Page 114 of Die for Me
“I know I just showed up out of nowhere. Is there…do you have…”
I know what he’s asking, and I duck my head, just a bit shy.
“No, I’m not with anyone,” I confess. “You?”
“Five years sober over here,” he says, and we beam at each other,unspoken words passing between us.I still love you. I never stopped. I’ve thought about you every day since.
“So…” I say. “What’s the plan? You just dropping by?”
“No, actually.” He looks down at me intently, his expression tender and beseeching all at once. “I was hoping to stay a while. See whether New England is more my speed.”
I turn my head until my nose nuzzles into his palm. He’s favoring herbal scents these days; I inhale notes of rosemary and sage, pine and freshly tilled soil, like the earth after a rainstorm.
“The gang is coming over for dinner tonight, if you want to join,” I say.
“The same folks?” he asks.
“Plus one, minus another,” I inform him. “Winona’s bringing her boyfriend, and Onix passed a few years ago. You’ll meet Copper in a second.”
Julian nods, looks around. His eyes shine, and he opens his mouth to say something, then closes it again. When he finally speaks, it’s around a voice thick with emotion.
“It’s been a long time,” he confesses. “I…don’t know where to start.”
I laugh, even as my heart swells in my chest.
“You can start by not letting all my heat out,” I say, and at the invitation, he bites back a smile.
I step aside, open the door wide to let him in, and without another word between us, I know that the goodbye we shared so many years ago in that cabin was our last. That this moment has marked the beginning of Julian’s new, beautiful, wonderfully finite life, and minetoo.
