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Ourlast.
I carefully lowered my umbrella to the ground, even now wanting to take care not to break it. I wouldn’t use it again, but I wanted to think of it sitting on the sand, a testament to Adone’s desire to protect me.
Tumbles rolled back to join us, settling in the bit of remaining shade beneath the shelter. His bristly fur dropped onto his round body, and he looked up at us sadly. He released a soft coo, perhaps the last one I’d hear.
But . . . I frowned as an idea came to me.
I took both of Adone’s hands and squeezed them. “Say something mean to me.”
“I . . . I can’t.”
“Sure you can. Tell me I’m ugly, that my nose is too big, hell, that my ass is too big. It is.”
“You are perfect. I cannot say these things.”
“Be mean to me!”
“I won’t. Summer, this could be our last tick together. Remember me?”
“Adone. Don’t . . . No, actually . . . keep talking like that.”
“You are lovely, but this is not the only reason I have great feelings for you.”
It was working. “More.”
His lips quirked up before smoothing. “You are wonderful inside. Sensitive, yet caring. Look at how you protect Tumbles, how you trust him to lead us out of danger.”
“Which he still hasn’t done, but this is good.” He shook his head, and I could tell he didn’t understand. “Say more nice things to me. That’ll work.”
“I believe I am falling in love with you.”
And with that, my tears started falling. It wasn’t hard to generate them. They’d been building inside me as sorrow took hold, as I started to believe we wouldn’t make it.
“I have made you cry, the last thing I wished to do.”
“Sometimes, crying can be good.”
“How can this be good?”
“Because . . . I’m making water.” I looked up at him, seeing the realization dawn on his face.
He stroked my tears off my cheeks with his thumbs, taking care not to scratch me with his claws. “Mate. You have made water.”
“Now we just have to make it disappear.”
“I think I know of a way.” He lifted me off my feet, carrying me up until our faces were level.
And with his kiss, he made my tears—the only water around us—disappear.
