Page 87 of Unearthed Dreams

I knocked again.

Please remember me like I remember you.

No answer.

Please love me like I love you.

I forced my hands to steady and turned the key in the lock, pushing open the door to Callaghan’s—to home.

Chapter Thirty-Three

KAI

I’d been staringat Charlie’s coffee mug for what felt like hours, wondering if I should finally wash away the lipstick stains, when I heard the front door of the bar open.

“Kai!”

My heart stopped.

That voice.

Hervoice.

I was off the bed and at the top of the stairs before my brain could catch up with my body. And there she was, standing in the bar’s dim light, wearing that damn sundress that had haunted my dreams for weeks.

“Charlie?” My voice came out rough, desperate.

She gripped the banister, swaying slightly. Still healing. Still bruised. Still the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

“I remember,” she said, her voice breaking on the words. “I remembereverything.”

Two weeks of agony dissolved in those three words. But I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t trust that this wasn’tanother dream I’d wake up from, alone in sheets that still smelled like her.

“The manuscript,” she continued, taking one shaky step up. “You said my wyrm commander wouldn’t say ‘indeed.’ You were right. He wouldn’t.”

Another step.

“You gave me a dragon mug. Called me ‘pretty girl’ that first day at the cidery. Taught me how to...” Her cheeks flushed. “Everything. You taught me everything.”

She was halfway up now, one hand trailing along the wall for balance. Every instinct screamed at me to go to her, to help her, to wrap her in my arms and never let go.

But I needed to hear it all.

“You read my book,” she said, voice stronger now. “You believed in my writing, in all these unearthed dreams I’d been too scared to share with anyone else.”

Three steps left between us.

“And I love you.” Her eyes locked with mine, fierce and certain. “I told you on my birthday, and you?—”

I broke.

Two strides down and she was in my arms, her tears soaking my shirt as I buried my face in her hair.

“I love you too,” I breathed against her skin. “God, I love you so fucking much.”

She pulled back just enough to look at me, her hands framing my face like she was memorizing it all over again.

“I know,” she whispered. “I remember.”