3 August 2008, 11.30 p.m.
All was silent except for the sound of the waves reaching the beach. ‘Happy anniversary,’ he said.
Lottie frowned. ‘Anniversary?’ Turning, she tried to see his expression. ‘Are you taking the piss?’
He traced her mouth with his finger. ‘Would I do that?’
‘Yes.’
She felt rather than heard his laugh as his body was stretched out next to hers, thigh to thigh, hip to hip.
‘We’ve been together for a month and a half.’
‘So, we’re celebrating half months as well as months?’
He kissed her long and slow and she wasn’t sure what they had been talking about as his hand ran across the skin of her back, just above her jeans.
‘I celebrate every day, every minute, every second that you are mine.’
Her breath caught and held, and she looked up to the sky. The milky way stretched above, vast and mystical. She was captivated. The universe and all its glory filled her. Here on this beach, wrapped in his arms, was where she wanted to be always. It could happen if they wanted it enough and she believed they did.
‘Alex?’
‘Yes?’ His arm tightened around her.
‘Will . . .’ Just then a shooting star sped across the sky and seemed to fall into the sea. She wished with all her heart that she could be in Alex’s arms for the rest of her life. She rolled onto him. ‘Did you see it too?’
‘The shooting star?’
‘Yes.’ He kissed her.
‘Did you make a wish?’
He nodded and pushed her hair back, tucking it behind her ears. ‘I did.’
‘I wonder if it was the same thing?’
‘I hope so,’ he whispered against her ear.
She brought her mouth to his, praying that he would be hers forever. ‘Tell me.’
‘No, because if I do it won’t come true.’ He pulled her even closer to him.
‘You are all my dreams come true,’ she said, wrapping her arms around him.
He hummed Gramps’ favourite song, ‘A Kiss to Build a Dream On’, and she knew then they would make it happen . . . Alex and her and Cornwall forever.
