Page 104 of A Real Goode Time

“I’ll come back. I don’t know how or when, but I will.”

“You better. You have to.”

“I have to, huh?”

“Yeah. Because I can’t give you my virginity until you do.”

He held me against him in a long hard embrace, then. “I know.”

Eventually, I had to climb off his lap before I started something we couldn’t finish. “I’ll call Mom, she can come get us so you can get your bag and your Jeep.”

He shook his head. “Been thinking about that, too.” He pointed at the road, beyond the dock, where the truck I recognized as belonging to Lucas waited. “He has my bag. He’s gonna take me to the airport.”

“The airport?” I echoed, confused. “Why the airport?”

“Because.” He showed me his phone, which had a digital boarding pass on the screen. “I have a one-way ticket back home. There’s a number of layovers, but it’ll get me to New Haven.”

“I’m not following.”

He dug into his pocket. Pulled out his keyring. Removed the key to the Jeep and handed it to me. “It’s yours.”

I shook my head. “No.”

He laughed. “Yes. I’m giving it to you. I can’t face the sixty-some hour drive home alone, for one thing. For another, I’ll never make any progress on my truck if I have the Jeep. And also…” He tucked the key into my hand. “I just want you to have it. She’s meant for you. I guess I just have a thing for hot girls in pimped-out Jeeps.”

“Rhys…”

“When I get back home, I’ll mail you the title signed over to you. Then you just have to sign it and take it to the DMV and make it official.” He waved a hand. “Gifting a car has a few other steps to it, I guess, but between you, me, your mom, and Lucas, we’ll figure it out. Point is, the Jeep is yours and I’m not discussing it. It’s a done deal, sweetheart.”

I held the key. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you seems insufficient.”

“I never meant to keep it forever. And I can’t think of anyone else who could love that Jeep as much as I do but you.”

“Well, for lack of anything better to say…thank you.” I sniffled.

He stood up. “I…I better go before I start something we can’t finish.”

I laughed. “I literally just thought that exact thing. Why do you think I got off your lap?” I stood up, and we faced each other, holding hands. “I don’t want you to go.”

“I don’t want to.”

“But you have to.” I had to suck it up. Try to make it easier for him. I touched his jaw, leaned in for one last kiss. “Until we meet again, Rhys Frost.”

“Until we meet again, Torie Goode.”

He touched my lips with two fingers, and then turned away. Strode to the gangway, carrying his shirt and shoes. Stopped on the dock, shrugged into his shirt, stuffed his feet bare into the shoes, stuck his socks into his pocket, and kept going. He didn’t look back until he was at the truck. A wave. Blew a kiss. And then he was gone.

I sat in lonely, saddened silence for a long, long time.

Eventually, Lexie came out. “Hey, you,” she said, kissing the top of my head as she sat down. There was a little coffee left, and she pointed to it. “Can I have some of this?”

I nodded. “It was Harlow’s, but I’m sure she’d be okay with that.”

“Oh.” She poured the rest into a mug. “Where is she?”

“Back upstairs, I think.”

“Ooh, it’s a little cold. But still coffee.” She looked around, then back at me. “You’re just sitting here alone?”