Screwed
Page 27
If not for the fact that she had run out of air, Grace would probably have kept talking, trying to apologize and make Charlie understand that even if he didn’t want her for anything more than a friend, that would be enough, because after more than two months without him, she realized that she couldn’t imagine not having him in her life. All the stuff about loving him that had flowed so easily from her pen when she thought she was about to cash in her chips was too scary to say out loud when he was standing two inches away and her heart was in her throat. Maybe she would find her backbone when he put some clothes on.
“Are you done yet?” Charlie asked, placing his cool, wet hand on Grace’s warm face, her cheeks tan and her nose freckled from so much time spent outdoors. He wanted to save this moment like a snapshot in the photo album of his mind — the moment Grace came back to him.
Grace nodded.
“Okay, then. I’m going to Dartmouth, too.” Torn between Princeton and Dartmouth, Helen had tipped the scale. “I had a dream that you were in New Hampshire, and you were happy. Take it for what it’s worth,” Helen had said, winking. He wondered if Grace had told her what she had decided, or if Helen had a source in the admissions office. But she swore she knew nothing. It was just another one of her feelings.
“Really?” Maybe, just maybe ….
“Really, and there’s something else, something I should have said before you left, but you were acting weird, which you were totally entitled to do considering what you’d just been through, and I was being pigheaded and stupid. I wasn’t just being nice to you all those months. I love you. I think I fell in love with you the day that I met you.” Having sixty-three days to think about what he was going to say if and when Grace came back to him, Charlie decided that he loved Grace enough to risk everything, including his self-respect.
Grace’s face turned pink under her tan, but she said nothing. Charlie’s words hovered in the air between them. For a long minute, they stood, avoiding each other’s eyes, Charlie’s wet hair dripping on Grace’s sneakers.
“Don’t you have anything to say about that?” Charlie finally asked. It was so liberating to finally get the words out, even if Grace had fallen for some square-jawed mountain climber while she was away and wasn’t interested in the preppy Jewish boy. Whatever happened next, he needed to know how she really felt. “Did you ever feel that way about me, even for a little while?”
Grace nodded, her eyes glassy with tears.
“And now? How do you feel about me right now?” Charlie asked. Before she could answer, he cradled her face in his hands, forcing her to look him directly in the eyes. “Tell me,” he whispered. His mouth was inches from hers, and before he could find her lips, Grace reached up and kissed him. Her tears were warm on his cheek, and he could feel her pulse quickening under his hands. Pulling away from her reluctantly, he said, “Does that mean you still ….”
“I love you, too. I always have, but I didn’t want to ruin your perfect life. I didn’t want you to love me because you knew my parents didn’t love me anymore and I was all alone, or that I was some lost lamb who couldn’t fend for herself.” Grace sat down on the grass and Charlie knelt in front of her.
“That’s not why I love you, Grace. I know you don’t need me to take care of you, but I want to. There’s a huge difference.”
“But I do need you. You make me feel like me, like the person I want to be, and when I was away, it just wasn’t the same,” Grace said. “I don’t want to be away from you anymore.”
“So don’t leave again.” Pushing her back into the soft grass, Charlie stretched out next to Grace and kissed her forehead, her nose, both cheeks, her chin, and finally her lips. “It’s so short,” he said, running his fingers through her close-cropped hair.
“I chopped it off myself. Low maintenance.”
“I like it,” Charlie whispered into Grace’s ear. “I didn’t think you were coming back to me, but Helen said I just had to be patient.”
“Your aunt is the smartest woman I’ve ever met.” Grace suddenly sat up. “I should tell her I’m back. We have to tell her about Dartmouth. She’ll be so excited.”
“I have a feeling she already knows.” Charlie laughed and kissed Grace again.
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Copyright © 2013 by Laurie Plissner.
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Published by Merit Press
an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.
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ISBN 10: 1-4405-5710-1
ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-5710-1
eISBN 10: 1-4405-5711-X
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-5711-8
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