden breath. ‘I don’t even mind that you’ve forced me to every Infusion concert ever. I’ve missed that, actually. You’ve always made me smile, Ambri, even when I didn’t want to.’ I look out at the sunset. ‘If I could do things over again, I’d have never left. I’d have told you all these things that night I had the chance. There’s only one part of that night I’d never change and that’s the part I never want to forget.’

I watch as she bites her lip, staring over at me, her hands under her knees and her toes barely touching the ground in front of her.

‘I think about that last day with you a lot.’ She sighs as if these next words are hard for her to say. ‘I used to wonder what I did wrong to cause you to want to leave and never look back.’ She glances over at me. ‘It wasn’t completely your fault we ended up the way we did. I mean,mostlyit was.’ She laughs under her breath. ‘It took me a long time to realize that I was to blame too, at least a little bit.’ She turns on the bench to face me. ‘I should have stopped you that day. I should have told you how I felt about you sooner. I know ultimately you made the decision to leave but I could have done more than I did and I’m sorry I didn’t.’

I stare over at her. ‘How did you feel about me?’

A smile hesitates at the corner of her lips. ‘I was falling for you too.’

Damn. If I could kiss her right now, this would be my moment. But she’s not mine. She’s Noah’s. I take a breath, leaning back against the bench, resting my arms across the back. ‘Look, I know you’re with Noah now, but I have to ask, is there any way you might feel that way again? About me? Is there any way that last night might have been our last dance as just friends?’

She sighs, staring back out at the city. She nods, finally looks over at me after a minute of silence. ‘Possibly. I need some time to work some things out.’

I breathe a sigh of relief that her answer wasn’t no. I’ll take any possibility.

She scoots closer to me, leaning her head against my shoulder, sending a jolt of electricity through my entire body. I hesitantly put my arm around her, allowing her to relax into me. My heart is racing through my chest, but I know this is as far as things can go right now.

‘Please don’t run away again before I can figure things out,’ she says quietly, looking up at me with pleading eyes. ‘I don’t want to lose you again.’

‘This is the only place I want to be.’

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