Three Months Later

I stretched out my legs on a blue yoga mat on my porch before I went into mountain pose. I closed my eyes as the sun peaked out over the horizon.

Summer of Me had been amazing.

I'd flown back to Boston with zero luggage that next morning. I couldn't stand to be in Seattle for a second longer, and I hadn't looked back. Colin told me Luke had shown up with my luggage looking for me a few hours after I left.

But I was already back home and packing for my next trip. I had asked off for the next week, so I took advantage of it.

New York City had been my first stop. I beat my old steps record and walked more that week than I had in Badlands. I even found the cheapest rental I could afford in the Hamptons—a cute room over someone's garage—and spent two days at the beach.

Thanks to my gift card, I was able to do more things than I had planned.

I saw the Grand Canyon by helicopter—along with hiking and sleeping in a tent. I went to Las Vegas, lost five hundred dollars, and loved every minute of it. I saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.

I spent a week in Los Angeles with Paige, and it was the best part of my summer. We acted like teenagers, partying on weeknights, and sleeping until noon. She did all of the touristy things with me. And we bawled our eyes out together at the airport when I had to leave.

I spent a week back in Seattle, hanging out with my dad and brother, before we moved Colin into his dorm room.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about Luke once. With each new experience, each new memory, I felt a small pang of hurt, sadness, guilt shame (any other emotion, I was probably feeling that one too) and wishing he was there with me. I couldn't help it—I missed him. A lot. But I was working on myself. I was working on loving myself. I was working on taking care of myself. I had to tell myself it was fate every time my brain couldn't stop thinking. He had jump started something in me, and I wasn't sure if I'd be where I was at the present moment if it hadn't been for him.

Because I was a different person.

I'd spent years hating a man who I never should have hated in the first place. That can fuck an already fucked up girl's mind just a bit too far.

I forgave myself. I forgave Avery. I forgave Russ.

I had finally found some relaxation.

And even though I didn't think it would ever happen again (my dad insisted it would), the next time I possibly found myself in a position where I might have a sliver of a desire to be vulnerable, I was going to be a better version of myself.

Thanks to Luke.

The glass door slid open.

"Good morning," Oliver said sleepily. "Is there any coffee?"

"Morning! No, we used the last of it yesterday," I replied. "We can get some on the way."

Oliver let out a groggy grunt and sat in a chair to my right, watching me as I changed to downward-facing dog.

"You do that every morning?" he asked me.

I picked my head up. "Lately, yeah. It relaxes me."

He settled back in his chair silently and watched the sunrise. After my cat/cow and cobra poses, I sat in butterfly and watched it with him.

I caught a flutter out of the corner of my eye.

"Look," I whispered, hitting Oliver in the shin.

The hummingbird hovered over my bright blue glass feeder, drinking the nectar with quick dips of its beak.

"There's hummingbirds in Boston?" Oliver whispered back quizzically. He pushed his glasses further up his nose. "That feeder is awesome."

I smiled. "Thanks. It was my mom's."

Oliver rubbed his hands on his thighs over his pajama pants. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to..."

"No," I laughed. "It's fine. That's why it's there—it's awesome."

The hummingbird flitted away at the sound of my laugh.

"I'm going to get a hummingbird tattoo," I said suddenly. My mind instantly went to Luke's, the black dots under my fingers—his fingers tracing my lips.

"On your ass?" Oliver joked.

"While that would be hot, I'm thinking my foot."

Oliver chuckled. "Definitely not as much fun." He rose and tapped the feeder with his finger, making it sway slightly and catch in the sun. The blue light ran over my legs.

"She had a red one too," I said softly. "It's back in her garden in Seattle."

Oliver looked down at me. His eyes following the blue sun rays cascading over my legs. "Blue's my favorite color."

"Mine too."

He looked up at me and smiled. "I'm going to go get ready. We have to be there soon, and I can't go without coffee."

"No one wants to see Cranky Asshole Oliver this early."

I heard him turn on the shower as I put my yoga mat away in my closet. I tried to push out the thought of me hearing Luke turn on the shower for a week straight, wondering how long it would take for him to not be my first thought in almost every situation.

When Oliver emerged from my bathroom in slim fit jeans and a plain black T-shirt, he looked me up and down.

"You know what's really annoying?" he asked me rhetorically. "That girls get to wear leggings and look all good and comfortable and shit."

I nodded in agreement, words coming out faster than I was thinking. "It's the best silly girl trend yet."

"I'm going to invent boy leggings."

I hitched an eyebrow up, eyeing his jeans. "Isn't that what you're wearing now?"

He threw his towel at me as I fell back on my bed laughing.

Out in the August heat, we walked the twenty blocks to the park (a little bit of cardio was part of my new and improved self—it does wonders for mental health) and stopped at the coffee shop across the street.

The line was long, and we couldn't find a table inside, so I ventured back outside to sit while Oliver waited in line.

I leaned back in my chair, happy—the happiest I'd been in three months.

I heard panting behind me, and turned to look behind my chair at the most beautiful dog looking up at me.

"Hey, buddy," I cooed. "What're you doing out here without a leash?" I let him sniff the back of my hand to make him feel comfortable before I rubbed his ears. His paw reached out, and for a second I'd sworn he had pointed. I laughed to myself until I looked beneath the table when he did it again to see a water bowl at my feet.

"You thirsty, sweet boy?" I pulled it out, but he didn't move. "Are you scared?" I asked him, trying my high pitched puppy voice. "It's okay."

I got down on his level, the bowl between us. "Come here," I said sweetly.

He picked his back legs up and took two steps before sitting again and lapping water from the bowl. "Such a good boy. Good listener." He picked up his head and in some weird telepathic moment we shared, we placed our foreheads together. I was staring into his face and down his snout until my brain flipped a switch. Short brown coat, black snout, floppy ears, and a long white line from his head down through his chest. A boxer.

"What's your name?" I said sweetly and terrified, turning his yellow collar trying to look for a name tag. He went back to drinking water.

I turned it ninety degrees before a metal plaque fastened to his collar came into view and caught the sunlight.

"Lemon," I whispered to myself. Lemon picked his head up quickly like he was waiting for a command.

My heart and my stomach jumped, squeezing together so tightly they became one. Shit.

Just the thought of seeing Luke made my heart happier than I'd been one minute ago. Hell, happier than I'd been in three months. I wrestled with my brain—half wanting to run, half wanting to stay. To see him. To smell him. To touch him. I'd fucked up more times than I could count. I wasn't sure he would even be happy to see me.

The feeling of how much I missed him consumed me. It hurt. It was overwhelming. And I knew I wanted him back in my life. I could do a grand gesture, right?

Well, a Reese grand gesture.

I slipped my phone out of my back pocket, quietly texting, thinking I had a few minutes while Luke waited in that extremely long line.

"He loves girls," a friendly voice said behind me.

I whipped my head back at the unfamiliar sound.  Instead of Luke, an extremely tall and handsome blond with shaggy hair and a smile that probably got him any girl he wanted was looking down at me.

"Yeah," I stammered, fumbling with my phone, trying to finish my text.

"I'm Robbie," Mystery Guy started. "That's Lemon."

"I just met him. Such a good boy," I mumbled nicely. Maybe Luke wasn't there. But maybe he would still respond. I relaxed.

Robbie chuckled. "I'm better."

Before the road trip, Robbie was just the kind of guy I would have flirted back with. I would have given him my number. I would have had a fun few weeks, maybe a few months, and then I'd let it fizzle out. But now, the only thing I could think was, You aren't Lucas Finn. Honestly, that had been my thought every time.

I stood to brush Robbie off just as Luke pushed open the door, and our eyes connected the millisecond after I pressed send.

He froze, coffee cup to his lips. He looked at the back of Robbie's head, processing what he'd just heard him say. He swallowed and clenched his jaw, unsure as to what was happening between us.

"Reese."

Robbie turned to look at Luke. Robbie turned back to my stunned face. I heard Luke's phone ding in his pocket.

"You two know each other? Just my luck." Robbie laughed before he abruptly stopped and his eyes went wide. He looked me up and down. "Reese...?" he said like he knew who I was.

"Robbie, can you give us a minute?" Luke said firmly.

Robbie nodded and stepped inside, looking back at us one last time.

What was I even going to say? My text was sitting in one of his pockets. Could I turn back now?

No—grand gestures and shit.

I took a deep breath, but Luke spoke first.

"How are you?" His tone was anything but angry. He sounded concerned, caring.

"I'm great." I forced a smile, suddenly confirming to myself that I wasn't anywhere near great. I had missed him with every fiber of my body. Now I was panicking.

This wasn't how I wanted this to go.

Luke looked at the top of his coffee. "You didn't come find me."

"What?" I said right above a whisper.

"You didn't come find me. At the reunion."

I dropped my voice to below a whisper. "I know."

"And I showed up at your house the next day, ready to head back here."

"I know," I repeated.

"I didn't know you thought I wrote it. I know now how it must have sounded, but I was apologizing for how you were treated. I didn't know anything about it until I found that piece of paper in Avery's room. She told me how Russ wrote it, how it was his little game to try to get you have fun. And she lied to me about you not knowing about it. I broke up with her because I realized didn't trust her. Turns out, I was right. She lied about everything."

I nodded my head, sound not coming out anymore when I whispered, I know.

Luke ran his hand over the back of his head and hesitated, trying to turn around, trying to walk away.

Why do I monumentally screw everything up?

Okay, grand gesture—go!

My voice caught in my throat when I tried to speak.

Luke changed his mind and took a step closer, trying to coax me to say what I was thinking.

I was going to lay it all out there. That I'd been an incredibly stupid, stupid girl. And if he wanted to try, I wanted to try.

Just say it, Reese.

"I m—"

"Shit, that line was long," Oliver said loudly as he bounded out the door. "We're going to be late."

He handed me my coffee when he stopped and formed a triangle with me and Luke. Oliver raised his eyebrows and introduced himself before taking a sip.

Luke didn't take his eyes off me. "I'm Luke. It's nice to meet you. You didn't respond to my texts. Talk to me, please."

Oliver's arm halted mid-sip, looking between my panicked face and Luke's ever-so-cool expression.

"Oliver, can you give us a minute?" Luke's voice sounded unwavering.

Oliver looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded my head, my heart thumping behind my eyes. Oliver put his hands up and took five steps back to study the stickers on the lamp post.

"Why'd you come to the reunion?"

Luke knew. There was no way he didn't. What girl shows up to a place where she swore she'd never go? Of course, it would be for a boy. He wanted to hear me say it out loud, confirm it to myself, but for some reason I was stuck. I could feel my tears trying to pop out of my ducts.

Luke dropped his voice. "I don't think I'm up to six yet, so at the risk of being rejected yet again—fuck this guy, Reese."

"I can still hear you," Oliver grumbled with a smirk. Luke's phone dinged again.

Luke ignored both, his speech coming out so fast I wasn't sure he stopped to take a breath the entire time. "I lied. I've never believed in fate. I want to try. I want to try only with you. Isn't that more beautiful than fate? Choosing someone instead of thinking that whatever happens is out of our control? Screw fate. I have a choice, and I choose you. I don't care about the timing. I care about right now. And right now I want you to sit next to me when I study. I want to fall asleep next to you every night. I want you to tell me how your day was, even when I have an exam the next day. I want you to tell me about boring taxes, and I want to see your face light up when you see something cool. Fuck timing. I don't want to wait. Don't tell me you didn't feel the same way three months ago. I already know you did. You don't have to keep pushing me away. I know you're scared. I know you hate being vulnerable. And I know what I said—that I don't have time, that it's too complicated—but I want to try so fucking badly with you, Reese. We can try one day at a time. We can go slow. I would never do anything to hurt you, and I'd win the ultimate game if you would give me your heart. Please let me try to make you happy. And I prom—"

"Luke," I said quietly, trying to cut him off, tears threatening to spill. "Read your texts."

"I don't care about my fucking texts. I promise I want to protect you and your heart. Every day. I can't promise I won't have to study when you want to do something or I won't cut a conversation short, but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear your voice first thing when I wake up and last before I go to sleep. I miss having you next to me. I stare at my empty passenger seat when I drive and wish you were sitting there so I could hold your hand or rest my hand on your thigh. I meant it when I said I wanted to," he dropped his voice softly, "ruin you. I want to ruin you for every other guy like you've already ruined me for every other girl. If there's any part of you that still feels the same way, I'm yours. Just give me a ch—"

"Read your texts, guy," Oliver quipped behind me impatiently. "We're late."

Luke snapped his attention to Oliver over my shoulder like he'd forgotten he was there. He dug in his pocket and slid out his phone.

It started in his lips—his smile wide and his eyes wild when he looked back up at me—his whole face shining.

"I miss you too, Reese," he said softly. "Obviously."

"I miss you more," I choked out. "How am I supposed to follow that? I had a grand gesture speech in my head, but it isn't going to be nearly as good as yours... but I'm sorry. I'm sorry I—"

"Shh." He stepped into me, and I opened my mouth to try again, but Luke ran his thumb over my lips. "It's okay. Shh," he repeated, wrapping his hand around the back of my neck. He leaned down but stopped an inch from my lips. "Is Oliver going to punch me?"

I shook my head. "He'll punch you if you kiss Paige, his girlfriend. Who is probably going to punch him and me for being so late to her—"

Luke didn't wait for me to finish, melting me when our lips connected. He wrapped his other arm around my back, holding me up, because I'd suddenly gone limp as his lips parted and moved against mine with a ferocity that I'd missed deep in the pit of my stomach.

Luke tried to pull back, but I gave him a soft, "No," into his mouth, bringing him back to kiss me harder and completely inappropriately for being on the sidewalk in front of a coffee shop.

He groaned and whispered against my lips, "I have pathology lab in an hour. Will you come find me after?"

I nodded my lips against his lightly. "I promise. I have something in the park I have to do."

Luke spun me around and pointed across the street to the beautiful building adjacent to the park. "Third floor, second balcony. Number 303. I'll text you the code. Come over when you're done with whatever you're late for. Just go in, even if I'm not there. Okay?"

"Okay," I repeated.

"You promise?" He narrowed his eyes at me.

"I promise."

"I missed you." He pressed his lips to my forehead. "Lemon, say goodbye."

Lemon trotted over and nudged my hand with his nose. I stepped back and patted my stomach, but he didn't budge.

Luke chuckled. "Jump."

Lemon wagged his tail excitedly and placed his front paws on my stomach. I laughed and looked at Luke with a giddy grin. "Such a good boy, Lemon." I rubbed him between the ears, and he dipped his head.

"He wants you to..." Luke trailed off when I touched my forehead to Lemon's. "Oh no," he whispered dramatically. "Do you already like my dog more than me?"

I smiled and nodded. "How could I not? We had a moment earlier. I love him."

"He doesn't do that with just anyone, so the feeling is mutual."

"Luke," Oliver interrupted. "I fell in love with you during that speech, so I wouldn't worry. But seriously, Reese, we gotta go. Paige is blowing up my phone."

Luke laughed and nodded at Oliver. "Lemon, down."

Lemon obeyed and sat beside Luke.

"Wait," I said breathlessly, pressing my hips into Luke and stealing one more kiss. Luke's fingers brushed the skin right under my shirt, dipping into my back dimples.

Robbie came out when we broke apart, clearly having spied through the window. "Sorry I hit on you," he joked.

And with that they crossed the street with Lemon right at Luke's side.

Luke looked back at me to smile at least ten times.

Oliver looked at me staring at Luke. "Girls," he muttered affectionately. "Don't rip him apart, Reese. That man is in love with you."

I just smiled like a silly girl.