hapter 22
Arianna’s face went from pink to full on crimen at his teasing, and she shot him a look that was equal parts embarrassed and annoyed
Seeing that he’d succesfully flustered her, Jayden couldn’t help but grin “Alright, alright, I’ll stop sing with you. Let’s actually maka jur
They spent the nest hour completely lost in the process–kneading clay, working the pottery wheels, soothing and shaping until their plezer kated to resende adual mues
When Jayden finally looked up to assess their progress, he had to laugh out loud, this creation looked like it had been made by a drunk kindergartner–lopsided, wobbly, and definitely not capable of belling liquid without a major structural failure.
Arianna’s, on the other hand, was practically museum quality–modih, perfectly proportioned, with delicate little details that would make Orange instantly recognizable once it was painted.
Of course she was naturally gifted at this. She’d always been the artistic one, always had that careful attention to dead that he completely lacked
He was still marveling at her work when something cool na pabby acket him right on the nose. He looked down crows eyed to see a blob of clay perched on the tip.
Arianna was hiting her lip, trying desperately not to burst into laughter, but her eyes were sparkling with mischief.
“Seriously?” Jayden said, his voice full of mock indignation. “What are you twelve?
Instead of looking even remotely sorry, Arianna took advantage of his good mood and smeared another streak of clay across his cheek with her thumb. “Oops,” she said with fake innocence. “You had some clay.. right there.”
Before Jayden could plot his revenge, the shop mener appeared with a clipboard and a knowing smile.
“All finished?” he asked, clearly amused by their clay covered faces. “Eurollent work. These ‘ll need to be fired, glazed, and shipped. The whole process takes about a month. Where should I send them when they’re ready?”
Jayden paused with the pen halfway to the address form, suddenly hit with a decision he hadn’t expected to make. He glanced between the options, then looked at Arianna.
“Where do
you want these sent? Vermont or New York?”
Arianna was examining a ceramic lucky eat on a nearby shelf, completely absorbed in its intricate details. She didn’t even look up when she answered.
“Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be,” she said simply, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Vermont, New York, the moon–doem’t
The casual certainty in her voice made Jayden’s chest feel like it might crack open with evotion. She wasn’t just talking about the mugs, and they both knew it.
“I’m serious,” she added, finally glancing up at him with a soft sille. “My home is wherever you are.”
Without hesitation, Jayden wrote down his Vermont address. New York had his career, his fancy apartment, his carefully constructed adult life. But Vermont had their history–and now, hopefully, their future.
Besides, small towns always needed good cardiologists.
The afternoon sun hit them like a furnace when they stepped back outside. The heat was brutal the kind that made the air shimmer and sent most sensible people running for air conditioning
“Okay, I’m starting to think our timing was maybe not ideal” Arianna said, already looking a little wilted after just one block…
Guilt immediately twisted in Jayden’s stonylch like a knife. He’d been so excited about surprising her with this trip that he’d compleforgotten how mach she hated hot weather–especially with her heart condition making temperature regulation even harder.
„ “Shit. F’m sorry,” he said, stopping dead in his tracks. “I should have checked the forecast. We can head back to the BA if you need to cool down.”
But Arianna had already spotted something across the street that caught her attention–a qurky little shop with a hand painted sign reading The
12.03
Mmost in Lower with Your Before That Cruel Summer Took Everything
“Oh my God, Bank
she said, grabding las hand and polling him toward the
The moment they stepped inside and Jupd naw what the ding offered–write a letter today, have it delivered early one yea cold and heavy settled in his hut.
The year. Twelve months. Three hundred and sixty five days.
Would they even still be together by then? Would she even till he
His hand tightened armind hers inconcioudy, and he felt his throat start to close up.
“Arinqusa,” he said quietly, his voice coming out rougher than he introded. “I need to tell you something About your diary.”
She looked up at him, imunediately sensing the
“pot “he continued, the words feeling like they were being pulled out of him with pliers. Ten years ago. The package your mom sept. I got the day before I left for college.”
He couldn’t look at her face. Couldn’t bear to see whatever expression was forming t
there.
“I never opened it,” he continued, each word feeling like a confession. I was so fucking angry, so hurt, that I just. Ishoved ir
pretend it didn’t exist.”
The familiar way of self hatred crashed over him, threatening to pull him under.
“All that pain you were feeling, all those thoughts you wrote down–I could have known. I could have understood what you were going through. But I was too much of a coward to face in
His voice cracked on the last words, and he realized his hands were shaking.
“You were suffering alone, and it was my fault. 1 failed you in every possible way.”
Suddenly, Arianna’s hands were on his face, forcing him to meet her eyes. Her expression was fierce, determined.
“Stop,” she said firmly. “Look at me, Jayden”
When he finally did, her eyes were bright with unshed tears, but her voice was steady,
“If you’d read it back then, everything would have heen different. Maybe better, maybe worse–we’ll never know. But I’m not going to let you torture yourself over something that happened ten years ago.”
She brushed her thumb across his cheek, and he realized he was crying.
“We found each other again,” she continued softly. “Against all odds, despite everything that went wrong, we’re here. We’re together. And I’ve never bren happier in my entire life,”
Jayden searched her face desperately, looking for any sign that she was just trying to make him feel better. But all he saw was love and certainty and a peace that he desperately wanted to feel himself.
She picked up two pieces of stationery from the counter and handed him a pen, her
r smile gentle but encouraging
“Come on,” she said, settling into one of the writing desks by the window. “Let’s write to ourselves a year from now. Tell them how happy we are right
She stared at the blank paper for a long momeny, her pen poised over the page. Then she looked up at him, and for the first time since they’d been reunited, he saw something fragile and uncertain in her eyes.
“A year from now…she said slowly, her voice barely above a whisper. “Do you think we’ll still be together?”
Ummmar Tank Every
