Page 27 of All Your Tomorrows

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“Nora?” He lifted my chin with his thumb so I had no other option but to look him in the eyes. “Talk to me.”

“We shouldn’t be able to do that,” I said.

“Why not?” he asked, almost hurt by my words.

I shook my head, the words not coming out right. “No, I mean, we shouldn’t even be able to touch the way we do. So, kissing is definitely something else.”

“Otherworldly?” he asked with a panty-melting smirk.

I rolled my eyes. “You know how to kiss. Am I ever gonna live it down?”

“Not sure,” he said, climbing off the loveseat and returning to the sofa.

The spot beside me suddenly felt empty. Why had he moved away? Had he really only been trying to show me what I was missing?

I picked up my cup of noodles, needing something to do with my hands.

“I’d like to go to the bridge,” he said.

My shoulders sank. Out of all the things I’d hoped he’d say, him changing the subject—and distancing himself from me—wasn’t one of them.

“I think I’ll remember something about that night if I go there,” he continued.

“Yeah. Of course,” I said, steeling my features like a pro. “Whatever you need.”

He stared across the space between us. He wanted to say something. I could see it in the way his eyes creased in the corners. But I really didn’t want to hear that he felt bad for the poor virgin. That he pitied the girl who’d been cheated on. That he owed me for helping him.

Before tears caused my façade to crack, I placed my noodles down and pushed myself to my feet. “I’m gonna head to bed.”

“Oh,” he said as if confused by my quick exit.

“I’ll see you in the morning and get you to the bridge.”

He nodded.

I turned and moved toward the stairs wishing I didn’t feel so let down by the turn of events. Wishing I hadn’t hoped the kiss meant anything more than it did. I needed to see it for what it was. Him making a point that I was missing out on living.

“Nora?”

I stopped but couldn’t bring myself to turn around.

“Thank you.”

I released a silent breath, wishing he’d said anything other than that. “Any time.” I couldn’t escape that room fast enough.

I closed myself in my room and flopped down on my bed, wishing my life wasn’t as screwed up as it currently was. And, wishing I wasn’t so confused by a kiss that surpassed all others.

CHAPTER 9

The afternoon sun shone down on Kyler and me as we stared over the guardrail, leaning on the new section that must have replaced the broken part from the accident.

“I’ve never stood on this bridge before,” Kyler said as he gazed down at the river flowing thirty feet below. “I’ve driven over it hundreds of times, but I never realized how deep the water below it is.”

“You saved her,” I assured him, knowing so many thoughts must have been running through his mind.