Page 90 of Fly Back to Me
“I can’t take credit for the wrapping.” He slides in front of me, raising the gift between us. “Just what’s inside.”
I smile, my eyes withdrawing from the white ribbon and lifting to his crystal-blue hues. Gold flecks shine in them, reflecting off the lighting of the fixture above the eat-in. And as I drown in his piercing stare, I almost forget a time before when he wasn’t radiating this kind of happiness. That brooding man I met in the coffee shop is long lost.
Gone.
Replaced by a man who wants to be around me.
With me.
Just as much as I want to be with him.
My head angles down as I take the gift from him and nestle it in my hands. It’s light. Feels like a book of some sort, and the assumption curates a tender heat in my chest. “This is incredibly sweet, but youreallydidn’t have to get me anything.”
“I wanted to,” he says. Stepping back, he curls a palm on top of one of the chairs around the table. “That’s how gifts work.”
I flash a coy grin, noticing the way he leans casually with his free hand buried in his pocket. His delicate smile pairs withhis kind eyes, a direct distinction from his broad and lean torso under his navy zip-up.
My throat bobs as I drop my attention, and I slide the ribbon off with my fingers before tearing the brown paper. Cade’s hand plucks the wrapping from my fist before a book is revealed—a “How To” guide on successfully publishing a book.
I nearly sprout wings on my damn heart, lightly gasping at his gesture before I notice the book is on top of something else. Switching the order of the short stack, I uncover an eight-by-six spiral-bound notebook. The hardcover is cloaked in a watercolor tree landscape, brown script lining the bottom of the cover.
Don’t let a second chance go to waste.
That’s what he said to me the first time we went to the overlook.
My eyes swell with the pressure of scrambled emotions. “Cade, this is wonderful,” I breathe, admiring both books.
His boots cross the last couple inches that separate us. “I know it’s not much, but use it to write your ideas down when a thought pops into your head. Or when you feel inspired.”
I immediately slope my chin up toward him. “It’s everything,” I whisper. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re very welcome,” he says. “I honestly couldn’t wait another minute to give you that. Like a fucking school kid giving his crush one of those Valentine’s Day cards that came in those box sets or whatever.” His eyes squint above a tilted smile. “Do you remember those?”
I grin through a breathy laugh. “Yeah, I do.”
He nods gently, blatantly reminiscing on the childhood nostalgia. “Yeah, my mom used to get me those things to hand out to my classmates in elementary school. I was on my own for this though.”
My chest flutters through chuckles, plucking a light snicker out of him simultaneously. But as warm as I feel, it’s not enoughto slap the threatening chill away.
I peer into those blue-gray irises, and all I see is what he’s offering to me.
His heart.
This is him.
In his rawest form.
There’s nothing else to uncover about the man I’ve longed to know and understand. Everything emitting from his eyes, I’m hiding in mine. Behind a long-kept secret. One that can dismantle us just as quickly as it created us.
“It looks like it’s going to rain soon.” Cade’s tenor knocks me back to the moment, and his thumb hikes to the sliding doors behind the table. “I just have to finish up maintenance on my bike out back, if that’s okay? It took longer than expected before you got here. Shouldn’t be any more than twenty minutes, I promise.”
I blink, battling a gulp before I nod. “Y-yeah. That’s more than fine with me.”
“Alright,” he answers. When he grabs the books from me to set on the table, the loss drives my hands into the back pockets of my jeans. “If you want to hang outside with me, you’re more than welcome to. Unless you want to stay inside?”
I shake my head. “I actually need to use the bathroom quickly, then I’ll come out.”
“Oh, sure.” He straightens up, pointing behind me to the narrow hallway we just walked through. “The powder room is behind you. You can’t miss it.”
