Lost in the Never Woods(107)

“You could stay with me,” he repeated.

“And I could see my brothers again?”

“Yes.”

Wendy dragged her teeth over her bottom lip. Of course, it was too good to be true, or that simple. “But then they wouldn’t be able to move on, would they?”

Peter held her gaze, but his smile lessened. “No.”

Wendy nodded. “And neither would I…” It was a wonderful idea. Running away to Neverland with Peter. Being able to see her brothers again. Having no responsibilities. No real world to have to deal with. But it also meant giving up so much. Wendy let out a small laugh. “With my luck, we’d just kick-start this whole nightmare all over again,” she told him.

Peter laughed and bumped his shoulder into hers. “Yeah, I guess that wouldn’t be good.”

“Well, you could just stay here and grow up,” she said, heart fluttering. “With me.”

Peter’s smile was soft and sweet. Just for her.

She knew the answer before he could say it.

“I can’t. I need to go back and take care of the lost kids. I want to,” he corrected himself. “To look after them.”

Wendy nodded.

“Growing up sounds awful anyway,” Peter said casually, with a dismissive wave of his hand. He looked out over the backyard toward the woods. His eyes shone especially bright and the tip of his nose turned pink. “Though…” His head tipped and he looked at Wendy from the corner of his eye. “Maybe not so awful if it were with you.”

Wendy laughed and wiped tears from her eyes with the heel of her hand. “Will you tell John and Michael when you see them?” she asked. “That I love them and think about them all the time?”

“I will.”

With a shaky nod, Wendy threw herself against him and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Peter squeezed her against him. She laid her ear against his chest. His heartbeat thrummed, fast but steady. Wendy tried to ignore the dread weighing on her.

“You have to leave now, don’t you,” she mumbled against his shoulder. It wasn’t a question. She leaned back to peer up at him.

Peter nodded. His hair tickled her forehead as he stared sadly into her eyes.

She wanted to tell him that she didn’t think she could handle saying good-bye. That the thought of never seeing him again terrified her. That she needed him, that she wanted to keep him, but she couldn’t talk past the lump in her throat.

Peter smiled. He cupped Wendy’s cheeks in his hands. Her eyes closed. His kiss was soft. His lips tasted sweet as honeysuckle.

“I will never forget you,” he whispered against her lips.

When she opened her eyes, he was gone.

Wendy wrapped her arms tightly around herself. The cool breeze drifting in from the woods tickled her skin.

It seemed impossible for things to go back to normal after a day like today. She knew there would be more questions in the morning. She would have to explain to Jordan what had happened, or as much as she could, anyway. They would probably argue some more, but it was more important for Wendy to explain herself and to keep Jordan as her best friend than to be “right” or the winner of the conversation.

There would be moving on after this. The summer would be over soon, and she would be starting college. A new life and a new path.

Wendy gazed up at the stars, and the stars gazed back.





Epilogue





“Ugh!” Jordan dramatically threw her hands into the air and collapsed back onto the grass. “Why did I let you talk me into taking this class?” she demanded, shouting at the sky.

“I didn’t make you do anything,” Wendy told her, chuckling as she neatly tucked her organic chemistry textbook into her backpack. She and Jordan had a tradition of eating lunch on the sprawling lawn between classes when the weather was nice. “We’re taking the class because it’s required for premed.” Wendy fixed her with a stern look, her eyebrow cocked at a critical angle. “Remember?”

Jordan muttered darkly under her breath.

Their first year of college had passed by in a blur. Wendy and Jordan had been placed in the health sciences dorm, right down the hall from each other. It had only taken Wendy one week of classes before she’d gone to the registrar’s office and signed up for premed. Jordan had whooped and hollered behind her as she filled out the paperwork at the front desk. It was embarrassing and wonderful.

It was mind-blowing, the difference a year could make.

The university had a great clinic onsite, and her student health insurance included counseling sessions. She’d been seeing the same psychologist all school year, twice a week, and she was slowly learning how to work through her anxiety disorder. After getting her memories back, Wendy had experienced a whole new set of challenges. Nightmares, flashbacks, and insomnia. She got a prescription to ease her anxiety and help her sleep, but some days were worse than others. It was hard. Sometimes it felt impossible, but she had help. She had her parents, she had Jordan, and she had her goals to focus on and pull her through. She was going to graduate with her bachelor’s degree, go on to med school, and become a doctor. A pediatrician, specifically.

“I gotta head to my next class,” Jordan grumped, stuffing papers haphazardly into her bag. She stretched her hands up over her head, fingers reaching toward the sunshine. “Are we still on to swim laps tomorrow morning?”