Sincerely, Carter(82)

Everyone in the diner was now silent and staring at the three of us.

“Ari…” Carter stepped even closer to me, reaching down and running his fingers through my hair. “I want you back…I need you back…”

“Let’s go, Ari.” Sean looked at me as he moved around the table. “We need to finish our conversation without this desperate asshole interrupting it.”

I didn’t get up.

“Ari?” He looked shocked. “Ari, are you seriously considering whatever this asshole is talking about? He’s been nothing but rude to you since we got here.”

“I’ve only been rude to you,” Carter countered, eyes still on mine.

“Ari, if you don’t leave with me right now, I’m going straight to the airport and I’m not coming back,” Sean said. “I also won’t be forgetting this shit anytime soon in France when you go back…What’s it going to be?”

I opened my mouth to answer him, but Carter pulled me up and pressed his lips against mine—kissing me as tears fell down my face, as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back. At that moment, no one else in the diner existed.

It was just me and Carter.

The guy I was in love with, the guy I’d loved for most of my life.

When we finally broke away, I looked over at Sean—to offer an apology, but he was long gone. The other patrons were looking at us with fascination and I blushed as Carter kissed me again.

“I read your letter…” I said softly. “You were right…”

“I usually am.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and he smiled, whispering against my mouth. “Let’s get out of here…” He pulled me against his side and led me to his car. Taking my hand in his, he looked over at me. “Were you going to go the rest of this trip without saying anything else to me?”

“I was going to come to your house tonight, after I broke up with Sean…You kind of interrupted my break-up speech, though. Pretty sure he’ll be smearing my name around all over campus whenever—”

He cut my sentence off with a kiss. “I know it’s been a while since we’ve been together, Ari, but the rules are still the same. I don’t want to talk about anyone else when I’m with you, and since I only have four days left before you fly back, I damn sure don’t want to waste one second talking about your ex-boyfriend.” He kissed me one last time before speeding off into the night.

We made it to his place in record time, and as soon as we were out of the car, his lips latched onto mine and we stumbled up the driveway and into the house with our lips still attached. Knocking over a lamp and a side table, we made it into his bedroom and he immediately pulled me onto his bed.

He took off his shirt and started to unbutton mine, but I grabbed his hand. “Wait, Carter…Wait…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…” I looked into his eyes. “I just…I want to know if…”

“Ask me…” He kissed me, a knowing smile on his lips. “Ask me, Ari...”

“No…I guess it really doesn’t matter.”

“It does.” He pulled off my skirt. “Ask me if I’ve been with anyone else since you’ve been gone.”

“Have you?” I asked, forcing a weak smile.

“No, Ari…” He gave me a reassuring kiss as he unsnapped the front of my bra. “I haven’t, and I’d like to keep it that way forever…”

“And what happens when I go back to France?”

“You take the spam filter off my goddamn emails and answer me whenever you get a chance.” He unbuckled his pants and let them fall to the floor. “You also invite me up to visit once a month.”

“Can you afford to come that often?”

“I can’t afford not to…” He lay down in the bed and pulled me on top of him. “Are there any other questions?”

“Yes.”

He raised his eyebrow, waiting for me to say it.

“What’s your new tattoo?” I looked at his arm, and he smiled—holding it up for me to see. “You’ve always had that Arizona State tattoo…”

“The state, yes…” He pointed to the cursive script underneath it. “Your full name, no…”

I blushed. “I got drunk in France one night when I was crying over you, and I went into a tattoo bar by myself…I must’ve really been talking shit about you, because the technician misinterpreted what I wanted.” I lifted my right arm, showing off the small spot next to my breast where a cursive “Sincerely, Carter” was etched into my skin.