And more importantly, I had a future to get back hold of. I promised my girl we would meet again.
I wasn’t going to let her down.
Surprise Guests and Connected Hearts
Savannah
Harvard University
Fall
“MAKE SURE TO DO THE READING FOR NEXT WEEK!” THE PROFESSOR shouted over the mass of people packing away their notes and scurrying out of the door.
“I think I’ve bitten off more than I can chew,” Cara, my new roommate, said.
“You can do this,” I said, putting my bag over my shoulder and heading out of the building. College had just begun. We’d had a week of orientation, and today was the first day of classes. But better yet, I was going to see Cael again soon. Just as I had arrived, the hockey team left for an off-campus training camp. He had told me he was back today, and I was counting down the seconds until I saw him again.
We had talked every day since he left the retreat, and I could hardly breathe with how badly I wanted to see him again. To have him wrap his strong arms around me and pull me to his chest.
I was nervous too. It had been months since he had left Japan. Since we had kissed or held one another close. I’d missed him so much at times I felt like boarding a plane to see him. But I knew he needed to focus and that I’d see him again at college.
I could barely believe I would see him again in a matter of hours.
We walked to the hallway and left the building, entering the beauty that was Boston in the fall. It was so beautiful it didn’t seem real. I checked my cell phone to see if he had called. There was nothing yet. I put my phone in my pocket, then looked up and stopped dead in my tracks. My heart fired off into a sprint, when, down the stairs, standing against a tree in the courtyard, was Cael. He was searching all around him, looking for someone … looking for me, I realized. Students muttered as they had to squeeze past my statue-like state, but I couldn’t move, too shocked at seeing Cael again right before me.
“Savannah? What—” Cara said, but then her words died off into silence. Then she said, “That’s Cael Woods.” But my eyes were locked on the boy who had stolen my heart from the moment I had laid eyes on him. The boy who had held that heart in his hands for months, keeping it safe until I was back in his arms.
Cael was dressed in sportswear. Sweatpants and a jacket. My breathing stuttered in happiness when I saw it was a jacket that read
Crimson Hockey. His tattoos snuck up his neck and out of the collar, his dark hair short at the sides and messy on top … then he found me and I met his eyes.
Cael’s stare melted when our gazes finally collided. And like I had been a boat adrift at sea, I found an anchor in his eyes, his very presence. On shaking legs, I never broke eye contact as I began running down the steps and across the courtyard to where he stood.
Tears built in my eyes as I drank him in with my every step. He was here. Cael was really here. He didn’t hesitate and set off to run for me too, and unable to be parted for one more second, we landed in each other’s arms, chests meeting and arms wrapping around the other like we would never let go. I held on tight, my soul soaring now that I was back in his embrace.
“Peaches …” Cael murmured into my neck, and I almost broke at hearing that Boston brogue saying that word—
my word.
“Baby,” I whispered back and pulled him tighter, so impossibly tight we merged into one single form in the college courtyard.
Cael reared back and I studied him up close. It was like seeing the most glorious sunrise after too many nights of darkness. “I’ve missed you, Peaches,”
he said with his graveled voice, and I felt the truth of those words in every inch of my heart. “God, I’ve fucking missed you.”
Cael dropped his forehead to mine and laced our fingers together. “I’ve missed you too,” I said, barely able to find my voice, too overcome with happiness, his sea-salt and fresh-snow scent making him feel like home.
Cael inhaled, then kissed my cheeks, my forehead, and, seeking out my eyes for permission—which was more than given—then kissed my lips. As he did, the pain of his long absence fell away. My Cael was kissing me. He was here.
I kissed him back, sinking against him as he kissed me deeply, honestly and true. And as he kissed me, I sensed a new lightness within this boy who I loved with my very being. His kisses were searching but loving. They were optimistic, not laced in sadness and desperation.
A tear escaped the side of my eye as he pulled me even closer. I was safe in his arms once again. And he was safe in mine.
Cael broke from the kiss. “I love you, Savannah,” he rasped, and I felt that love radiating from his soul.
I placed my hand on his cheek. “I love you too. I missed you so much.”
Cael inched back. He studied my face like it was a Renaissance painting. Then his gaze shone with nerves. “Please will you come tonight?” he said, vulnerability in his voice.
“What’s tonight?” I asked.
“An open scrimmage,” he said and released one of my hands to run his fingers through my hair. My eyes closed at his touch. “I want you there.” He swallowed. “It’s the first event the team is doing outside of closed practice.” He breathed in deeply, then exhaled slowly. I took hold of his hands and squeezed twice. Our secret sign. A smile, so blinding, lit up his face and rivaled the sun.
Lord, he was beautiful.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I said and laid my head against his chest. Cael exhaled, seemingly in relief. The sound of his racing heart brought butterflies to my chest.
I had him back. We were back together.
His hand kept running through my long hair, like he couldn’t bear to not be touching me somehow after all this time apart.
He then cupped my face and kissed my lips. “I can’t believe you’re here, in front of me. It doesn’t feel real,” he said, and I smiled, turning my head and pressing a kiss to his palm.
“It’s real,” I said, threading my arms around his waist. “We’re real.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.