Heart Bones - Colleen Hoover Page 0,100
soon. I hated that Samson wasn’t able to attend her funeral. I know she meant a lot to him. She even visited him a few times before she died.
Samson repositions himself so that he’s lying in the sand, his head in my lap. He stares up at me with a look of peaceful content. I drag my fingers through his wet hair and smile down at him.
“Where’s Pepper Jack Cheese?” he asks.
I nod my head at our house. “He’s an indoor dog now. He and Dad bonded.”
“What about you and your dad?”
I smile. “We bonded, too. He’s been great.”
Samson brings my hand to his mouth and kisses it. Then he grips it with both hands and presses my palm against his chest, holding my hand there.
Everything fell right back into place with him almost as soon as I laid eyes on him today. It’s like a single minute never even passed. I have no idea what tomorrow holds, but everything I need is tied up in this moment.
“You look different,” he says. “Better. Happier.”
“I am.” I can feel his heart pounding against my palm. “I’m not gonna lie, I was so mad at you in the beginning, but you were right. It was for the best. I never would have left otherwise.”
“It was awful,” he says with a contradicting grin. “Complete torture. I can’t tell you how many times I almost caved and asked Kevin for your address.”
I laugh. “Glad to know you thought of me.”
“Every minute,” he says confidently. He reaches a hand up and touches my cheek. I lean into his palm. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
I nod.
“Did you date other guys?”
I blink twice. I was expecting him to ask me that, but maybe not this soon.
He lifts up onto his arm until he’s face-to-face with me. He reaches around me and presses a comforting hand to the back of my neck. “I’m only asking because I’m hoping your answer is yes.”
“You’re hoping I dated other people?”
He shrugs. “Not saying I wouldn’t be jealous. I’m just hoping you actually had fun in college and didn’t treat your dorm room like a prison cell.”
“I dated,” I say. “I even had a boyfriend for a while during junior year.”
“Was he nice?”
I nod. “He was. But he wasn’t you.” I lean forward and kiss him briefly. “I made friends. I went out. I made good grades. And I even loved my volleyball team. We were pretty damn good.”
Samson grins and then resumes his position by laying his head on my thighs. “Good. I don’t regret my decision, then.”
“Good.”
“How’s Sara? Are she and Marcos still together?”
“Yeah, they got married last year. She’s four months pregnant.”
“Good for them. I was hoping that would work out. What about his clothing line? Did it ever take off?”
I point at a house down the beach. Samson lifts up onto his elbows so he can see where I’m pointing. “That’s their house. They just finished construction on it six months ago.”
“That yellow one?”
“Yep.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, the clothing line is doing well. He has a lot of followers on TikTok, so that gave his merch a huge boost.”
Samson shakes his head. “TikTok?”
I laugh. “I’ll show you later when you get a new phone.”
“Oh, how the tables have turned,” Samson says. He moves until he’s sitting next to me again. He wipes sand from himself. “Can we go see them?”
“Sara and Marcos? Right now?”
“Not this second,” he says. “I want more time to catch up with you. I’d also like to see your father. I owe him an apology or ten.”
“Yeah, that’s not gonna be easy.”
“I know. But I’m persistent.” Samson wraps an arm around me and pulls me to him. He kisses the top of my head.
“What am I supposed to call you? Shawn or Samson?”
“Samson,” he says immediately. “I’ve never felt more myself than when I was with you that summer. That’s exactly who I want to be. Forever.”
I wrap my arms around my knees and bury my mouth into my elbow to hide my smile.
“Where do you live now?” Samson asks me.
I nod my head at my father’s beach house. “Staying with my father and Alana this week, but I have an apartment in Houston. I’m in law school.”
“No way.”
I laugh. “I am. Just started my first semester in August.”
Samson shakes his head with a mixture of pride and disbelief on his face. “I didn’t know that’s what you wanted to do.”
“I didn’t know either until you were arrested. Kevin has been really helpful. I’m actually