Page 66 of Don't Forget Me
“You know, when you’re out shooting clay pigeons or whatever.”
“No.” A brow arched. “Do you?”
“Well, no. But it’s something my dad says about my Evelyn. She has a quick temper. In pigeon shooting—”
“I don’t think that’s what it’s called.”
“—the shooter calls pull, and then they shoot once it’s launched. With Evelyn, we always say she reacts to something almost before it happens. She gets mad before you explain. That’s sort of you. See? Shoot-pull.”
She wasn’t wrong. His temper had gotten him in trouble too often, but he never wanted it to get between him and Liz. “I think I’d like your dad.”
Her lips twitched, settling into a wider smile. “I think he’d like you too.”
They hadn’t talked about what would happen when they woke, what they’d be to each other, but the questions had been sitting in the back of his mind, festering.
He brushed a hand over her head and then down her cheek, letting his thumb pull at her bottom lip.
“What is it?” she asked.
“How do you know me so well?” They hadn’t known each other for that long, but she got him in a way no others did.
“It’s not like I’ve had much to do here except study you. Plus, Max, in Stephen’s screenplay, doesn’t only share the name with you. He is you.”
“He is not.” He’d read it more times than he could count. He’d know if it was about him. Stephen only borrowed his middle name.
She laughed. “You seriously don’t see it?”
“Max is the hero.” He was the good guy of the story, the one who always did the right thing, said the right thing. Sure, he too had a temper and bore a slight resemblance to Nick, but… Nick frowned.
“Stephen must have seen you as the hero. Why does that surprise you?”
He’d never fathomed Stephen was writing about him. Don’t Forget Me. It was almost like fate he’d named the manuscript that, like a plea for Nick to always remember.
Nick shrugged, drawing Liz closer. “I don’t ever want to let you go.”
“See?” She sighed. “He knew you. That was the perfect thing to say.”
“We’re going to wake up one day.” He assumed them both still being here meant they were alive, that there was a chance.
“Yeah.” She gripped his shirt. “I know.”
That was what she wanted. “Hey, look at me.”
She tipped her head back again.
“This doesn’t end when we wake up.” He could tell she didn’t believe him, so he went on. “I wasn’t lying when I said I love you, Liz. So much. I know you struggle saying it, but you don’t have to because I know you love me too. That won’t stay here. We can make it work in the real world, no matter what gets in our way.”
Her eyes softened under his gaze. “Do you promise?”
One corner of his mouth curved up, and he pressed a kiss to her lips. “Elizabeth Ross, I would promise you the world should it be in my power. Since it’s not, all I have to promise is myself.”
“That’s enough, Nick. You and me… whether we’re here or not… it’s you and me.”
“Always.”
24
ELIZABETH
