Page 64 of Finding My Forever

Chapter 18

“I’ve really enjoyed this week.” He smiled down at me in the lobby of my hotel, and I pretended his words didn’t sound like a goodbye.

“Me too.” I tried to smile but I couldn’t. I could feel us falling apart. I didn’t know what to do to keep us together.

“I never expected to bump into a girl like you on the street, but I can’t tell you how happy I am that we met.”

“Even if I did seem like a creep for asking you out?” I teased.

He narrowed his eyes and looked like he was considering it.

I poked him in the stomach, and he laughed.

“Yes.” His arms tightened around me until I was pressed against his chest. I never wanted to leave this spot. We only knew each other for a few days, and it was crazy to think my feelings were real. It was even crazier to think he might have any feelings toward me. Well, there was an undeniable attraction, but that didn’t equal real feelings. At least, not anything that would last longer than my flight home.

I couldn’t let things end like this. We spend so much time together the past few days…it probably averaged the amount of time a couple saw each other in a month. We crammed in our first, second, third, and more dates into a short time. Did that make it less real, less emotional than if we spread it out?

“Thank you for a perfect day. A perfect week really.” I spoke into his chest and inhaled his scent. I would remember every detail of him.

“It’s definitely not what I had planned when I was on my way to rehearsals, but I wouldn’t trade even a second of the time with you for the world.”

Ugh. Couldn’t he be a tiny bit imperfect? That would make the leaving situation a whole lot better.

“I don’t want to leave.” Fine. I said it. I laid myself out there, vulnerable for whatever he said next.

He didn’t say anything at first. The steady sound of his heart pumping was all I heard. “I don’t want you to.”

I closed my eyes and told myself not to cry. That wouldn’t make this easier for either of us, but hearing him say those words was too much.

Maybe he did have feelings for me. Maybe he meant what he said. I couldn’t bear the thought of him saying that just for me. That would break my heart.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and met his. “Really?”

I had to watch his face. Was he feeling the same thing I was? Was he dreading the end of this? Or was he just saying what he thought I wanted to hear?

His eyes glistened, darkening with emotion. “Yes, April. These have been the best days of my life, and tomorrow will be the worst.”

Before I could bask in his words, a tiny voice in my mind said something I didn’t want to think about. He’s an actor.

“Promise?”

The left corner of his lips tilted up. “Yes. I’m not lying or performing. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do.”

I leaned back against his chest. I didn’t know what we were going to do either. Under normal circumstances, I could picture myself going home, thinking about him for a few weeks, then moving on. There was something major preventing me from accepting that fate.

The necklace. It changed when I met him. He wasn’t just a crush or a vacation fling. He was it. He was the one for me.

After I left there would be three weeks left before the spell broke. How could we fall in love with each other, and say it, before then?

Every single one of my plans had evaporated the moment I met him. We were meant to be together, but how did I explain that without seeming like a crazy person?

“Liam?”

He made a sound in his chest that I felt more than I heard.

“I don’t want this to be over. I don’t want to leave tomorrow and have this all be a memory.”

I couldn’t look at him. Once again, I was terrified to see his expression. Seconds bled together until it felt like an hour had passed.