Page 28 of The Promises We Were Never Meant To Keep

Still, I hadn’t wanted to say it first. I’d clung to those words, desperate to keep them close in the hopes he would give them to me first.

I feel even more raw now. Another piece of me is his for eternity.

Finally, the corner of his mouth lifts. My heart flutters.

His smile is everything.

“That’s what’s been bothering you?”

My own happiness crumbles, just a bit. He didn’t say it back.

Tears are thick in my voice as I croak, “I guess.”

His voice drops. “You don’t want to love me?”

My eyes snap to his. “What? No, that’s not it.”

“Because I’m in love with you, Faye. All the way in love with you.”

My heart soars on the wings of a hope so blissfully foolish. My mind screams at the silly organ to slow down, but like usual, it doesn’t listen. It just continues head-on for the wreckage.

“You do?”

“Yeah, peach. I do.” Holt dips his head, his mouth coming to mine for a long kiss that sears the chill of fear inside me. It cocoons me once again in hope that rejects all the limitations of life.

We can do this. We can be one of the rare ‘forevers’ that people tell stories about. We’re real.

When he pulls back, my lips feel puffy from his kiss as they stretch into a slow smile. My heart feels swollen.

“There she is.” The pad of his thumb slides over my lips. “My happy girl.”

His girl. Just his.

All I ever want to be.

I’m hopeless.

My hands fly high above my head as I jump to stand, screaming my cheer into the others that echo off the walls of the arena. My hands bracket my mouth and I scream again, “Go Rubbles!”

One of the guys on Holt’s team gives him a boy-man fist to the shoulder in congratulations for scoring the winning goal against the Calgary Ravens. I keep cheering until the waves of winning celebration die down and the players line up to shake over the game, before skating off the ice.

Andy leans in close. “Holt just keeps getting better and better every year.”

From her other side, Shyanne’s words cut straight through me. “He’s going to go big. All he’s ever wanted was a life away from Rubble Ridge.” Her eyes find mine and she smiles a sweet smile that is intended to slay. “There’s nothing that’s going to hold that boy back from going pro. Nothing.” Her eyes slide meanly down the length of me, clearly finding me lacking. “And no one.”

The two girls on the other side of Shyanne, Amber and Jenna, snicker.

Andy bumps my shoulder. “Don’t listen to her.”

“I don’t know why we always bring her to these things.”

“Because she’s dating Kevin.” Andy rolls her eyes. “And she’s not usually so mean.”

“I’m not sitting with her next time,” I warn, loud enough for Shyanne to hear me. “Even if that means I sit alone.”

“Oooo.” Shyanne touches a hand to her heart. “The new girl won’t sit with me. How will I cope?”

“I’m not the new girl anymore, Shyanne.”