“Pretty crazy,” I said. “And I mean that from experience.”
“Exactly,” he said, pointing at me. “But there are all these things, all these weird little coincidences in my life that we’ve never been able to explain. And it goes way beyond a guinea pig named Jamie and a dog named Bailey. There’re like a hundred other similarities between my Uncle Ben and me that are just too dead-on to be random.
“So when you showed me that video where you actually became Amber, I mean…Lily, it’s like everything sort of clicked into place.”
A wave of relief washed over me. “So, you think it’s possible? This whole reincarnation thing?”
“Yeah,” he said, as if it was a no-brainer. But then he grew quite serious and he said, “It explains why I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind from the moment I met you.”
My breath caught and the air between us felt charged with electricity. I hadn’t been mistaken. There was a connection between us. Something special. Something intense. Something both familiar and brand-new. “Whoa,” I whispered.
His hand lifted slowly off the folder and came up to cup my cheek. “I never really believed that I could be Ben,” he said. “I mean, I’ve thought about what Kyle said to me for two years, and it always nagged at me, but I’d kinda dismissed it. I thought it was all new-age crap. But the other day when you called me Spence, you know what the first thing I thought was?”
“What?”
“I thought of what Kyle said. That I was Ben reincarnated. It just popped into my mind. And then you called me Spence again the next day, and I wondered how you could see through me to him. It didn’t freak me out; it just felt…right.”
My breathing had quickened as the energy between us grew more intense, more charged, more electric. He leaned toward me, still cupping my cheek. My eyes closed, and then, there it was: the featherweight caress of his lips against my own. Up close he smelled of lightly scented soap and fresh-cut grass. My fingers sought his shirt, and through the fabric I found the ripple of taut muscles and the heat of his skin. Splaying my hands against his chest, I felt the thunder of his heartbeat, which sent my own into a faster rhythm.
Cole’s lips settled more firmly against mine, and the sharp stubble of his chin prickled my skin. But mostly there was the kiss; I’d never felt lips so alternatively soft yet hungry, so gentle yet commanding, so sweet yet wanting. It made me tremble.
His hand moved to my hair, and he wound his fingers through my locks as his other arm reached around me to pull me off the bar stool and close against him. The intensity of our kiss began to mount as his lips parted mine, and I sank into that extraordinary moment of passion, wanting it to go on and on and never end.
Just when I was about to lose myself, my iPhone rang, and Cole and I sprang apart as if someone had just walked in on us. I fumbled to answer the phone. “Hello?!”
“Lily?” Mom replied, her voice concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. What’s up?”
“You sound out of breath. Are you having another panic attack?”
I forced a laugh. “No, really, Mom. Everything’s cool….I was…I was just running up some stairs.”
“Where are you?”
“Uh…” I didn’t think Mom would like to hear that I was at Cole’s house unchaperoned. Mom was really cool, but she had her limits. “At the library.”
“On a Friday afternoon after a half day of school?” she asked. Mom’s got a pretty good lie detector.
“Yeah, but I’m leaving now,” I said. Glancing up at the clock on the stove, I remembered I had to pick her up before we headed into Richmond to see Dr. Van Dean.
“Okay,” she said, but I could tell she was still concerned. “Drive safe, sweetie, and don’t speed or text while you’re driving.”
“I won’t,” I told her, smiling at Cole, who was looking curiously at me. And then I thought of something and I added, “Mom, wait. Can you hold on a sec?”
“Of course,” she said.
Holding the phone to my chest, I said to Cole, “What’re you doing this afternoon?”
“Not sure. Why? You leaving me already?”
I ignored that obviously flirtatious question and said, “My mom and I are driving to Richmond to meet this doctor who’s an expert on reincarnation. He saw the video of me under hypnosis and he wants to talk to me about the dreams I’ve been having. I was wondering if you wanted to come, too.”
Cole’s brow shot up. “Hell yeah.”
“Really?” I was surprised that he seemed so excited by the idea.
“Lily,” he said to me, “meeting you and talking about this stuff is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me. I mean, I know it’s freaky, but you gotta admit: if it’s actually real, it’s pretty awesome.”