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Cadence rolled her eyes and got her bag out of the backseat. “You’re not that old, El. Stop acting like you have one foot in the grave.”

My age really didn’t seem to bother her. I thought about arguing, but that wasn’t how I wanted to spend our time together.

We started walking and before I knew what was happening, Cadence had slipped her hand into mine as if it was something we had always done. I braided my fingers with hers and it was like nearly everything else we had done so far together: easy.

Cadence listened as I took her around campus and pointed out the buildings where I’d had my classes, and I took her to the apartments I’d lived in, and then to the café where I’d sat to do my homework or write sometimes. It had changed hands since then, but it still looked the same inside.

“Hungry?” I asked her.

“Yeah, definitely.”

We sat in a booth together and after a moment of sitting on the opposite side, Cadence got up and slid in next to me.

“You were too far away,” she said, reaching up and stroking the side of my face.

For a second, my heart leapt to my throat and I worried about people saying something about us being together.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Cadence said, stroking me again.

After a quick visual sweep of the café, I realized she was right. No one was paying attention to us.

“Sorry,” I said.

“It’s okay. I know this is new. You’re going to be a little jumpy. Plus, you have that added layer of worrying if anyone is going to recognize you.”

Shit. I hadn’t even been thinking about that until she’d said it.

A server interrupted us and we ended up ordering. The place did have cake, which Cadence ordered, along with her chicken sandwich and fries. I stuck to the huge chef’s salad. It wasn’t the same as the one I’d eaten in college, but I didn’t expect it to be. It was still delicious.

After we ate, we walked around and ducked into some of the shops.

“How did you get the courage to write your first book?” Cadence asked. We’d taken a detour through the park and I couldn’t let go of her hand.

“It wasn’t courage so much as delusion?” I said, and she laughed and pulled me up the steps into the little gazebo that sat at the center of the grass.

“Eloise Roth, I think you’re pretty fucking brave,” she said, pressing up on her toes and kissing me.

I didn’t feel brave, but it was nice to hear from her. Maybe if she said it enough times I’d believe it.

Chapter Nineteen

Cade

I hadn’t expected her to show me so much of her past so soon, but the way things had gone with us was anything but ordinary. We seemed to be forging our own path.

After we’d walked around some more, Eloise drove us to a bakery so I could get whatever cake I wanted. They actually had a cake tasting plate, like people do for weddings that you could order, and I was all over that.

As usual, the red velvet was my favorite. Eloise adored the carrot cake, which I liked, but wasn’t the best.

I hadn’t taken any pictures of the two of us until now, but I held my phone out as I kissed her cheek and snapped a few. I’d also snuck a few shots when she wasn’t looking. She was beautiful today in her dress, and I had to keep reminding myself that she was with me. She had chosen me.

If I let myself think about that too much, I feared that I would float away, too full of happiness.

Being with her made my pulse race and my skin ache and everything was brighter and better, and it was almost too much but I wanted to drown in it.

Drown in her.

“Stop looking at me like that,” she said when we left the bakery with more cake packaged to go.