he Resolution of Callie & Kayden (The Coincidence, #6)(31)

I sigh, hopping off him as he retrieves his phone. He reads the screen and then grins. ‘You know what? That sounds like a great idea,’ he says, lacing our fingers together as he tugs me toward the parking lot. ‘And I know the perfect place.’





Chapter 14


#156 Welcome Home.



Kayden


It’s taken me a couple of weeks to set this up and even longer to get the balls to do it. But after that night I spent with Callie, talking and reliving our past, I knew I had to. I have to give Seth most of the credit, though, for helping me out and for managing to keep it a secret. In the end, it was my speech about how Callie deserved this that won his sworn secrecy over.

I’m nervous the entire drive there, not just because I’m not sure how she’ll react, but because I’m uncertain how I’ll react. It feels like things are moving so quickly suddenly, not just with Callie and mine’s relationship but with life. I feel like sometimes I’m running my hardest to keep up with it, except when I’m with Callie. With her, I feel like we’re walking through it, enjoying every moment together. And that’s how I decided.

It was time.

‘Where are we?’ she asks, leaning forward to get a better look at where we are through the veil of snow hitting the window.

I turn off the car and the wipers stop, making it even harder for her to see. ‘It’s a surprise.’

‘At a park?’ she questions as she unfastens her seatbelt.

Nodding, I grab the door handle and push it open. ‘Yeah, follow me.’

The park is just part of the surprise. The rest of it is what’s right behind the building the park is connected to.

Her perplexity makes this even more entertaining as we get out of the car and she follows me through the snow and around the swing set to the slide. I’m rewarded even more when I start climbing up the ladder and her jaw drops.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ she asks, dumbfounded, as she watches me climb higher.

I glance over my shoulder back down at her. ‘If you want to find out, you’re going to have to follow me.’

She eyes the soaking wet ladder with skepticism, but I know she’ll do it – she’s too brave to let a little wet metal get in her way. And just like I knew she would, she starts up the ladder. When I reach the top, I hop into the tunnel slide and go down it, getting rewarded with a sopping wet puddle at the bottom and a bump on the head from the to-do list I had Seth secure in the slide just before we got here.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to put it there.

Reaching up, I unhook the string holding it in place and remove the small whiteboard. Seth’s erased the entire list, except for number one hundred fifty-five which might be my favorite number now. I tuck the board into my side, face down so the marker doesn’t get smeared by the snow.

‘You want me to slide down this?’ Callie calls down through the slide with bafflement in her tone.

I lower my head into the slide and yell, ‘Hell yes!’

There’s a pause and then I hear her squeal as she lowers her feet in then slides down.

‘Holy crap!’ She jumps up when she reaches the bottom as her ass gets wet. ‘That’s cold.’ Once she gets her footing, she looks from me to what’s in my hands. ‘What are you holding?’

‘Your surprise.’ I hand it over, still face down, but it’s more because of my nerves than the fear that it’ll get wet and ruined.

She rubs her lips together as she raises her brows at me. ‘You stole my whiteboard?’

‘No. I had Seth borrow it for me.’ I tap the back of it, noting that there’s a slight tremble to my fingers, something I blame on the snow, completely lying to myself.

A cloud of fog encircles her face as she releases a large exhale. Suddenly, she’s nervous, as if she’s realized this is no longer a game, but a very serious, life-altering moment.

‘I’m afraid to turn it over,’ she whispers, but does it anyway.

I hold my breath as I watch her read the two simple, but very momentous words written in red marker, along with the arrow pointing forward at the apartment complex straight across from where we’re standing. She must read it a few times because it takes a little bit for her to look up at me.

‘Welcome home?’ Her brows dip and her head angles to the side as she looks from me to the board, then her gaze tracks the direction of where the arrow is pointing. I know the moment it clicks in her head what I’m trying to say with this whole charade because her breath catches.

‘You and Seth are always doing crazy things like this whenever you ask me out or try to cheer me up,’ I tell her and nonchalantly shrug when her gaze locks on mine, even though I’m squirming in my skin. She hasn’t shown any signs of being happy and I’m getting worried that maybe this isn’t what she really wanted. ‘I thought maybe it was my turn’ – I brush her hair out of her eyes – ‘to do something surprising for you.’

She’s silent for what feels like forever, although her eyes never leave mine. It’s like she’s trying to read my mind or see into my soul or something. If anyone could, it’d be Callie. I just wish I could do the same with her right now because her quietness is becoming maddening.

‘This is what you want?’ She gestures at the board then the apartment complex without looking away from me.