The Simple Wild (Wild, #1)

by K.A. Tucker

He reaches over to seize my hand within his and sighs in resignation. “They stay together for the summer, and when she leaves just before the first snowfall, he decides to follow her south. But there’s no way he can survive the flight across the ocean. Finally, he has no choice but to say goodbye and go home.” “Why doesn’t she go back with him?” “Because she’s a goose. She can’t survive the winter,” he admits reluctantly. My chest tightens. “That story doesn’t sound so silly after all.” In fact, it sounds a hell of a lot like us. Maybe not the falling-in-love part, but certainly the rest of it. Though, whatever I feel for Jonah, I’d be fooling myself if I didn’t recognize it as much more than a frivolous crush on an attractive guy. “No, I guess it doesn’t.” The look on Jonah’s face tells me he sees the truth of it, too.

“This is my last flight, kiddo,” he announces with grim certainty. He reaches over and takes my hand, and the smile on his face is oddly at peace. “And I can’t think of a better person to have spent it with.”

Mom’s eyes glisten as she holds the glass out in front of her with two perfectly manicured shaky hands, gazing down at the man who stole her heart so many years ago. Who she has spent almost as many years trying not to love. Jonah’s body stiffens, and I realize he’s holding his breath along with me, as we wait three . . . four . . . five seconds for my dad to say something. Anything. My dad begins to sob. And just like that, I sense a circle closing. Back to the beginning, and near to the end.