“I’m sure she is, Poppymin. And she’ll be smiling down at you, like she promised she would.”
Poppy reached out and captured a bright-pink cherry blossom in her hand. She held it out in front of her, staring at the petals in her palm.
“Mamaw also said that the best things in life die quickly, like the cherry blossom. Because something so beautiful can never last forever, shouldn’t last forever. It stays for a brief moment in time to remind us how precious life is, before fading away just as quickly as it came. She said that it teaches you more in its short life than anything that is forever by your side.”
My throat began to close at the pain in her voice. She looked up at me. “Because nothing so perfect can last an eternity, can it? Like shooting stars. We see the usual stars above us every single night. Most people take them for granted, even forget they are there. But if a person sees a shooting star, they remember that moment forever, they even make a wish at its presence.”
She took in a deep breath. “It shoots by so quickly that people savor the short time they have with it.”
I felt a teardrop fall on our joined hands. I was confused, unsure why she was talking about such sad things.
“Because something so completely perfect and special is destined to fade. Eventually, it has to blow away into the wind.” Poppy held up the cherry blossom that was still in her hand. “Like this flower.” She threw it into the air, just as a gust of wind came. The strong bluster carried the petals into the sky and away above the trees.
It disappeared from our sight.
“Poppy—” I went to speak, but she cut me off.
“Maybe we’re like the cherry blossom, Rune. Like shooting stars. Maybe we loved too much too young and burned so bright that we had to fade out.” She pointed behind us, to the blossom grove. “Extreme beauty, quick death. We had this love long enough to teach us a lesson. To show us how capable of love we truly are.”
My heart fell to my stomach. I swung Poppy around to face me. The devastated look on her beautiful face cut me where I stood. “Listen to me,” I said, feeling panicked. Placing my hands on either side of Poppy’s face, I promised, “I’ll come back for you. This move to Oslo, it won’t be forever. We’ll talk every day, we’ll write. We’ll still be Poppy and Rune. Nothing can break that, Poppymin. You’ll always be mine, you’ll always own half of my soul. This isn’t the end.”
Poppy sniffed and blinked away her tears. My pulse raced with fear at the thought of her giving up on us. Because that had never even entered my head. We weren’t ending anything.
I stepped closer. “We’re not done,” I said forcefully. “For infinity, Poppymin. Forever always. Never done. You can’t think like that. Not with us.”
Poppy lifted onto her tiptoes and mirrored my stance, placing her hands on my face. “Do you promise me, Rune? Because I still have hundreds of boy-kisses that I need you to give me.” Her voice was timid and shy … it was racked with fear.
I laughed, feeling the dread seep from my bones, relief taking its place. “Always. And I’ll give you more than a thousand. I’ll give you two, or three, or even four.”
Poppy’s joyful smile soothed me. I kissed her slow and soft, holding her as close as I possibly could. When we broke apart, Poppy’s eyes fluttered open, and she announced, “Kiss number three hundred and fifty-four. With my Rune, in the blossom grove … and my heart almost burst.”
Then Poppy promised, “My kisses are all yours, Rune. No one else will ever have these lips but you.”
I brushed my lips against hers one more time and echoed her words. “My kisses are all yours. No one will ever have these lips but you.”
I took her hand and we headed back toward our houses. All the lights in my house were still on. When we reached Poppy’s doorway, I leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose. Shifting my mouth to her ear, I whispered, “Give me an hour and I’ll come to you.”
“Okay,” Poppy whispered back. Then I jumped as her palm landed gently on my chest. Poppy stepped closer to me. The serious expression on her face made me suddenly nervous. She stared at her hand, then ran her fingers slowly over my chest and down over my stomach.
“Poppymin?” I asked, unsure what was happening.
Without saying a word, she pulled her hand away and moved toward her door. I waited for her to turn around and explain, but she didn’t. She walked through the open door, leaving me glued to the spot on her driveway. I could still feel the heat from her hand on my chest.
When the light in the Litchfields’ kitchen came on, I made myself walk back to my own house. As soon as I walked in the door, I spotted a mountain of boxes in the hallway.
They must have been packed and stored away to keep them from my sight.
Pounding past them, I saw my mamma and pappa in the living room. My pappa called my name but I didn’t stop. I entered my bedroom just as he came in behind me.
I moved to my nightstand and began gathering everything I wanted with me, especially the framed picture of Poppy and me that I had taken the previous night. As my eyes scanned the photograph, my stomach ached. If it was possible, I already missed her. Missed my home.
Missed my girl.
Sensing my pappa was still behind me, I said quietly, “I hate you for doing this to me.”
I caught his quick inhale of breath. I turned around, and I saw my mamma standing beside him. Her face was as shocked as my pappa’s. I had never treated them this badly. I liked my parents. I had never understood how other teenagers didn’t like theirs.
But I did now.
I hated them.
I’d never felt such hate toward anyone before.
“Rune—” my mamma began, but I stepped forward and cut her off.
“I will never forgive you, either of you, for doing this to me. I hate you both so much right now I can’t stand to be near you.”
I was surprised at how harsh my voice sounded. It was thick and full with all the anger that was building inside of me. Anger that I hadn’t known it was possible to feel. I knew to most people I seemed moody, sullen, but really, I rarely felt anger. Now I felt I was made of it. Only hate ran through my veins.
Rage.
My mamma’s eyes filled with tears, but for once, I didn’t care. I wanted them to feel as bad as I did right now.
“Rune—,” my pappa said, but I turned my back to him.
“What time do we leave?” I barked, interrupting whatever he was trying to say.
“We leave at seven a.m.,” he informed me softly.
I closed my eyes; I now had only hours with Poppy. In eight hours I would be leaving her behind. Leaving everything behind apart from this rage. I would make sure that traveled with me.
“It won’t be forever, Rune. After a while, it’ll get easier. You’ll meet someone else eventually. You’ll move on—”
“Don’t!” I roared as I whipped around, throwing the lamp from my nightstand across the room. The glass bulb shattered on impact. I breathed hard, heart racing in my chest, as I glared at my pappa. “Don’t you ever say anything like that again! I won’t move on from Poppy. I love her! Don’t you get that? She’s my everything and you’re ripping us apart.” I watched his face pale. I stepped forward.
My hands were shaking.
“I have no choice but to come with you, I know that. I’m only fifteen; I’m not stupid enough to believe that I could stay here alone.” I clenched my hands into fists. “But I will hate you. I will hate both of you every single day until we return. You might think that just because I’m fifteen I’ll forget Poppy as soon as some slut from Oslo flirts with me. But that will never happen. And I will hate you every single second until I’m with her again.”