Page 33 of Kiss Me if You Can
Jake
October 24
I shouldn’t be thisnervous. I’ve spent the last three months talking non-stop with Isla, so it’s not like I don’t know she’s excited to see me. But computers and phone calls aren’t the same as being with a person, and something could have changed over the last seven hours during her flight from Boston.
I know that’s stupid of me, but the nerves are still there.
Honestly, I think being apart was good for us. We’ve been able to get to know each other without heightened emotions or physical chemistry distracting us. I don’t know about Isla, but these last three months have made me more certain than ever that she and I were meant to find each other.
I probably should have brought a phone with me, but they’re so much harder to mask than computers, so I just have to hope Isla can find me as I wait in the pickup line at the Sun City airport. I tried to time things right so I can wait here instead of circling around, but the airport attendant is starting to eye me with frustration because I’ve been idling here too long, standing against the hood of the car I rented for the day. Just one more minute, and then I’ll make a loop, but I don’t want Isla to have any reason to think I’m not—
“Jake!”
My heart jumps into my throat at the sight of Isla running toward me looking a hundred times more beautiful than I remember. She has sent hundreds of pictures, but none of them compare to the woman who drops her bags and launches herself at me.
I hold her as tightly as I can, barely believing she’s actually in my arms.
“Are you crying?” she asks with a laugh.
“You’re one to talk,” I reply. She’s shaking from her tears. “I don’t think I can ever let you go.”
“Maybe you can let me breathe?”
Reluctantly, I set her on her feet and take a step back so I can really get a good look at her. She’s still as fair-skinned as ever, though she has more freckles than she did before, and her eyes are bright and glistening as she takes me in. Even in her sweats and t-shirt, she’s the most breathtaking sight I’ve ever seen.
“It’s really you?” she whispers, reaching up and stroking my jaw.
I can barely find my voice. “It’s reallyyou.”
“Are you going to kiss me?”
She doesn’t have to ask twice. I bend down and capture her lips with mine, losing myself in the taste of her and the feel of her in my arms.
At least until the airport attendant rudely interrupts us and tells us we need to move the car or get towed.
Once Isla’s luggage is stowed in the trunk and we’re on our way back into the city, my emotions start to settle, leaving me in a cloud of peace. I’ve never felt so content in my life, and I know this feeling is all thanks to Isla. She’s here. She’s safe. She’shere.
“So,” Isla says, taking off her prosthesis so she can twist in her seat to face me. “What’s the update with Fischer? Did he ever respond about dinner with her family?”
I groan. “No. And he’s been in Santa Fe all morning.”
“Why?”
“No idea. His parents are there, but I don’t think he’s ever been close with them.”
“How’s Micah doing with the silence?”
I laugh and lace my fingers through hers. I love that we can pick up where we left off, both in terms of physicality and the conversation we were having during her last layover. “I don’t have access to Micah’s phone, remember?”
“I think you missed an opportunity when you took her to dinner, McFly.”
I laugh, shaking my head at this ridiculous woman beside me. “I think I was a little distracted trying to figure out how to get her and Fischer together, peryourrequest, I’ll remind you.”
Isla gasps. “I can’t help that you got me invested! Where are we going, anyway?”
“My apartment. I only get you for two days before your sister is expecting you to be flying home, and I plan on keeping you all to myself.”
“Wait,Jake Moodyis showing me where he lives? What an honor!”
