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I rolled my eyes playfully. “Whatever.”
The waitress dropped off our check, then rushed over to another customer. Lincoln left cash on the table to pay, and then we got up to leave.
Lincoln glanced at his watch. “We’ve still got about an hour and a half to kill. Wanna go for a walk by the creek?”
I bit down on my bottom lip, unsure if that was a good idea. Before I could respond, Lincoln continued, “Aw, come on, Liv. For old times’ sake.”
My high school sweetheart gave me a sheepish smile, the one that I could never fight and always made me give in. “Okay,” I replied softly.
We drove through town before reaching the dirt road that led to the forest that housed the creek. We drove down the brown dirt until we couldn’t anymore, then got out and walked the rest of the way.
“I haven’t been here in forever,” Lincoln said as we entered the thicket of trees.
“I actually came down here when I first got to town,” I admitted.
“Really?” Lincoln asked.
I could feel his eyes on me as we walked. I nodded. “Yeah. I was a little overwhelmed, and the creek was always my haven, so I thought it would calm me.”
“And did it?”
A sad smile curved my lips. “It did.” But it brought back so many memories of you, of us, of everything I regret and wish I still had.
“Good.”
We walked in silence for the next few minutes until we reached the creek. Then we walked along the water just as we had when we were kids.
“I used to come here a lot after you left so I could feel close to you and still have a part of you, of us.”
My heart wrenched in pain as guilt settled in my stomach. “I’m so sorry, Linc. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He chuckled but not with humor. “You mean you didn’t mean to crush my heart into a million pieces and never look back?”
I stopped walking, and he did, too. My eyes stung with tears as I looked up to his stormy blue eyes filled with so much hurt and betrayal. “You think I wanted to leave? That my heart wasn’t broken, too? Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
The built-up tension between us had finally reached its breaking point. I was surprised we’d gone that long before addressing the elephant in the room.
“Then why’d you leave? Why did you give up on me? On us?” Lincoln asked, his eyes narrowed, searching mine for answers.
My words were rushed, my voice full of my emotion as I responded, “Because I was ashamed! I couldn’t bear to see the pain I’d caused every time I looked at you. The guilt ate at me every single day until I felt like I couldn’t breathe here anymore.”
“As long as we had each other, we could have made it through anything. All I needed was you, Liv. Don’t you get that? You were it for me.” He stepped forward and cupped my face in his hands. His voice softened as he continued, “I never blamed you, baby. Not once.”
We stared at each other for a few heated moments before Lincoln closed the distance between us and crushed his mouth to mine. I wrapped my arms around his waist, clutching the back of his shirt as our lips spoke the rest of what we didn’t say. They spoke of forgiveness, of want, of need; of desperation and longing. But most importantly, they spoke of hope; a hope that maybe we could get back what we’d lost someday. A gentle whisper that caressed my heart and revived my soul.
When we finally broke apart, my lips stung, and my lungs screamed for air. My heart beat wildly in my chest as I stared at Lincoln, trying to process what had just happened.
We both didn’t speak for several seconds before Lincoln took a step back as he apologized. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
My heart was still racing from his lips against mine. “It’s okay. We got caught up in the moment.”
Lincoln’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he nodded. “We better get going. Don’t want to be late.”
As if we needed today to be any more awkward.
The walk back to the truck was silent, but I felt like some tension from our argument had lifted. We both said things we hadn’t been able to before, which relieved some of the weight on my shoulders. Even if things were somewhat awkward because of it.
When we got back in the truck, Lincoln sighed in frustration. “I’m sorry, Liv. I didn’t mean to fuck things up between us.”
