Page 131 of Hold Me
The thought makes me absurdly happy.
And hours later, when we make our way to my parents’ house, I’m still happy. Caleb, Parker, Mom, and Dad are making cocoa and looking for the perfect Christmas movie while Jase and I go out to the treehouse after I’ve exchanged my high heels for winter boots.
“What are you doing?” he asks curiously, but I just shake myhead and smile as I climb up the ladder to the treehouse in front of him. It’s freezing cold, and we won’t be able to stay up here for long, but that’s not the plan. Maybe I shouldn’t give him his Christmas present early, but it feels right.
I switch on the fairy lights, and a warm glow fills the little room. My pillows and blankets are neatly stowed in a corner. Right next to them is the small wooden box where I stored Jase’s secrets.
The box I’m about to give him so he can put the notes I’ve written to him in it. His secrets and mine. Our story. With all the letters I wrote last year but never gave him. I know he did the same thing.
My heart beats wildly as I hand him the box. He opens the lid, and his gaze softens.
“Tell me your secrets, and I’ll tell you mine,” he murmurs, his voice deep and hoarse and so, so soft. He puts the box to one side and pulls me close. Everything inside me starts to tingle as he takes my face in his hands, and his thumb brushes my lips.
I have to smile; I know what I’m going to do. I tell him my last secret. The one that isn’t really a secret and never was. But I have to tell him anyway.
“I love you.” The words come so easily. Maybe because Jase knows it anyway. But it’s the first time I’ve ever said it out loud. Here in the treehouse, where it all began. Then he tells me his last secret. And for the first time, it’s the same as mine.
