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She just didn’t understand—not that I’d attempted to explain it to her, since she wasn’t what you would call friendly—that it felt like I was losing what I knew would be the greatest love of my life. It didn’t matter if I wasn’t even eighteen yet, and it didn’t matter if I’d never been allowed to be with Knox.
It’s impossible to find the other half of your soul and not recognize it for what it is. So how do you explain to someone that the other half of your soul is pulling away? How do I explain it to myself?
Knox’s texts just kept prompting me to go have fun . . . to live it up. I didn’t want to live it up without him. When he finally did text me I didn’t want to only talk about what party I had been to. I wanted to tell him how much I missed him and to know that he was missing me.
Instead, I was now stuck between a place of knowing I had to get in touch with him and hoping I wouldn’t hear from him, because I didn’t know how to tell him what was going on in my life.
I’d been grabbing coffee on campus my first week here, and nearly every seat had been taken. Two guys who were starting their junior years walked in and asked if they could use the remaining chairs at my table. Somehow I’d ended up talking to them for a while, then only one of them, and then I’d found myself at an all-night diner with him for hours after. I’d seen him regularly over the past weeks, the first few times refusing to admit I was on a date with someone. And now . . . I looked at my phone for the time and released a nervous breath when I saw I only had a few minutes before he showed up to take me on another date.
It’s just a date, I reminded myself. It’s just a date. You and Knox have both had dates. You’ve both been in relationships. I tried to ignore the fact that it’d been well over a year for both of us as I kept chanting. He’ll be okay with some dates . . . if he ever decides to call again.
When a text popped up from Knox I gasped and reached for my phone faster than should’ve been possible. My fingers fumbled to open up the message, and when I read it my body sagged.
Knox Alexander: Gonna be busy this weekend, Low. You should be too! Go have fun.
I felt another crack form in my heart as I read the words over and over again, searching for any kind of hidden meaning. I didn’t find one, but I knew then that I was right. I was losing him.
I wanted to beg him to tell me what was going on. I wanted to plead with him to reassure me that nothing could ever come between us. I wanted him to stop breaking my heart.
I cleared my throat and blinked back tears when there was a knock on my door. As much as I wanted to tell the guy waiting for me on the other side that tonight wasn’t the best night, I knew a night out with him was exactly what I needed. As soon as I’d stopped comparing him to Knox, I’d started enjoying being around him more and more. And though I’d never admit it to him, I craved the way his perfect smile unintentionally healed each crack Knox left in my heart.
“Collin, hey!” I said brightly when I opened the door, and was taken aback—as I always was—by how overwhelmingly gorgeous he was.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured as he leaned in to kiss my cheek.
My eyes widened, and I tried to suppress my smile at the unexpected act. I didn’t know what to think about the fact that it also wasn’t unwelcome.
Collin took a step back. “Are you ready?”
“Uh, yes. I just need my purse,” I mumbled as I grabbed it off my bed. With one last look at my phone, I left it lying on the desk. I knew if I had it on me, I would want to check it. “So where are we going?”
“Dinner,” he said with a nonchalant shrug. I would’ve worried about how quiet he was being, but the way his lips kept tilting up eased the awkwardness. “I already know you don’t like eggs . . . but is there anything else I should know about?”
I shook my head slowly as I thought about it. “No,” I said, drawing out the word. “I don’t think so. Why, are we going somewhere with weird food? I’ve never had sushi, so I can’t really tell you if I’ll like it.”
He huffed. “We’re not going to get sushi.”
“Okay, well then, I’m sure whatever it is will be—oh how cute,” I whispered as we exited the building, only to see a horse-drawn carriage out front. I turned to walk toward the parking lot, but stumbled awkwardly when Collin led me toward the carriage instead. “What are you doing?”
Collin glanced at the carriage, then back to me. Suddenly his sheepish smile from inside the building made sense. “I thought we’d go to dinner like this.”
“In a carriage?” I asked in awe.
“Why not?” he asked with another shrug.
“Oh, right, because everyone does this,” I mumbled to myself as he helped me into the carriage, and ignored his laughing. “Okay, this is actually pretty amazing,” I admitted a couple of minutes into the ride.
“I’m glad you think so,” he said distractedly as he reached under the bench for something. He stopped to give me a quick smile, but then went back to looking for whatever he must have dropped. “This is for you,” he said when he found what he’d been looking for.
My eyes widened, and I blinked a few times when I looked at the deep red, rectangular box in his hand. There was a gold design around the edges of the box, and it looked beautiful—but I had a feeling the box wasn’t what he was giving me.
“Uh,” I breathed, and took the box from his hand. “Thank you?”
I opened the lid of the box, and my eyes widened further when I saw the beautiful bracelet inside. Small, double chains attached to a white gold circle pendant with the word LOVE engraved on the top and bottom. Wait, is that a diamond as one of the O’s? My mouth popped open and a puff of air left my lungs when I looked up. On the black underside of the lid, etched in gold, read Cartier.
I snapped the lid shut and looked at Collin. “This better be a joke; please tell me this is a joke.”
His brow furrowed, and he gave me a look like he thought I was being adorably stupid. “Why would it be a joke?”
