Page 35 of The Fall Risk

“He’s gone,” I whispered. “You did it.”

She melted into me and I folded around the extra space and pressed my nose to her hair.

I kept my promises. I meant every single thing I said to that piece of shit. If he ever came back, I had a chainsaw with his name on it and a public park in need of a new tree. But I didn’t think he’d be back. Not walking anyway.

Charlotte was a bigger force to be reckoned with than she gave herself credit for.

“I don’t know if you need to hear this,” I said, “but you beat the shit out of that guy.”

She did a little laugh cry into my neck.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” she whispered.

“It is really, really over.” I kissed the top of her head and tightened my arms. “It’s time to celebrate, I think. What do you want to go do?” I asked.

She made space between us and looked up at me. “Anything?”

“Anything and anywhere you want.”

She sniffled, gazing at me with those pretty brown eyes that I couldn’t say no to, even on the first day.

“How about a date?” she asked.

A grin spread across my face.

“I want to go to dinner,” she said. “At a restaurant with lots of indefensible spaces. I want to go see a movie and I don’t want to sit in an aisle near an exit because it gives me the fastest escape route. I want to get ice cream after in a place with tons of windows. Oh, and I want to do this.”

She stood on her toes and she kissed me.

My heart burst in my chest.

This did it. It was officially over for me, I was done for. I think I’d been done for for a while.

I slipped my hands over her cheeks and I kissed her back.

It was slow and gentle and perfect. The first few moments of us.

A blink of an eye for a redwood, but timeless for me.

She pulled away, out of breath. “Wow,” she said against my mouth.

I smiled. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t tell me you were a good kisser,” she said.

“Well, I don’t like to brag about myself. I let the ladies do it for me.”

“I’m going to have to let them know about this so they have the most up-to-date info.”

I laughed, and she beamed at me.

I brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “Ready to go?” I asked.

“Yeah.” She cocked her head. “Hey, I saw you by the ambulance. Did you say something to him?”

“Oh, you know me. I was just talking to him about trees.”

She smiled and kissed me again.