Page 83 of Road Trip to Forever
“We have a few things to do before we cross the ocean on a fourteen-hour flight.” Patrick whooshes out a laugh. “You have a fashion show to win. I think my passport is expired.”
“Soon,” I say. “We’ll go soon.”
“Speaking of soon, you can open your eyes.”
I hadn’t realized we’d stopped walking. “We’re here?”
“We’re here.”
I blink and see a store with a huge bay window. There’s a loveseat inside, with square pillows adorning the dark velvet. Rows of bookshelves are lined up against the walls, and round tables are set up in front of a marble countertop toward the back of the building. It’s busy, people milling about everywhere and lines of chairs filling up the center of the room.
“What is this place?” I ask. Patrick tugs me back a step, and I read the words attached to the facade. “A Likely Story. This is the bookstore I wanted to visit!”
“It is. But that’s not all,” he says, and then he points to a chalkboard on the sidewalk, fancy calligraphy announcing an author signing.
Tonight.
Hosted by my favorite romance writer.
“We’re seeing Mia Dunn?” I almost screech. “Are youkiddingme?”
“Nope.” He grins. “I called the store to ask about their hours—”
“You know they’re posted online, right?” I say.
“I got to chatting with Bridget, the owner,” Patrick continues, ignoring me. “She told me about the signing and set aside five of Mia’s books for you. That’s why we had to hustle through today, so we didn't miss the signing event.”
For the second time today, I burst into tears.
Somewhere between passing the evergreens of northern Georgia and the orange groves at the Florida state line, every wall between us has been torn down. Every platonic line erased. Every fear of mine eliminated. It’s a certainty I feel with every fiber of my being. Every bone in my body, every beat of my heart.
I’m falling in love with Patrick.
I want to spend every waking second with him. I’ve always wanted that, but now I want to kiss him and hold him close. Lie in bed with him and watch him fall asleep. I want to be there when he wakes up and start every day together. I want him in every way he’ll have me, and then I’ll still want him some more, because I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of him.
I want to tether my soul to his and carry his heart around in a glass jar, protecting it with steadfast loyalty until the end of our days. I will never leave him. I will never not walk by his side, willing and ready to give all of myself to him until we’re nothing but little particles floating through time and space. And even then, I will follow him into the unknown, the only one to make me whole.
Patrick may want a mortgage and I may want to see the world, but I know we could make it work. We would find a balance, a happy medium, a way for us both to get what we want without ever having to compromise.
How could Inotbe falling in love with him, the selfless and gentle man who knows me better than I know myself? Who anticipates my needs and wants, who lifts my dreams on a pedestal and gives all that he has to help me achieve them?
The person who, above anyone else in this world, accepts me and cherishes me like I am his and he is mine.
Mine.
Why did it take me so long to see it?
I’m head over heels for my best friend, the one who’s been there all along.
Fate has a funny way of showing itself.
I’m fuckingterrifiedof what could happen to us if we try to be more than friends and it doesn’t work out, but I can’t stop it now. I don’twantto stop it. I want to exist in this dizzying place of happiness for the rest of my life with Patrick Walker—my very best friend—by my side.
He pulls me close, his arms around my shoulders. Chin on my head. Fingers brushing up and down my spine. His Welcome Home hug. The I Missed You hug.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, voice soothing and calm.
I don’t care that he’s sweating and I’m sweating and it feels like we jumped into a pool with our clothes on. Our skin sticks together, and I still don’t care.
