“I love you, Caleb Walker,” she promises me, just in case it wasn’t clear.
I swallow back a serious lump in my throat.
“You could have just told me that back at the house. You didn’t need to do all this.”
“Well, like I said. Actions speak louder than words.” She grins. “And since you’re such a terrible listener, I had to find some way of getting you to hear me.”
I pull her tight into my arms, and guide her hands up and around my neck. I lean in to brush my lips against hers.
“What about this?” I ask against her mouth. “Do you hear what this is saying?”
I pour everything into this next kiss. My love, my hope, my desperate need to have her naked, and my genuine wish to love her into old age.
Every warming instinct that rises in me at the sheer sight of her, I pour into that kiss.
We’re only interrupted by my mother calling, ‘Who wants sandwiches?’ and holding a plate out.
Lizzie giggles against my mouth.
“I think I hear it,” she says, pressing her forehead to mine. “It’s saying, ‘Welcome Home’.”