Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(98)

Surprised, I looked over at Kellan standing beside me. Smiling, he glanced at the screen, hit a button, then tucked the phone in his pocket.

Ice washed through me; he hadn’t even looked at the message, like he was going to when he was alone. A downside to giving him a cell phone struck me as my curiosity piqued.





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Ignoring the look on my face, he pointed over to Anna. “Want to play a game? Anna thinks she can beat me at Monopoly.” He laughed a little and shook his head. I frowned. No, I didn’t want to play a game, I wanted to know who had just texted him.

“Sure,” I muttered. As he started leading me away, I started to wonder if maybe my parents were wiser than I wanted to believe. Before I could stop myself, I asked, “Who was that text from?” Kellan effortlessly smiled back at me and shook his head. “It was just from Griffin.” He leaned in and laughed. “Trust me, with the stuff he’s been sending me lately, you don’t want to see it.” I frowned, but nodded. It was a completely plausible story and he had just given us promise rings. He wouldn’t do that if he wasn’t living up to his end of the promise…right?





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15


Chapter


Unexpected


Kellan got to spend five more entire days with me. It felt like five months with how much time we spent together. I showed him everything my hometown had to offer while he was here. My old school, the street all the kids in the neighborhood used to play on, the café I frequented everyday for lunch my senior year of high school. Kellan acted like I was showing him around Disneyland, genuinely interested in seeing how I’d grown up.

For some reason, though, I shied away from all of the places that Denny and I had been together, places that were important to our relationship. The restaurant where we’d had our first date, this one particular espresso stand that we’d hit nearly every morning before classes, the book store that we used to go to on lazy, Sunday mornings.

Even though I avoided pointing it out to Kellan, there was so much of Denny in this city it was nearly overwhelming at times. We’d entered adulthood together here. In a way, we’d sort of grown up together here.

Walking around the reminders brought Denny to the forefront of my mind, but I pushed him back.

I could speak with my longtime friend later. My boyfriend, the man who’d recently given me his heart in a band of silver, was my primary focus. Especially since I wasn’t sure when I’d get to see him again, once his five days were up.

And once those five days were up, the time didn’t feel like five months anymore. It suddenly felt more like five seconds. Walking him as far as I could through the airport, I felt the heaviness of our separation in my heart. My mom was right about our relationship in one respect—it was hard. Him leaving, going out on the road to places unknown with people 275



unknown, was taxing. It took a special person to be able to wear the weight of that strain. I wanted to be that person, I desperately wanted it.

But I’d always liked consistency, and Kellan’s life was no longer predict-able. He was fluid now, carving a path that was as ever-changing as the weather. It knotted my stomach.

Bag slung over his shoulder, Kellan twisted to face me when it was time to part. Heart in his eyes, he laid his forehead against mine. “No goodbyes,” he whispered.

I nodded, biting my lip as my eyes stubbornly stung. “I’ll miss you.” He nodded against me, sighing softly. “I’ll miss you more.” I grinned a little, shaking my head. “No, it doesn’t work that way. It’s always harder on the person being left than the person leaving…that’s just a fact.”

Pulling back, he cupped my cheek. “I’m not leaving you. I’ll never leave you.”

I swallowed, placing my hand over his. “I know,” I whispered, hoping that what he’d just said was a fact.

He searched my eyes for long seconds, then he leaned in to kiss me. It was the softest, sweetest, most tender physical act we’d ever shared. I never wanted it to stop. I suddenly wished we were entered in one of those kissing contests right then, the kind where the couple who were locked together the longest won some outrageous prize, just so the moment would have to continue for days and days.

But that wasn’t what was happening, and eventually the moment did end. He pulled apart from me, slowly, reluctantly. Biting his lip, he sighed and brushed some tears off my cheeks; I hadn’t even realized I’d been crying. Engulfing me in a warm hug, he whispered in my ear, “I love you, just you…I promise.”

I smiled as we pulled apart, reaching up to feel his face under my fingertips. “I promise too,” I whispered back.





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He gave me a breathtaking smile then stepped back. Grabbing my hand, he kissed the back of it. Then he had to go, and I had to let him. I felt my heart squeeze as I watched the shape of him retreating from me.

But then my eyes drifted down his body and words from Matt’s neighbor drifted through my head. I smiled and shook my head. That spunky old lady was right…he did have a nice butt.

Anna and I spent New Year’s Eve in Ohio, her going out with a group of her old friends, me staying home with my parents. I played a board game with them while I thought about Kellan singing his heart out on a stage somewhere. It had been forever since I’d heard him sing…I missed that too.