Page 138 of Things I Overshared
“Okay?” I say, confused, thinking he was about to ask for forgiveness, and I could say yes and then finally latch on to him like a koala.
“Come.” He grabs my hand and pulls me out of the weird building, where dusk is settling. He turns and walks me to the edge of the short, wide brick structure and waves to someone off in the distance. When he does, a small replica of the Eiffel Tower lights up a few hundred feet from us and music starts playing. The replica is covered in millions of tiny Christmas lights that are twinkling like the real tower does. He pulls me toward the structure quickly, where the music is coming from. I expect to see speakers, and then I stop walking when I realize.
“Your second favorite movie is10 Things I Hate About You, right?” He almost yells over the music. The Paris Texas High School marching band starts to play “In My Life”by the Beatles. I look up at him, crying again. “They were what took me so long. Learning a new song and all, in the summer.” He pulls me to keep walking, but my legs are starting to get wobbly. In front of the tower and the band, which is in an arch around it, is a little lit table with a box on it.
“My necklace!” I say, recognizing the box. I rush over and open it and see an added charm. A little engagement ring. “Holyyy—”
“I’m not proposing. Not yet. But I will. I want to. After I regain your trust, show you I won’t keep things from you anymore, and I won’t hurt you like that ever again. Can you forgive me, Samantha?” I nod and let out a sob. But he catches it with his lips, which are on mine before I can finish nodding.
Even with the pizza, sweat, and tears running all over my face, he tastes like home.
He puts his shaking arms around me, and we tremble together, kissing each other for dear life. Our tongues ask and answer each other, in big, needy strokes. He moans into me and cradles my head and tightens his hold around my back. I grip his shirt in my hands, both of us trembling.
Suddenly there’s cheering from the marching band, which has finished their song. Emerson pulls back and stares down at me with a huge, wide, crushing smile. Brighter even than the smiles he saves for Abigail. I shake my head up at him in disbelief. I think he’s about to say the three words I’ve been waiting for, but instead he turns to the band.
“Thank you!” he shouts quickly before he starts to pull me back to the building. “There’s one more thing, Angel.” The butterflies are back and swirling in my chest as soon as he uses the nickname. His hand has mine in a vice grip, while my other holds my precious necklace that I’m so glad he kept.
“You’re literally trying to kill me right now,” I say between giant sniffs. He hustles me into the building and pulls out a little gift bag. There’s no tissue so I can peek down inside. It’s a box of condoms. “We don’t need them. Obviously. But I’m just saying, whenever you’re ready. It’s up to you. I can wait,” he says softly. I look up at him, straight into those piercing arctic-blue eyes.
“I can’t.”
“Thank God,” he says, almost collapsing with relief. I laugh. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“I have a helicopter just outside, to get us back to Dallas, if that’s all right with you?”
“‘I have a helicopter just outside,’” I mimic him, in disbelief.
“Accent is still utter trash.” He smiles, and I start to protest. “But I missed it.” He kisses me hard, a kiss that says it’s time to get to his hotel room as soon as humanly possible. I kiss him right back.
Chapter 44
We take a helicopter flight to Dallas that’s so quick, we can barely eat another slice of pizza. Which is good because I didn’t love the idea, even though Emerson had the stats memorized and rattled off how good our odds were of surviving. He said it as if it were the most normal thing in the world, for him to file them away and for me to need to hear them. He also kept his eyes on me, and not the sweeping views outside the windows.
I freaked out again during the flight, over the lack of selfies and photos to remember everything, but it turns out Sadie was a creeper in the bushes the whole time. She immediately informed me that yes, Emerson came to her for help with his big romantic gesture, but all she told him was that there was a town in Texas named Paris. He did all the rest on his own.Swoon!She starts blowing up the sister thread with photos and videos, and I can’t contain my huge smile. Emerson kisses the side of my head and even asks for her to send him all the photos too.
A few minutes later, as we near his hotel, Emerson says “I’m sorry about Nicole” into his headset. I look up at him, realizing he must’ve been there weeks ago, when it all came out.
“Did you know she had a thing for you?”
He shakes his head. “I didn’t. But I suspected she knew how I felt about you. Margaret too.”
“Really?”
He shrugs. “You know I have a habit of staring.” I reach up and grab his face and kiss him like his mouth is my oxygen. Like we’re alone and not a foot away from a pilot. Emerson moans and pulls me away. He stares down in that way of his that immediately melts my insides. “Just a few more minutes.”
It’s a promise.
_________
The door clicks shut with a loud, mechanical thud. My heart thuds too.
“I’m nervous. Why am I so nervous? It’s not like you haven’t seen all this before.” I gesture at myself. “And honestly, I lost weight and have developed a tan that looks pretty hot after wallowing by Sadie’s rooftop pool for days, so like, I mean, you’re welcoooome. That’sMoana. Have we talked about that one? It’s Lin Man—”
“Shower,” Emerson commands, taking my hand.
“Oh. Yeah. Good call, good c—” I cut myself off by literally biting my tongue. Emerson just smirks at me, until we reach the giant marble shower. He reaches in and turns on the water and then starts on his button-up. I’m wearing a cute off-the-shoulder lilac shirt and ripped jean shorts, which I quickly slip out of. I mentally high-five myself for choosing a lilac bra and panty set earlier, which I picked because they happened to match my shirt.
