My Torin

Until we’re reunited.

Again.

It happened once before and it’ll happen once again.

And I’ll be waiting with open arms, sweetheart.

I love you, always.

Tyler

This isn’t a game.

It’s a plan.

Then let me hold you.”

As though he holds everything she could ever want in the palm of his hand.

You are. You tap when you’re nervous. Why did you lie?

Pursing my lips, I type out a response.

Me: I don’t want to talk about it.

Torin: Talk about what?

Me: It.

Torin: What is it?

Me: Nothing.

Torin: Goddamn you, woman. You make no sense.

A giggle escapes me and I can’t help but look back at him. His features are bland, but fire dances in his eyes. He’s pissed at me and it’s kind of funny. My phone buzzes again. Tyler grins at me.

Torin: I love your laugh.

My heart rate skitters.

Me: I haven’t ever heard yours.

Torin: I don’t laugh.

Me: Is that a challenge?

Torin: I. Don’t. Laugh. I can’t. It’s not physically possible.

Me: Who’s the big fat liar now?

Torin: I’m not fat.

Me: But you are a liar. Ha!

He grunts from the backseat and I laugh again.

Me: I’m going to make you laugh one day.

Torin: Good luck with that.

Me: Let’s bet.

Torin: The odds are stacked against you…

Me: I’ll take my chances.

Torin: Thunder.

Me: You’ll give me your horse if I can make you laugh???

Torin: Thunder will always remain mine because I don’t laugh.

Me: Challenge accepted, big boy.

“I love you, Casey. You need to hear that. I know you’ll never be mine, not like that, but you can be mine like this. Just for a little while.” Tears streak down my temples. “Just for a little while.”

­tect her.

“Y-You l-l-let m-me love you.”

“Loving someone isn’t a bad thing,” I murmur, my nose nuzzling against her hair, trying to memorize her scent. “Love isn’t something you’re supposed to shield yourself from. You’re supposed to find it and snatch it up, sweetheart.”

I couldn’t choose one type to represent you. You’re everything at once. Every pretty thing in one breathtaking package.

He lets go of the reins and his other palm slides to my hip. I’m coming alive under his touch. My body thrums with need. With surprising strength, he crushes me with a tight embrace. An apology. Unspoken but certainly felt. It moves me to tears. They well in my eyes, blurring the beautiful scenery around me, before streaking down my cheeks. His body relaxes and so does his hold.

Torin: I’d say her laugh is soft like a feather fluttering along a porch floor. You want to pick it up and touch it, but you don’t want to ruin its journey. It’s perfect as it moves along, undisturbed. The sound is one that can’t be described. It just is. A sound that finds its way down into the very marrow of your bones. Roots inside and lives there. Quivers and quakes—a constant reminder that it’s there.