Page 50 of The Interception
“I kept thinking you would man up and see she is absolute perfection and do something about it, but I see now that I…was…wrong!” She punctuates each word with another swat. I’m not sure what magazine she’s using, but I’m cancelling the subscription. The thing is massive.
“Yeah! Get him, Mommy! He’s letting Aunt Layne leave!”
Aunt Layne.
Sarah Beth’s swats are relentless, but I don’t bother trying to stop her. Every moment spent with Layne flashes in my mind. Even from the beginning, she had my attention. She’s beautiful, but it only took me fifteen minutes to realize that is the least of her amazing qualities. Kind, loving, gentle, mostly patient, confident…and when she’s not, she’s not afraid to let others see her waver. She’s not afraid to letmesee her waver, and when I’m broken, she’sthere.
My sister’s swats have ceased and now she stares back at me with wide, expectant eyes.
I huff a sarcastic laugh, one full of annoyance with myself. “Oh my gosh. I think I fell in love with her.”
“Uh, yeah, I know,” she says, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “What are you going to do about it?”
I rush to the window and look down the street. I don’t even see the truck, not even a set of taillights. I might be able to chase her down in mine, but she’s probably halfway to the interstate by now.
“What can I do? She’s probably on the main road by now.”
“Odds are good that she’s not even left the neighborhood yet, Ender.” Sarah Beth’s tone has softened significantly. “I can almost guarantee she got out of sight, pulled over, and she’s having a good cry right about now.”
“What? A cry? Why would she be crying?”
She swats me again. “Because she loves you and you let her leave!”
“Ow!” I rub my arm. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Oh my gosh,” Leo mumbles and pinches his nose in frustration.
“You’re a running back! Just…just run!” She practically throws the magazine and her sanity into the air. Her strawberry-blonde hair is wild and her eyes are frantic. She needs Layne as much as I do. She’s in panic mode that her little brother is about to lose the love of his life…like she did.
I bolt for the door and throw it open. I’m halfway down the porch stairs when I hear her shout, “She’s probably parked in the clubhouse lot!”
I direct myself toward the neighborhood exit. The clubhouse parking lot is the last place to stop and park before entering the main road. My feet have never pounded pavement so hard in my life. I’m probably breaking a personal best, yet it feels like I’m moving in slow motion. I make it to the end of the road and turn right, passing one of my neighbors on a golf cart. He shouts something to me, but I don’t pause to listen or ask him to repeathimself. I’m on a mission, and my target is literally pulling out of the clubhouse parking lot in front of me.
It's still several hundred yards in the distance, and that familiar truck is slowing at the stop sign. Sarah Beth was right. At least, she was right about her going to the clubhouse lot, but whether it was to cry or not remains to be seen. I’ll figure it all out if I catch her. My feet are screaming at me, and I realize I don’t even have shoes on…which might be what my neighbor was yelling about. There is no telling what I’ve stepped on or what damage might be done to my feet. Coach will kill me if I’ve injured myself, but let him. I need Layne. I need her, want her, can’t live without her sparkling up my life.
The truck pulls forward from the stop sign and turns. I have about ten seconds before she’s on the main road and I can’t chase after her.
I kick it into a gear I didn’t even know I had and scream for her. She’s slowing for the stop sign at the main entrance now, so I wave like a maniac and keep yelling. Fifty yards…twenty-five…ten…I finally reach the truck and manage to smack the tailgate.
It was a really bad idea.
Layne slams on the breaks, and I run full speed into the back of the truck. I land on my back and stare at the dark, star-filled sky for about fifteen seconds before the expanse is filled with the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen in my life.
“Ender!”
She offers her hand to help me up. I take it and rise to my feet. My entire body aches now that I’ve had a chance to slow down, but I don’t care. I’d do it again a hundred times for this woman. I’m about to bend over to catch my breath when she releases my hand, breaking the connection I crave. “Ender! What are you doing? Are you crazy?”
“Yes,” I huff and yank her closer by her waist. “I must be crazy because I almost let you get away.”
Her lips part to speak, but it doesn’t matter what she’s about to say. Her eyes tell meeverythingI need to know. They sparkle with surprise, elation, confidence…it’s Layne Rossi in all of her beautiful happiness.
I pull her in and pepper her jaw with kisses before pressing my lips to hers. She melts in my arms and kisses me, tightening her grip around my waist as if she’s waited for this moment for as long as I have. It’s not our first kiss, but it is the first with a promise attached to it.
It’s sweet and slow, none of that franticthis could end any momentpanicked kissing, but a confident, loving, caring kiss that brings an ache to my chest. This is the one. This is the woman God imprinted on my heart, that He made just for me, and she’s here. She’s in my arms, ready and willing to move into the future with me…I think…but stopping this kiss to ask her would be excruciating, and I don’t want to.
Layne releases my waist and presses her hands to my chest, gently but insistently. I release her and press my forehead to hers. I can finally take a moment to breathe, collect my thoughts, and take in every second of this chance with her. My heart still races. She presses her fingers into my chest and sighs.
“You make my heart beat so fast every time I see you. I get an adrenaline rush, and I can’t stop feeling like I’m about to explode whenever you enter a room,” I admit because I know she feels how fast my heart thrums.
