Forever and a Day - A Those Who Wait story (Those Who Wait, #1.5)

by Haley Cass

should be mortifying, really, that she felt this deep, true affirmation inside of her – yes. She would chase after Sutton whenever she left, while they were together. Never in her life had she thought she would be someone who would take days off of work to fly literally across the world for matters of the heart. And yet – The way Sutton’s smile widened, brightened, her eyes crinkling with sheer happiness at her answer shredded any negative feelings she could have at that truth.

Now that she was so used to having her in bed every night, sleeping alone felt almost unnatural.

Regan giggled. “Yeah. But Segan would live forever.” “Segan?” “Our couple name, duh.”

“It’s real,” he confirmed in a whisper as he reached his other hand up to rub over the back of hers. “You got yourself a good one.” “The best one,” she corrected firmly, as firmly as one could while living in a dream, as her eyes fell on Charlotte again.

“I could have existed in those worlds, a different me with a different someone else in a different life. But I know without a doubt I could live in a thousand lifetimes and still never be as happy as this one with you.”

Charlotte wasn’t facing the door, but she didn’t have to be to know the soft footsteps approaching the bed; she could place them anywhere. And she thought it was much in the same way that Sutton didn’t have to see her in the dark to know that she wasn’t sleeping as she slipped under the covers, settling naturally into her place in their bed. “Just because I can’t sleep without you doesn’t mean I’m not upset.”

But an even bigger part of her demanded that she stay right here, where she was, shut away from the world she so actively fought to carve a place into. A part of her that she couldn’t have imagined even existed when she’d been younger. A part of her that had seemed to only bloom and grow when Sutton had entered her life, a part of her that had felt like the most terrifying, life changing leap to take, but imagining her life without this part of her now made her feel bereft.

“But I…” She took in a deep, shaking breath, feeling like the world around her was shifting. “I need you to know that more than anything, you are what made this possible.” She searched Sutton’s eyes. “Maybe I would have been president no matter what, but if I didn’t have you here to do it with me, my life wouldn’t be full.”

“I don’t know if there’s a destiny, but I know that if there is, you’re mine.”

“I think I’ve known you were my destiny since the moment I saw your picture,” Sutton whispered, her voice thick with emotion. Charlotte’s eyes fluttered closed at the way her words washed over her, the way they made everything inside of Charlotte feel better, fuller.