Dante’s Girl (The Paradise Diaries #1)(65)
Author: Courtney Cole

I nod.  “Sure.” 

I really don’t.  But what else am I going to do?  Sit in my room and mope?  Listen to my grandpa’s radio program about the price of hogs?  I think not.  I have some dignity left.

“Okay,” she answers as she crawls to her feet and back down the ladder.  “I’ll see you tonight.”

“K,” I answer.

And I’m alone again.

I make my way back inside and sit down at the kitchen table.  My grandma is making fresh lemonade, which of course reminds me of Caberra.  Only my grandma doesn’t put mint leaves in hers.  I almost tell her that she should, but then I don’t.  I don’t need another thing to remind me.

As if everything doesn’t remind me of Dante and Caberra anyway.

“Honey,” my grandma says as she turns around and hands me a fresh glass.  “I know you’re miserable. But it will be okay.  Your grandpa and I were separated by thousands of miles when he was in the Army and we turned out okay.”

I stare at her.  “Grandma, that was during a war.  Everyone was separated.  I think  that’s a little different.”

“Perhaps,” she says as she sits next to me and looks at me with her wise old eyes.  “But probably not.  Separation is separation, no matter how you look at it.  And absence does make the heart grow stronger, you know. It’s cliché, but true.”

“It can’t make you stronger if it kills you,” I mutter.

She pats my hand.

“You’ll be okay,” she tells me again before she gets to her feet and goes to the sink to wash dishes.

I’m really tired of hearing that.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out.  Becca probably wants to change our plans for tonight already.  She’s so freaking fickle.

But it’s not her.

It’s Dante.

Whatcha doing?

I smile.

Burning alive in the heat.  How about you?

Two seconds go by.

Oh, same. I just wanted you to know that I love you.

I smile again because I know how this game goes.  We’ve been playing it for three weeks.  One of us will say I love you.

Then the other person says, How much?

And then the other makes up some insane and crazy amount of love.

More than the ocean is large.

More than a shark loves human limbs.

More than Gavin loves his reflection.

More than baseball players love steroids.

More than chocolate, more than wine and way, way more than anchovies.

More than yesterday, but less than tomorrow.

It’s a crazy and corny game, but we do what we have to do to keep from going insane.

Because this distance thing?  It really sucks.

So I play along today, even though I’m feeling pissy.

How much? I type.

Dante doesn’t answer immediately which annoys me.  I’m really in the mood to hear how much he loves me.  Because I miss him SoFreakingMuchIMightDie.  Seriously.

“This much.”

It’s his voice.

I whirl around and he is actually here.

In my kitchen.

This can’t be real.

But there he is.

Dante is standing in the doorway, filling it up like only Dante can.  His blue shirt sets off his blue sparkling eyes.  And OHMYGOSH. I’m going to have a heart attack.

My grandma is standing next to him and she looks surprised, too. But she is nowhere near as surprised as I am.  My mouth is hanging open and then I remember that I can move.

I leap from my seat and into his arms.

“Dante!  What are you…how are you… I mean.  OHMYGOSH.”

And I’m kissing him.

And I know my grandma is behind him but I don’t care because I’ve missed him more than a PMS’ing woman misses M&M’s. So I tell him that.

“Touching,” he says wryly as I cinch my arms tighter around his neck.

And kiss him again.

And inhale his Dante smell.  The earth, the sea, the sun.

It’s him.  It’s truly, truly him.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” I tell him. “How are you here?”

He shrugs.  “My dad said that things have wound down enough that I could leave.  So here I am.  He knows a few people, you know.  People in the International Foreign Exchange Student Program.”

He’s silent as he watches me.

And I am watching his blue eyes sparkle.  OhMyGosh I have missed that.

Wait. What?

I comprehend what he just said.

“Foreign Exchange Student Program?” I repeat.  “You’re here to stay?”

I can’t believe my ears.  This can’t be happening.

But I think it is.

He nods.

“That’s how much I love you,” he tells me. “I’m coming to hotter-than-hell’s-kitchen-Kansas for my senior year so that I can be with you.  That’s how much.”

I’m stunned.

“That’s a lot,” I admit.  “I think you win.”

He laughs and picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist. Then I bury my face in his neck like I wanted to the first time I met him. And at this point in time, I don’t seem insane like I would have back then.  I just seem like a girl who’s in total love with her boyfriend.

The joy is bursting out of me.  I can’t contain it and I just want to laugh.

I feel that giddy.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I tell him. “Where are you staying?  Who are you exchanging with?”

Because everyone knows that’s how the program works.  A kid from a foreign country comes in, and a local kid goes out.

“The McKeyan house,” he told me.  And then he grins.

And I have to laugh and shake my head.

“Well played,” I tell him.  “You got rid of Quinn McKeyan. I told you that he wasn’t going to be an issue.  I don’t have a crush on him anymore.”

“Well, a smart man doesn’t take any chances,” Dante tells me seriously.  And I laugh again.

“So, Quinn is going to school in Caberra?” I ask.  “I don’t know how you put that together so quickly or without me knowing, but I don’t care. I’m just glad you’re here.”

“Oh, I know some people,” he shrugs.  Then he grins impishly again. And I could seriously watch him smile all day.

All. Day. Long.

No lie.