Page 61 of Caution

Forrest lifted his hand to the side of my face. He stroked his thumb across the apple of my cheek. “I’ll miss you, sunshine.”

“Yeah, I’m going to miss you, too.” My words were strained, the pain in my throat unbearable.

His hand shifted slightly, so he could drag his thumb along my bottom lip. After his eyes watched his thumb’s movements from one side of my mouth to the other, he lifted them to meet mine and noted, “You have my number, if you ever want to talk.”

I did.

I knew I did.

But I didn’t think I’d ever be able to bring myself to reach out to him. It would just be too painful.

“I do,” I rasped. “And you have mine.”

Though he was smiling, I could see the frustration swirling in his eyes. He seemed to be waging a war with himself, and I only wished he could have said whatever was on his mind. “Thank you for making this trip so memorable, Daisy. I’ll never forget it. I’ll never forget you.”

If he kept this up, I wasn’t going to be able to hold myself back from bursting into tears for much longer.

I smiled at him. “Hey, you never know. Maybe I’ll be here when you come back for your yearly trip next year.”

He returned the smile. “I could only hope to be so lucky.”

That he thought he’d be the lucky one was almost enough to make the tears fall.

Why?

Why couldn’t I just tell him how I felt? Why couldn’t I tell him I didn’t want to let him go? Why couldn’t I have asked him how he’d feel about having me join him in his hometown? Why couldn’t I beg him to help me find a way to make this work for the both of us?

All those questions, and not a single answer in sight.

“Why do you think I’d come back here? You aren’t the only one who’d feel lucky. This was honestly the best trip of my life, Forrest. And I hope you know just how special it was for me.”

He nodded, smiled, and confirmed, “I do. It was the same for me.”

I let out a sigh of relief and went in for another hug. Forrest engulfed me in his arms in a way it made me believe he never wanted to let me go, like holding on to me was the only thing that would make him happy.

Unfortunately, no matter how much I might have wanted that to be the case, it was merely wishful thinking.

Forrest eventually loosened his hold on me. Then he dropped his mouth to mine and placed a tender kiss on my lips. When he pulled back and looked at me, he spoke softly. “Take care of yourself, Daisy.”

“You, too. Drive home safely,” I whispered.

He gave me one more kiss before he stepped back and opened my car door for me. Once I was inside, I gave myself one last opportunity to take in the sight of him. Then I said, “Goodbye, Forrest.”

“Goodbye, sunshine.”

A moment later, he closed my door and walked toward his truck. That’s when I knew it was over. It was done.

I’d never hear him call me sunshine again.

I’d never kiss him again.

Not unless we managed to make it to next year.

Still determined to fight back the tears, I took a deep breath, turned on my car, and started driving down the mountain.

I glanced up in my rear-view mirror and saw Forrest was following a safe distance behind me. I liked it. I liked knowing he was there, even if I hated knowing that wasn’t going to last forever.

Sure enough, after a few minutes of driving, I’d made it to the stop sign at the bottom of the hill. This was it.