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“That’s all I needed to hear.” I pull her close, gather her into my arms. “Babe. I’m not going anywhere.”
We stand there in silence for a few moments. I feel her heart racing as she melts into me. And suddenly it hits me, like a bolt out of the blue. Kat and I are back to where we were all those years ago. We’re together, just like we always should have been. But just like in the past, outside forces are trying to get us to walk away from each other.
But it’s not happening. Not this time. This time, I’ll protect what we have. No matter what. No one — nothing — will ever come between us again. I’ll fucking see to that.
Wordlessly, I take her hand. We walk over to a play area at the center of the small park. I lead her to a swing set and guide her to sit down on one of the swings. I give her a push and she starts to kick her legs. I hear a soft giggle as she glides through the air away from me. I know we’re thinking of the same thing: an early date we had as teenagers, when we did the same thing. Kat has always loved swings.
I push her high into the sky, and soon she’s laughing and whooping like a little kid. The tension of the last ten minutes seems to fall away from her the higher she goes. It puts a grin on my face so big I feel like my cheeks might just crack wide open. Eventually, she stops pumping and glides to a stop.
When she gets off the swing, she throws her arms around my neck and hugs me so hard it’s like her life depends on it. “Why is it that you always seem to know the exact right thing to do?” she murmurs in my ear.
“Because I love you, Katrina.”
She pulls back to look at me. Her eyes are shining again, but this time the tears are happy.
“I love you, too, Connor.” She bites her lip. “I just want so badly to believe this can work.”
“It can.” I say firmly. “Itwill. Trust me, baby. Can you do that?”
She hesitates for just a split-second. Then she nods.
“I trust you,” she whispers.
We hold hands and walk around the park for a little while. The few other people there give us curious stares, but I’m guessing Kat’s nurse’s scrubs cancel out my leather cut, because they don’t seem all that alarmed by our presence.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever formally apologized for breaking things off with you back then,” I tell her as we walk. “I was a fucking idiot.”
“You haven’t.” She gives me a sideways glance, her lips quirking up. “But I accept your apology. Honestly, in some ways it was probably good for me, too, Connor. Back then, all I wanted in life was you. Being on my own spurred me to realize I needed to be able to stand on my own two feet. If if wasn’t for that, I never would have left town to go away for college. I might never have made anything of myself at all.”
“Seems like a twist of fate that a job back here in Minneapolis came your way.”
“Well… it wasn’t exactly fate, I don’t think.”
“What do you mean?”
“This has always been home for me.” She waits a beat. “And maybe…”
“Maybe what?”
“Maybe deep down, I wondered if we’d ever run into one another. If the spark would still be there.”
I pull her close. Close enough that she can feel what her words are doing to me.
“Oh, the spark is still there baby,” I rasp. “You best believe it.”
14
KAT
The high of Connor telling me he loves me lasts until we get back to my apartment building. The tiny lot is full, so I park on the street and Connor pulls his bike up behind me. As soon as I’m out of the car, he slips her arm around me, pulling me close into his warmth.
But everything comes crashing back down to earth a second later, when we see a familiar and unwelcome figure waiting outside my building’s front door.
Hooch comes storming toward us, gesturing wildly. “What the fuck ishedoing here?” he shouts, squaring his shoulders like he’s getting ready for a fight.
“Oh, shit,” I moan,” turning to Connor. “This isn’t good. Connor, you have to leave —”
But he puts a steadying hand on my back. “It’s fine, babe,” he interrupts me in a soothing voice. “Don’t worry.”
