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She fiddled with the dials, peering through the viewfinder, and when the meteor shower began, I watched her watch the stars shoot across the sky.
“Cade, take a look.” She lifted her head from the viewfinder, turning to look at me.
“This is all for you,” I told her.
“But I want you to see.” She grabbed my hand. “Look.”
Wow. I wasn’t into stars or any astronomy shit, but they looked fucking impressive through the telescope, it had to be said. I watched as the meteors appeared and disappeared, trails of light streaking through the sky. Next to me, my girl hugged me tightly, her head tilted to the sky as she watched the show.
“Your turn, now.” I manoeuvred her into place, holding her from behind as she rested against me, engrossed in the view from the telescope.
After the shower was over, we lay back on the blanket, and I turned to face her, propping myself up on my elbow. Reaching out with my other hand, I pushed up her sleeve, tracing over her tattoo with my fingertips. “You wanna tell me the whole story about the meteors?”
A pensive, faraway look crossed her face as she stared up at the stars. “Okay,” she said softly. Angling her body towards me, she met my gaze. “I was born by an elective caesarean. The way my dad told it, it was a cold January night. The snow had been really heavy that year. My mother phoned him at work to ask him to come and pick me up so she could recover—she’d refused to have him there for the birth. I’d been born early that morning, and she’d somehow persuaded the doctors that I could go home the same day—something to do with private hospitals and a donation.” Her voice trembled, and her eyes filled with tears. “Basically, she wanted me gone. She never wanted me.”
“Fuck, baby.” I reached out and cupped her cheek in my hand. “That woman doesn’t know how to love. She’s got something missing inside her. She’d have to be, to not want you. You’re fucking incredible.”
“Thanks.” She gave me a half smile. “I’m not trying to make this into a pity party. It…well, it just hurts. You know?”
“I know. You have me now, and you’re never getting away.” I tilted my head to kiss her. “I want you. I’ll always fucking want you.”
“Same goes for me with you.” Her half smile turned into a full smile. “Okay, let me tell you the rest of the story.” She took a deep breath. “So, my dad told her he’d get there as quickly as he could. When he got there, he filled in the paperwork, al
l the stuff he needed to do to let the hospital discharge me into his care. Then he put me in his car. He had to drive really slowly because the roads were so bad—away from the bigger roads, none of them were gritted. He was making a turn when his car hit a patch of black ice, and he said that he totally lost control of the car. It went spinning across the road, and we hit a snowdrift. Well, it was actually some kind of hedge, but it was all covered in snow.” She waved her hand. “Anyway, that’s not important. I’d started crying, and he didn’t know what to do. He lifted me out of my seat and cuddled me into him. He was rocking me and singing to me, apparently, but nothing was working.”
“Sounds familiar. There are times I can’t get you to shut up, either.” I smirked at her, and she stuck her tongue out at me.
“Ha ha. I don’t think you have a career as a comedian in your future.”
“I can be funny. When I want to be.”
“Sure you can.” She rolled her eyes, smiling.
“Back to the story. What happened?” I asked.
“He’d tried all this stuff, and nothing was working. He thought I might be hungry but hadn’t thought to bring anything to feed me—it was all back at the house.” She huffed out a breath. “The way he told it was that he suddenly saw this shooting star out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and realised the Quadrantids meteor shower was starting, and he turned me around and I stopped crying, watching the meteors with him.” A laugh escaped her lips as she continued. “I wouldn’t have even been able to see them, probably. Can’t babies only see things that are close to them? Still, it stopped me crying, and we sat and watched the whole thing.”
“How did you get out of there?”
“Another car came along, a Land Rover or something, driven by a local farmer, and he got us out and back home.”
“And you got the tattoo to remember that?” I reached for her hand, kissing the tattoo that was there on her wrist, following the meteor trail with my lips all the way up to her inner elbow.
“I got it to remember my dad. He’d always try and watch the meteor shower with me, every year, if he could.” She shivered slightly. “Anyway, that’s my story. It’s getting colder, now, isn’t it?”
Yeah, it was. My nose had gone numb. “Thanks for sharing that with me.” I stared at her for a moment, and she shivered again. “Come on. Let’s get back to the house so I can fuck you senseless.”
“You’re so romantic.”
“I know.”
I got her to wait in the warmth of the car while I gathered up the stuff I’d brought, shoving it back in the duffel bag, before carefully taking the telescope apart and packing it back into its box. I’d bribed Dave, a guy at uni who was a massive astronomy geek, to let me borrow it for the evening. It had taken a monetary bribe, plus a party invite to Winter’s party, and the assurance I’d be seen speaking to him at said party so he could increase his “cool points.” His words, not mine. He was more protective of the bloody thing than I was about my car.
I mentally shook my head, clearing thoughts of Dave from it, then sent Weston a quick text to say we were on our way back. I had champagne chilling in the fridge for my girl, and I wanted it in our bedroom ready for her when we got back. Neither of us were going to be leaving that room tonight if I had anything to do with it.
“Why did you bring me all the way up here, anyway?” Winter turned to look at me as I started up the car.
“Uh…reasons. I knew we could be alone. I knew the view of the stars would be great from up here.” I cleared my throat, trying to get rid of the lump that had suddenly appeared. “And it was my mum’s favourite place. She used to make us hike up here in the summer, and we’d always have a picnic at the top. Me and West would play tag, and she’d sit making daisy chains and watching us. Dad would come, too, sometimes.” I frowned. “If he wasn’t busy.”
