Page 109 of Secrets in Love
“Oh.” The trembling of his hands intensified as his eyes filled with hope, and he uselessly tried to suppress his smirk. “I can’t believe you’re here. Whyareyou here?”
“I came back to weed the garden, but your mum beat me to it. What kind of fertilizer does she—”
“Please…don’t play with me, Aoife. I’ve had enough games. Why are you here?”
“For you, Nate. I came back to say Happy Birthday, and to tell you I love you and—”
He swooped, capturing my face in his hands, and resting his forehead on mine. “Please, shut up and say that again.”
“What, the bit about the flowers, or the I love you?”
“The I-love-you bit. Tell me again, Gidge. Please, I need to hear it.”
I fisted his shirt and pulled him onto my dusty lips. “Nathaniel Myers. I love you with all my heart. I think I always have. And I know I always will.”
He broke away, came for another quick peck, then pulled away again. “Sooo, just checking. We’reusagain. We’re together? ‘Cause you love me?”
“Yes. I think so.” I nodded. “But I want to make sure of it, so I think I need to talk to someone about my anxiety, and I guess I’ll have plenty of time for it ‘cause we’ll be separated for the next twenty years or so.”
His face dropped like I hoped Polly’s silicone tits would someday soon. “Because you’re going home? You won’t stay?”
“No, not because I won’t want to stay, but because I’ll be in jail for even considering what I’m going to do to Polly fucking Hart.”
Nate laughed and kissed me again—so hard he knocked me backward. He was there to catch me, though, placing his hand on the small of my back and dipping me toward the ground. It was so romantic, so sweet, and I knew he’d never let me go again.
“Evie.”
“Yes, Nate.”
“I’ve dreamed of this forever. Please, I really wanna do you in your room. Let me fuck you in your little white bed.” Mr. Romance himself.
I shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh, okay.”
Nate picked me up, threw me over his shoulder, and was carrying me inside when I saw his parents’ car approaching.I was upside down, patting his ass and laughing but figured Barry and Janet would be okay with it.
The latter leapt from the car and sprinted toward us, waving like her head was on fire. “Sorry to interrupt, but we had to come and make sure everything was okay. That trollop Polly Hart told me you and her were back together and that you told Evie to piss off! I’d come to beat the shit out of you, but by the looks of it, Polly’s lying through her ass again.”
Sighing, Nate gave my bum one last squeeze, then gently placed me on my feet. “Don’t worry, Mrs. Myers,” I said, smiling and kissing Nate on the cheek. “Polly is…well, it doesn’t matter what she is. Her psychiatric well-being is of no consequence to us. I came to tell Nate I love him. He loves me too.”
“Well, of course he does, honey. Barry is the biggest fool in town, but even he knew you too were crazy about each other for years. Does this mean you’re staying?”
Nate cut my reply off with a kiss, then answered for me. “We don’t know, Mum. We haven’t figured that out yet. All we do know is, wherever we are, we’ll be together.”
Evie
A few weeks later.
“Icannot believe we are actually here. Like, pinch me please. This place is real.”
“Hate to say I told ya so…but I told ya so. Google and I never lie, Gidge. Also, I’d love to pinch you, but I think my f- f-fingers are f- f-frozen.”
“Oh my God, Nate. Look, there he is,—Captain Dildo himself!”
“Is it weird that I’m turned on?”
“Please, I would think it weird if you weren’t. The old captain is hot as fuck. Let’s go back to the hotel.”
It was hard to believe we were actually here, but here we were. We had fucked our way around Canada for what was the coldest but happiest month of my life. We of course made it to Blow Me Down and various other oddly named places throughout the country—Spread Eagle, Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Sexsmith, Finger, and my personal favorite, Climax.
