Sinful Ever After - Vivian Wood Page 0,386

of the rain as it fell on the dunes in Kandahar.

I dream of the subway station where Rachel and I would so often meet. With its ceramic tiled floor and its low ceilings, part of it looks like nothing so much as a fallout shelter. In my dream, I pay for my fare with my MTA card. Then I look up, as I have so many times in the past, and find Rachel beaming at me. This is Rachel as an adult, but she’s dressed like she used to as a teen; her long honey hair in a ponytail, wearing a bright blue dress and scuffed pink Converse. She’s waiting for me, so I don’t hesitate.

I run to her, catching her around the waist. She laughs as I pull her into a hard kiss.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she whispers against my lips. “I brought someone that would like to say hello.”

“Oh yeah?” I say, arching a brow.

She bites her bottom lip and nods, stepping back. She grabs my hand as I turn to look.

Bobby Tillson is standing there, in full dress uniform. He has that stupid grin on his face, the same one he had the day he died. It doesn’t falter as he waves.

I’m frozen in place, staring at him. I manage to utter, “Tillson?”

“Hey there,” he says, still smiling. “I’ve been meaning to visit. You know how it is.”

Rachel moves a little closer. “We do. We know, Bobby.”

“You’re dead,” I blurt out. “I watched you die.”

He just shrugs. “Easy come, easy go. I’m onto the next adventure.”

My eyes mist over just a bit. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you died. I’m sorry I didn’t.”

My voice breaks on the last word. Rachel squeezes my hand. Tillson just has the same grin on his face.

“Does it look like I’m sad about that?” he asks. “Cause I’m not. Neither is Danvers. He says hi, by the way.”

“Tillson…” I say, shaking my head. “There is so much you didn’t get to experience—”

Tillson looks behind him, then nods. “I’m short on time. I have to go. Just know that you’ll be okay. Stick with your girl. She knows the way. And I will see you again.”

I suck in a breath. “Tillson—”

He laughs. “I know, man! I know. I just wanted to say hi one last time. I really have to go—”

And then he’s gone, just like that. I look down at Rachel in disbelief. “Was that… you saw that, didn’t you?”

She smiles, reaching up to touch the lobe of my ear. She pushes up on her tiptoes to whisper.

“They’ll be here soon,” she says.

My eyes snap open. For a moment, I’m disoriented. Then I realize that I’m still lying on my back in bed. Rachel has slipped from my hold on her body and looks down at me, touching my hair with every bit as much care as I dreamed.

“Did you hear me? They will be here soon.”

I surge up, finding her lips. She kisses me, laughing. “What’s all of this? Didn’t you get enough last night?”

“Never,” I swear, moving my lips down to her neck.

She smells so incredible. Like vanilla and pixie dust and home, I swear it.

Rachel laughs again. “You’re terrible. And I hate to remind you, but you are supposed to help me blackmail my father this morning.”

“Ah.” I kiss her neck. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“I’m sure!” she declares, pushing at me. I let her go, my mind awhirl.

Bobby really would’ve loved Rachel, if they had ever met while he was alive. That thought makes me smile but it also makes me a little sad.

I drag myself out of bed, getting dressed. Rachel hands me a cup of coffee.

I drink it down, hoping to avoid any more mental fog. I’m willing to face any foe that Rachel sets before me, but her father still intimidates me. He makes me feel like the poor young boy who first met Rachel all those years back, when I was just working at his golf club.

In some respects, I still haven’t entirely moved on from the part I played back then.

But I want Rachel. I want to start a life with her. I want to give her everything she has ever dreamed of. Babies, a ring, a house, even a fucking huge wedding if that’s what she wants.

Because she is already giving up everything to be with me. She’s my dream. I am already getting the girl.

I just want to make sure I know how to keep her.

There is