Page 39 of Take Me (Cherry Blossom Lake #5)

“Actually, it’s good.” Erika stops and glances around, looking tense as the crowd flows past us. “I’d like to get this over with so we can put things behind us.”

“Okay.” That wasn’t my plan, but I owe it to her to hear what she needs to get out. “Do you want to go for a walk or something?”

She looks down at her feet, encased in strappy purple heels. “I’m not really dressed for walking.”

Before I can argue, she drags me behind a tall fern in the corner. “How’s this?”

“Less than ideal,” I admit. “Unless we’re playing Tarzan and Jane.” I ruffle the fern fronds as a few of my distant cousins file past. “If so, it’s perfect.”

“Shut up, Mason.” She looks tense, but she’s trying to smile. “I’m doing my best to be brave here, okay?”

“Okay.” Something in her tone says she needs to do this her way. “You’re sure you don’t want to go somewhere more private?”

She glances at the big glass door to her right. Her gaze snags on something out the window, and I realize she’s looking at the spot where my grandparents’ home used to stand. The yard where we played, the tree we once climbed, the lakeshore where we’d swim on sunshiny days.

“God, I’ve missed you.” She breathes the words like a prayer, dragging her gaze back to mine.

“I’ve missed you, too.” My heart squeezes into a ball in my chest.

“Let’s talk outside,” she says. “Fuck the cold; I need fresh air.”

I was hoping she’d say that. We’ve always been more us on the shore of the lake, and us is what I’ve missed more than anything.

I follow her lead, waiting while she sets both bouquets on a table by the door.

Then she pulls me through the exit and onto the rain-speckled deck.

It’s not raining now, and she steps to the edge of the railing that keeps us from walking straight into the lake.

The water is several feet down, but we could touch it if we climbed over the rail.

That doesn’t seem to be the plan. With a shiver, Erika pivots to face me.

“I checked your location last night, and I’m sorry for invading your privacy.

I’ve deleted you from the app, and I wanted to say you have my blessing.

You and Annabelle, I mean. Your happiness matters to me, Mason.

The only thing that matters more is your friendship. ”

Oh, hell.

She shivers again, and I peel off my jacket. First things first.

“Here.” I drape it over her shoulders, half expecting her to argue. Instead, she pulls it around her. “Better?”

She bites her lip. “Thank you.”

“Okay, look. Just let me clear up?—”

“Please wait.” She looks so tortured I shut my damn mouth. “I need to just say this before all my courage runs out.”

“All right. Ladies first.”

She snorts, then squares up her shoulders.

“I fell in love with you, Mason. Not the friendship kinda love, though that’s part of it.

And I know it’ll ease up with time, but I might be raw for a while.

I needed to say that out loud, so you understand why I can’t just go back to how we were before all this happened.

We’re still friends—we’ll always be friends—but I need time and space to move on now, okay? ”

“No.” My heart bangs around in my rib cage like a trapped animal. “No, that’s not okay.”

She frowns. “Which part?”

“All of it. Well, everything except the friendship.”

She shivers again, pulling my jacket tighter around her. “I don’t understand.”

“One second, okay?” I know we could do this inside, but Erika won’t want an audience for this part. I get it, I do. “Stay right here.”

“Uh, okay.” When she shivers again, I order myself to hurry.

Which I do, rushing back through the door and right to the table where my mother sits chatting with Jake. She takes one look at my face and reaches under the table. “Now?”

“Yes.”

She hands me a brown paper bag. “Good luck.”

Clutching the bag, I run back to the door. I have to dodge a trio of tux-clad groomsmen and my great aunt, who jumps like I might run her over. Muttering apologies, I burst back out the door to Erika’s side.

“Here.” I reach into the bag and drag out the sweater. The sunflower one that my mom used to wear. “This is for you.”

“Mason, I—” She stares like I’ve brought her a chalice. “I can’t take your mother’s sweater.” But she fingers the buttons like she wishes she could.

I don’t give her more chances to argue. I wrap it around her, securing the buttons over my tux jacket. She looks like a bright, woolen mummy until her hands find their way out the sleeves. “Thank you,” she says. “I’ll give it back.”

“No, you won’t,” I tell her. “When I told Mom how you remembered it, she insisted it’s yours. That it’s time for the next generation of family to have it.”

“But—” She blinks. “I’m not family.”

“You’re my family, Erika. You always have been. And you’re my friend, too—you always will be. But that’s not enough for me anymore.”

She blinks. “Wait—what?”

“I want to wake up and have your face be the very first thing I see every morning. I want to fall asleep every night feeling your leg slung over me like you’re wrestling me into submission.

I need you as my karaoke partner and my wedding date and my beach-walking buddy, but I also need you in my bed and my fantasies and my life.

I want to make love to you as often as humanly possible, and then I want to test the human limits of what’s possible because, honest to God, I can’t get enough of you.

” I’m breathing hard, but I can’t stop now.

“I can’t go back to pretending I’m not insanely in love with you because I am, Erika— I love you , and that’s not going away.

If you want to move on, I’ll follow you.

I’ll follow you to the ends of the goddamn earth.

Because I love you, Erika Gentry. I’ve loved you since the third grade, and I love you more now than I ever thought possible. ”

She stares at me in shock, her pebble-gray eyes shimmering. “You’re serious right now.”

“Dead serious.” Does she really doubt it? “I’ve always loved you, Erika. It just took me twenty-six years to understand what kind of love it is.”

A fat tear rolls down her cheek. “Wh—what kind of love is it?”

“The kind that lasts forever. The kind Dolly and Kenny sang about. The kind people build feather-filled honeymoon suites for. The kind I’ve been searching for my whole life and then found right in front of me because it’s always the last damn place you look.”

She wipes away tears with the back of her hand. “But Annabelle?—”

“Isn’t you.” There’s no way the two could compare.

“She’s great and I wish Annabelle well, but she’s not the woman I love.

She’s an excellent vet who told me last night that my dog isn’t sick.

He’s just missing you almost as much as I am.

Annabelle isn’t the person I’m meant to be with.

That’s you, Erika—you and only you.” I look into her eyes, willing her to believe me.

To give me the one thing I hope for right now.

“I love you, Erika. Please say you’ll be my girlfriend for real. ”

“Oh my God.” She laughs, and it flutters out on a sob. “This is so not the conversation I thought we’d be having.”

“Is that a yes?”

“It’s a yes.” Her laugh sounds a lot stronger this time. “Hell yes.”

“Good.” I grin. So hard my face hurts. “After this many years of knowing each other, we don’t get too many chances to surprise one another.”

“You shocked the shit out of me.” Laughing again, she shrugs. “There was probably a more romantic way to say that.”

“It sounded good to me.” Pulling her close, I go in for a kiss.

It’s supposed to be chaste, since anyone could peer through the rain and see us out here on the deck.

But as I press her back against the railing, I’m consumed by the feeling of coming home.

The softness of her mouth, the scent of her skin, the breathy gasp she makes as my tongue grazes hers.

Her arms go around me, holding on for dear life.

Mine , my brain screams as I deepen the kiss.

She responds by hooking a heel at the back of my leg. She’s pulling me closer, her purple bridesmaid dress hiking up one thigh. By the time we break apart, we’re both breathing hard.

“Are we good?” I breathe, brushing back hair from her face.

“So good.” Her face fills with wonder as she touches my cheek. “I love you so much, Mason. Also, you’re a really good kisser.”

I laugh as I lace my fingers through hers. “There’s more where that came from.” I’m not just talking about the kiss. “Are you cold? Do you want to go in now?”

“Not cold, but starving.”

“Let’s go.” I hold open the door, and she shucks off her layers as she moves through it. I notice she keeps the sweater bundled around her shoulders.

“Here.” She hands back my tux coat and surveys the crowd. “What’s for dinner, anyway?”

“Fancy food.” I locate our table near the front of the room, right beside Lucy and Peter’s. That’s one wedding tradition Harper insisted on: a special spot just for the three of them. “My sister hired Dal Yang to do the catering. He came all the way over the mountains this morning.”

“The guy from Fresh Start at Juniper Ridge?”

“Yep. His mother-in-law lives here, so?—”

“That’s right, he married Lana Judson.”

We take our seats at the table, both of us glowing as my siblings all filter around us. Jake catches my eye and glances between Erika and me. “All good?”

“Yeah.” I squeeze Erika’s hand under the table. “All good.”

My big brother grunts, and that’s it. Enough heart-to-heart talking for now. I keep hold of Erika’s hand under the table, our fingers twined together, even when the food filters out of the kitchen.