Page 55 of Back to You
He smirked, keeping his eyes on the road. “I just don’t want to spoil the surprise.”
I huffed out a laugh, but it wasn’t forced. He always did that. He always had a way of making things feel easier than they were. “A surprise, huh? You really went all out for this date, didn’t you? You know we’ve already dated before, right?”
He shot me a sideways glance, a look that used to make my knees weak back when we were teenagers. “Not like this, we haven’t.”
I bit my lip, trying not to smile too wide. This was dangerous. Being with him, letting myself relax into this moment. It felt too easy.
When he pulled into the clearing, my stomach tightened. The lake stretched out before us, the moonlight glinting off the water just like it had when we were younger.
I stared at the dock, the gentle glow of lanterns casting warm light over the wooden planks, the soft setup of blankets and pillows, the small boat tied up like it had been all those years ago. A lump formed in my throat.
“Seba…is this…?”
He grinned, unbuckling his seatbelt, “Our spot? Yeah. I thought it was time we came back.”
I swallowed hard, my fingers gripping the edge of my seat. “I can’t believe you remembered.”
He stepped out and walked around the truck, opening my door before I could move. “Mariana,” he murmured, offering his hand. “When it comes to you, I remember everything.”
I stared at him for a second too long before taking his hand, his warmth steadying me as I stepped down onto the grass. The dock creaked under our weight as we walked toward the setup he had arranged.
I glanced at the boat, at the way the water lapped gently against the shore, and I let out a breathy laugh. “You’re actually serious.”
He pulled a beer from the cooler, popped the cap, and handed it to me. “When am I not?”
I shook my head, amused. “You’re ridiculous.”
He grinned. “And yet, you’re still here.”
I rolled my eyes but clinked my bottle against his anyway. “I sure am. To old memories.”
He held my gaze, something deeper flickering behind his eyes. “To new ones.”
My breath caught, and for a second, I forgot how to exhale. We sat on the dock, picking at the food he had packed, the conversation flowing easily. It always was with him, effortless, no matter how much time had passed.
But there was something different about it now. There was a weight behind every laugh, every glance. The past was still there, lingering between us, but it didn’t feel suffocating. It felt like something we could rewrite.
After a while, he stood, extending a hand to me. “Come on.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Come on where?”
“We’re taking the boat out.”
I hesitated. “Our boat?” The words felt strange on my tongue, heavy with memories.
Sebastian held my gaze, nodding once. “Yeah. Our boat.”
He must have sensed my unease because his voice softened. “Trust me.”
And that was the thing with Sebastian, I always did. I let him lead me to the boat, stepping in carefully as he untied it from the dock. He rowed us out, the lantern light from the dock fading behind us, the lake stretching wide and endless around us.
The silence between us wasn’t awkward. It was charged—heavy with the weight of all the years we had spent apart, of everything left unsaid, of words neither of us had dared to speak out loud yet.
I wrapped my arms around my knees, the night air cool against my skin. “I used to dream about this place,” I admitted quietly.
He rested an elbow on the edge of the boat, watching me. “Yeah?”
I nodded, staring at the reflection of the moon rippling in the water. “For years, I’d dream about being back here. But in my dreams, I was always alone.”
