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So tonight more than anything, I wanted him to acknowledge how he felt about me. To give me some sign to wait for him while he was gone. You know, the whole old-school romantic notion of being the girl he wrote home to and begged for care packages of homemade cookies. Even though long-distance relationships sucked, I was willing to do anything for Maddox—I loved him that much.

Drawing in a deep breath, I cast one final look at my somewhat wanton appearance before heading out of my bedroom. “I’m on my way to Sarah’s,” I called to my parents who were watching a movie in the living room. A surge of both recklessness and remorse flooded me at lying to my parents. But as overprotective as they were, they would have never let me go to a party at Maddox’s with Maudie gone.

“Have fun, honey,” Dad replied through a mouthful of popcorn.

“See you in the morning,” I said before closing the front door behind me.

As my flip-flops crunched along the gravel path to Maudie’s, I grinned when I thought about how Maddox had approached me earlier in the week. I’d just finished ringing up some customers when his head poked over the top of the register.

“Hey,” he said with a lazy smile.

“Hey yourself,” I said casually while trying to keep my cool with him so close.

“Listen, I’m having a Bon Voyage Party Friday night, and I want you to be there.”

My eyebrows rose in surprise. “R-Really? Me?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Thanks. I’d love to come.” As I sprayed down my lane, I cocked my head at him. “So does Maudie know about this little shindig you’re having?”

He chuckled. “Yeah, she does. In fact, she’s giving me the house for the weekend while she goes outta town for an art auction.”

“I see.”

“So you’ll be there?” he pressed insistently.

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Maddox winked before swaggering off. I had been staring at his retreating form so intently I didn’t notice when the next customer came up. She had to clear her throat to get my attention. “Sorry,” I’d mumbled.

When I started up Maudie’s porch steps, I glanced down at my phone. It was a little after nine, and I couldn’t help but feel disappointed there wasn’t a
Where r u?
text from Maddox. From the sounds of the inebriated crowd inside, the party had been in full swing for hours, so he should have wondered where I was. The moment I stepped through the front door, people stared at me. Nervously, I shifted my purse on my arm and scanned the room for Maddox. The crowd appeared to be made up of Maddox’s friends from high school, and they didn’t seem at all into talking to an underclassman and outsider like me.

After grabbing a strawberry wine cooler from the kitchen, I eased down on the sofa next to a couple who proceeded to go at each other like rabbits the moment I got comfortable. Nervously, I sipped my drink as I waited and waited for Maddox to come find me.

But he was nowhere to be found. And there were no texts from him either. So I played wallflower for an hour while couples drank and partially hooked up around me. Finally, with a defeated breath and crushed spirit, I grabbed my purse and headed for the door.

After I walked outside, the creak of the porch swing drew my attention. I squinted down the length of the porch. “Maddox, is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

I walked over to him. “What are doing out here by yourself?”

He shrugged. “I just needed some air.” He raked his hand through his dark hair before sucking in a deep breath. “You aren’t leaving, are you?”

“Oh, um, yeah. This really isn’t my scene.”

Maddox grinned. “Why am I not surprised? You’ve always been too much of a goodie girl for parties and drinking.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t know anyone here, and the host of the party, very rudely, wasn’t around to make introductions for me.”

He quirked a dark brow at me. “Is that right?”

“Yes it is.”

“What a bastard. Someone should totally kick his ass for being such a dick to such an amazing girl,” he mused.

I grinned at him. “Yes, they should.”

Maddox’s gaze roamed appreciatively over me. “Did you wear that smoking hot dress just for him?”

Oh hell yes, I did
. “Not exactly,” I lied.

“Good. He doesn’t deserve a girl as fine as hell like you.” He shook his head slowly back and forth and then smirked up at me. “What a package you are, Lane. Sexy and sweet and bad and good.”

I then waved the half empty bottle in my hand. “I dunno about being so good. I did have a wine cooler,” I protested.

A teasing, but sexy, gleam burned in his dark eyes. “Ooh, you’re so naughty.” Leaning forward, he grabbed my arm. Electricity shot all the way up my shoulder before sending tingling feelings over my entire body. “All joking aside, don’t leave. Sit down a minute.” Maddox patted the wooden seat beside him invitingly. Of course, it wouldn’t have taken much for me to flop down next to him.

The swing barely held the two of us, and I found myself practically in his lap. The heat from his body seared the bare skin on my thighs and arms. He reached over and grabbed two beer bottles off the side table. He handed me one, and reluctantly, I took it. “How about a toast since I’m leaving?”

“Okay.”

His forehead scrunched as he fought to find the right words. “How about, here’s to all the crazy shit we’ve done together since we were kids, and all the crazy shit we’ll do when I get back?”

“Sounds good.” I clinked the neck of my beer bottle to his. “Here’s to our past and future,” I murmured before taking a dainty sip.

Maddox snorted, causing me to jump. “Why don’t you get the stick out of your ass, prove me wrong for once and chug that thing?”

Lowering my bottle, I gave him the stink eye. He knew I hated when he dared me to do something—it was usually the reason why I got into trouble when we were younger. Part of me wanted to tell him to forget it, that I wasn’t falling for his usual goading. The other part of me wanted to show him that I really wasn’t just a ‘goodie girl’, as he liked to call me, and that I could be the right one. It was especially important since it was now or never time with cementing our relationship.

“Fine.” I tipped back the bottle and started draining the contents in long, foamy gulps. I got halfway through before my eyes watered, and my chest felt like it was going to explode. When my stomach lurched, I jerked the bottle away, spewing what was in my mouth over the floorboards. Before I could wipe my mouth, a burp rumbled through my throat and erupted from my lips.

Maddox’s eyes widened before he burst out laughing. Mortification warmed my cheeks and neck as his body shook the swing in amusement. I dragged the back of my hand across my face and wiped my mouth. I was debating sprinting off the porch when Maddox thumped my back heartily like he would one of his buddies. “That was awesome, Lane.”

“Oh yeah. Real cool,” I muttered.

“No, I’m serious.” He then winked at me, causing my heart to flutter. “But in the future, I think it’s best if you sip slowly rather than trying to prove me wrong.”

Without taking my eyes off his, I took a long gulp, shuddered at the taste, but then smiled sweetly at him. “Thanks for the advice.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Damn, I’m going to miss you.”

My heart went from fluttering into a full gallop. We sat in silence for a few minutes just listening to the sounds of the party, and the heave and sigh of the swing. Finally, I cleared my throat of what seemed like a mound of sawdust. “You know you’re missing your party,” I said softly.

Maddox shrugged. “It was stupid to have a party because I don’t feel much like celebrating.” After chugging the rest of his beer and tossing the bottle, he reached into the cooler beside him and got us both another one. As the sounds of the antics from inside the house grew louder, Maddox stood up and held out his free hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

I extended my shaky hand to meet his. “Sure,” I murmured. I’m not sure how my trembling legs supported me, but after putting one foot in front of the other, I let him lead me off the porch and into the yard. When we’d reached the old oak tree at the far end of the yard, I guess Maddox felt we’d distanced ourselves enough from the house because he stopped.

As I ran my fingertips over the seat of the worn swing, Maddox cocked his head at me. “Want me to push you like old times?”

“I’m not sure it’s safe.”

Maddox chuckled as he motioned for me to sit down. “You’re always so cautious, Lane.”

“Fine. But I better not bust my ass in this thing,” I muttered as I eased down onto the wooden seat.

His breath hovered over my earlobe. “If you hurt your ass, I’ll kiss it and make it better for you.” When I gasped at his blatant innuendo, he laughed. “Just teasing.”

“I don’t know what I’m more shocked about—your naughty suggestion or the fact you might actually care that I got hurt. I mean, when we were kids, you always gave me hell if I cried when I got a cut or bruise.”

Maddox grimaced. “Yeah, I was a big asshole to you most of the time, wasn’t I?”

“Pretty much.”

Pulling me back, he then pushed me forward in the swing. “Well, isn’t there some theory about little boys who treat little girls shitty to get their attention because deep down they’re really crushing on them?”

I twisted my fingers tighter around the swing’s rope handles while I tried to still my erratic breathing. “There’s something like that,” I murmured. Glancing over my shoulder, I caught Maddox’s intense expression. Nibbling my lip, I contemplated whether now was the right moment to come clean with him about my feelings.

Suddenly, an amused look came over his face. “Hey, remember that time we all went camping, and Maudie’s old hound dog broke into the cooler in the middle of the night and ate all of the hotdogs?”

“The one you named Lane?”

“That’s the one.”

I giggled. “Yes, I remember it.”

We then launched into an hour-long trip down memory lane. It wasn’t long before Maddox squeezed in beside me on the swing. By the time we were finished talking, I’d managed to polish off the rest of my beer. I was actually acquiring a taste for it, which for me was saying a lot. Of course, I was also starting to feel a little loopy, and the constant motion of the swing was making me woozy. I dug my toes into the dirt, stopping the swing.

“You okay?”

Bringing my hand to my head, I replied, “I will be when the world stops spinning.”

“Uh-oh,” Maddox said. He stepped around the side of the swing. After he brought one of my arms over his neck, he used the other to scoop me up in his arms.

“Oh my God, you don’t have to carry me! I’m not that dizzy,” I protested.

“Yeah, but it gives me the chance to look strong and get to feel you close to me.” When I stared up at him, he winked. Since I liked where the conversation was going and I didn’t want the moment to end, I gave him a pleading smile.

“Will you take me down by the river?”

“You don’t want to go back to the house?”

I shook my head. “I just want to be with you. Well, I guess I should say alone with you.”

Maddox’s dark eyes drank in my face for a moment before he bobbed his head. “Okay, but lemme run back to the porch for my cooler.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Maddox eased me gently onto my feet. When I started around the tree for the riverbank, he grabbed my hand. “Wait, don’t go by yourself.”

“Um, okay, Mr. Paranoid.”

He chuckled before trotting back across the yard to the house. From a distance, I watched him pound up the porch steps, wave to a few leaving partygoers as he grabbed the cooler, and then he jogged back to me.

Once he returned to my side, we let the full moon overhead lead us down to the river. We then both plopped onto one of the old blankets Maudie had left on the bank. She usually came down to the river every morning with her coffee before doing her Yoga poses.

“Damn, look at those stars,” Maddox remarked, craning his head to take in the sky.

As a lightning bug lit up in front us, I motioned to it. “Remember how I hated when you’d catch those and put them in a jar?”

Maddox grinned in the darkness. “You thought it was cruel because they couldn’t fly around with their fellow bugs.”

I giggled. “I was always going behind you and setting them free.”

With the same impish grin he had as a boy, Maddox asked, “You remember everything about us growing up, don’t you?”

“Sure I do.”

“Then you’re not going to forget me when I’m gone, are you?” he questioned.

“How can you say something like that? I could never forget you.” I stared into his eyes, which showed fear for the first time I could remember. The alcohol in me made me act much braver than I felt. I grabbed his hand in mine. “I’ll pray for you each and every night, Maddox. You just have to stay strong while you’re away, and come back to us safe and sound.”

He squeezed my hand tight. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

“And I’ll be right here waiting for you when you come back.”

Maddox leaned over and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I pressed myself against him, enjoying the way my body molded against his. Wanting even more of him, I dipped my head and started nuzzling my face against his neck. In all our years together, we’d never, ever been this close. The very thought sent a tingle ricocheting over my body, and I sighed with happiness.