Noah frowns. “Why wouldn’t I remember?” He grabs my hand. “Wait till you see what’s inside.”
Giggling, I follow him over to the tent. He’s pinned a handwritten sign to one of the blankets.
THIS HERE IS PENNY’S TENT. KEEP OUT!
. . . unless your name is Noah.
He pulls back an opening in the blanket and gestures at me to go in. I get down on my knees and crawl inside. The entire floor is covered in different-colored cushions and the edges are lit by a string of fairy lights that are fading in and out. In one corner there’s a tray of Sadie Lee’s homemade mince pies. In another corner there’s a tray with a jug of lemonade and a couple of glasses.
“This is amazing,” I say, as Noah crawls in after me.
“Are you sure?” He looks at me with such intensity, as if he’s trying to read my mind, to make sure that I’m telling the truth.
“Yes! It’s way better than the tents I used to make. I never had fairy lights for a start.”
Noah grins.
“Or a—” I break off, embarrassed.
“Or a what?”
He stares at me. We’re so close I can feel his breath on my face.
“Or a handsome prince.” I look down at the cushions.
“Penny?”
I look back up at him. He’s looking really serious.
“Yes?”
“I really like you.”
“I really like you too.”
“No, I mean, really like you. I like you so much it might even be . . .”
I look at him, willing him to say it.
“. . . love,” he whispers.
I nod and take hold of his hand. “I like you so much it might even be love too.”
He laughs. “You don’t get lines that smooth in the movies.”
I laugh too. “No. But smooth is very overrated.”
And then he wraps his strong arms around me and pulls me close. “I’m so sad you’re leaving,” he whispers in my ear.
“Me too.” I lean into him and rest my head on his shoulder.
“But this isn’t it, you know?”
I pull back and look at him. His hair is tumbling in messy waves around his face. I fight the urge to reach out and touch it.
“I’ll figure out some way to come visit you in the UK, and you can come back here whenever you want and until then we can hang out online. I’m even prepared to break my Internet detox for you,” he says with a grin.
“I’m honored,” I say.
“You should be,” he says.
And then he starts to kiss me. Little kisses as light as butterfly wings all the way up the side of my neck. Then on my face, my eyelids, the tip of my nose, until finally our lips meet. And our kiss is so passionate and full of meaning I don’t want it to ever end. But then something starts beeping. I pull away from Noah and stare at him in alarm.
“What’s that?”
“Sorry, it’s my watch. I set it for midnight so we wouldn’t miss the new year.” Noah pulls me back in toward him. “Happy New Year, Penny,” he says.
“Happy New Year, Noah,” I say, hoping with everything that I’ve got that it will be.
Noah gently guides me down so that we’re lying on the cushions and, as he holds me to him, I silently beg Father Time to show some compassion and freeze all the clocks in the world so that our kisses will last forever.
Chapter Thirty-Five
It’s official. I hate Father Time. I hate him more than I hate school bullies and exams and even pickled onions. In the end, Noah and I got about an hour together before the others arrived back home. An hour that flew by in a nanosecond. But I have discovered one small consolation. Whenever I close my eyes and remember what happened, my skin starts tingling where Noah touched me and it’s like I’m with him all over again. I might not have been able to stop time but at least I’m able to time-travel back to the tent. I’m doing it now as I wait in the hallway for Mum and Dad to bring down their luggage. Sitting on my suitcase, eyes closed, remembering the way Noah stroked my hair and ran his fingers down my back.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
I open my eyes and see Noah looking at me from across the hallway.
“I was thinking about the tent.” My face starts to flush.
“Me too. I can’t stop thinking about it.” Noah comes over and takes hold of my hands. “Why don’t you go down there and hide? I’ll tell your parents you were abducted by alien pigs and they can go home without you.”
I give him a sad smile. “I wish I could.”
He puts his arm around me and I rest my head on his shoulder. It’s a perfect fit. We’re a perfect fit. This is so unfair.
“It’ll be OK,” he whispers in my ear. “It’ll be OK.”
But will it? How can it be, when we live so far apart?
All the way to the airport, I feel as if I have a ball of sorrow growing inside me like a tumor. Mum and Dad are traveling in Sadie Lee’s car with Bella and I’m in the truck with Noah. Noah doesn’t even need to do his running commentary of traffic maneuvers—I’m so numb with grief I can’t even panic.
As we pull into a space in the terminal car park, Noah turns to me. “Listen, Penny, is it OK if I don’t come in with you guys? I’m not very good at public goodbyes. I’d rather say what I have to say here—now—while it’s just the two of us.”
I feel a little stab of disappointment.
Noah reaches into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulls out a blank CD. “I have something for you. It’s something I made—for you.”
I take the CD and look at him hopefully. “Is it—is it the song that Bella was talking about?”
Color rises in Noah’s cheeks. “It might be.” He laughs. “OK, it is. I recorded it on my computer so the quality’s not that great but I want you to have it. I want you to know how I feel.”
I look at the CD player in the truck. “Can I play it now?”
Noah laughs and shakes his head. “No way!” He presses it into my hands. “Save it for when you get home. That way it’s like you’ll have a message from me as soon as you get there.”