Page 40 of Lost Summer
Adele shook her head, her lips close to mine. We said nothing. We couldn’t live without each other. We’d tried. It was existing, not living.
“I know.”
“Please do this with me. Please.” I knew I was pleading, but fuck, I’d drop to my knees and beg if I needed to. I’d do anything.
Adele seemed to study me, her brow furrowing as she exhaled, my lips capturing the last of the air, tasting her once more. The kiss was unlike any we’d ever had before; it was a contract, one body promising the other that they wouldn’t ever have to be apart again. I’d never wanted to weep with happiness more than at this moment, as Adele kissed me beneath the soft glow of the setting sun. The world around us faded into obscurity, the gentle lapping of the water blending with the distant hum of the city, all becoming one with our embrace.
She nodded, her cheeks flushing with emotion. “Okay,” Adele mumbled into my mouth, her fingers lost in my hair. “Okay, Ted.”
Sheer relief flooded my body, and my mouth sought more of hers, her body bending in my arms by the force of my kiss. I gripped her, vowing never to let her go again.
“I’m serious. I can’t do this shit without you,” I admitted, her eyes crinkling as she nodded.
“I know. I just...”
Wish it were us? Me too.
Adele didn’t finish the sentence; she didn’t need to.
“So.” I tilted her chin so I could absorb every part of this moment: her breath, the freckles scattered over her nose, theway her eyes widened, the pupils dilating with anticipation. “Are you gonna be my girl? For real?”
“Is that a serious question?” Adele giggled, rolling her eyes.
“It’s a very fucking serious question,” I answered, blood roaring in my ears. “With all my drama and shit decisions.”
Adele smiled, her fingers stroking my stubble.
“You deserve better than Elena, Ted. You deserve true love,” Adele whispered, a soft tear trickling down her cheek.
I raised my eyebrow, waiting for her response.
“You deserve me.”
Yes. Yes, I do.
21
TED
The days that followed were a dream and a nightmare rolled into one. I woke up every morning with Adele beside me—her silky hair strewn across the pillows, her soft breaths brushing against my neck. The coffee tasted richer, the sky seemed brighter, and life felt lighter with her in my arms.
Life was just fucking better.
Yet, there was always that gnawing anxiety lurking in the back of my mind—Elena. Not just Elena, though—the baby.
A fucking baby.
She hadn’t reached out since our last conversation, but her being pregnant shadowed every moment of joy with Adele. It was like rain clouds creeping in on a perfect summer’s day—distant enough to ignore, but ominous enough to remind me that the storm could strike any moment.
Still, I tried. I pushed myself to focus on the happiness in front of me because I was alive again for the first time in ten years.
Adele’s laughter—the way it erupted unexpectedly at the most minor things—filled the once-empty corners of my life.She’d brought colour and light into the shadows I didn’t even realise I’d been living in.
We spent our days making small moments feel big—breakfasts in bed, long, lazy walks through the park, her hand always finding mine as if it had been looking for it all along.
“You know, I still can’t believe this is real,” Adele murmured one quiet evening as we lay entwined on her sofa, eyes flickering to the glow of the candles she’d lit on the coffee table. Ernie, her ever-grumpy cat, was tucked at her feet like a sentinel, his eyes never too far from her.
“It is,” I whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
