Jude finishes his sandwich and pulls out the chips. “Remember when we smoked weed for the first time?”
Rolling my eyes, I groan. “Oh good God. That was my first and last time.”
His shoulders shake with laughter. “I can see why. You thought you were pissing on yourself. I think you went to the bathroom fifty times that night.”
It wasn’t a pleasant experience for me. His roommate always had marijuana and we figured it was time to try it. Of course, for me, I literally thought I was peeing on myself. No one else seemed to have issues like that. I kept checking my pants to see if there were any wet spots. Guess you can say, I never wanted to try it again. I stuck to alcohol.
“Then, I ate a whole box of Apple Jacks and got sick on my stomach,” I add.
“And I had to rush you back to your dorm,” Jude snickers.
I smack his arm. “It was embarrassing.”
“We sure did have some good times.”
“Yes, we did.” I finish my sandwich and steal a couple of his chips. He tries to grab the bag of cookies, but I snag them first. “Too slow,” I tease. I open the bag and hold it out for him. “But I’ll share.” He pulls out a cookie and I do the same. “How many girls have you brought up here since I left?” I ask.
He looks off into the distance, his expression serious. “None. This was our place. It wouldn’t feel right bringing someone else.”
“Not even your fiancé?” I counter.
He shakes his head. “Not even her. She wasn’t too fond of the outdoors.”
I snort. “The same goes for my ex. Guess we both got involved with people who were our complete opposites.”
“I’ll never make that mistake again.” Neither will I. We finish our cookies and I grab another one and eat it while we drop the picnic basket off at his Jeep. To get to the fire tower, we have to head right back up to our favorite spot and into the forest. It’s quiet and peaceful. All of our memories come back at me full force. When I was with Shawn, I blocked it all out. I didn’t want to remember all the good times Jude and I had; it made me long to get back to them. I thank God every day that I finally had the sense to end things when I did.
By the look on Jude’s face, he’s deep in thought as well. I want to say something, but I’m a little nervous about what he’s thinking. What if he doesn’t feel the way I do? What if he thinks last night’s kiss was a mistake? I know it wasn’t.
It doesn’t take long to get to the fire tower. I have to shield my eyes away from the sun to look up at it. There are a gazillion steps we have to climb to get to the top. Jude glances back at me and smiles. “You haven’t gotten an aversion to heights in your old age, have you?”
“Ha-ha,” I grumble. “Aren’t you older than me?”
He snorts. “Only by a month.”
I follow him up the stairs. “Still, you’re older,” I chide. The bantering is what I always loved about being around Jude. It’s strange how it comes back naturally with him. With Shawn, I tried to joke around, but he always said it was childish. I hate it took me six years to realize my mistake of marrying him. The second I’m at the top of the fire tower, I gaze around in awe. There are mountains all around us. It looks exactly the same as it did years ago.
“What do you think?” Jude asks. “Still beautiful?”
“It’s breathtaking,” I murmur. “I wish you knew how much I missed this.” I walk over and hold onto the edge.
Jude comes up behind me, his body so close. “I wish you knew how much I missed you.” My heart skips a beat and I hold my breath. He puts his hands on my waist and turns me around to face him.
“Same,” I whisper.
He pulls me in to his body, holding me tight around the waist. “Ever since yesterday, I can’t get you out of my head. I don’t know if that kiss meant anything to you, but it meant everything to me.”
The breath I’m holding comes out in a loud exhale. “Oh, thank God. I was so worried.”
Releasing a heavy sigh, he brings his hands up to my face. “I was worried too. I’m assuming you feel the same way?”
I nod. “I do. I can’t stop thinking about you.”
His thumb brushes across my lips. “What do you say we give this a chance? I’m curious to see how it plays out.”
“I’m good with that.”
He moves closer, his lips so close to mine. “You sure?”