“Your heartbeat picked up. What are you thinking about, Peyton?”

The caressing of her fingers stopped at the sound of his voice. He didn’t move to meet her glance. Instead, he let his fingers trace the skin of her stomach. She held her breath and thought of what to say.

The ending? That you’re in love with me? That I’m in love with you? Our ending?

Peyton breathed out and let her fingers resume their strokes, not saying a word. Unable to trust the words that would come from her mouth, she kept quiet.

“I meant what I said last night,” he said before he propped himself up and looked down at her.

Peyton nodded her head at him and sat up, resting her back on the headboard. Then she let out a sigh and combed her hair with her fingers.

“We just made things a lot more difficult, Callum,” she pointed out.

“The sex part? Or the ‘I love you’ part?” he asked, sitting up and facing her.

“Both.”

Callum took her hands and pulled her into his lap, straddling him. She felt him under her, but the look in his eyes wasn’t just about making love again. There was something more and she hoped to find it someday. But for now she leant forward and placed a kiss on the cherry blossom that was on his shoulder.

Her lips left Callum’s tattooed skin when he said, “Just because we can’t have forever doesn’t mean I’m going to love you any less, Peyton.”

She straightened her body as she looked into his grey eyes. This morning, they were light, reflecting the honesty that was evident in his voice.

No forever. We have love, but no forever.

“Unlove me, Callum,” she instructed.

He tensed and his face grew sad. His hands were on her waist, holding her to him almost as if he were afraid of her leaving.

“Could you unlove me, Peyton?”

She wrapped her hand around his left wrist and turned it over, looking at her tattooed name. Using her right hand to steady his wrist, she let her left index finger trace each letter.

“No,” she said and met his eyes. “I’ve spent over four years trying to. Unloving you is impossible and so is loving you. Could you unlove me?” she asked once more.

He gazed down at his tattoos, and a sad smile touched his lips. “No. Every part of me has loved you since the start. I could never unlove you, Peyton.”

Even though she knew what the end held for them, she let herself fall in love with his words. This was what seventeen-year-old Peyton had wanted and what twenty-one-year-old Peyton had avoided. But in this moment, there was no difference. The Peyton in this moment loved him and his words. From now on, she’d only listen to ‘in the moment Peyton.’ She would be the one to benefit from his love for now.

Bringing his wrist to her mouth, she kissed her name and then let her lips touch every tattooed cherry blossom up his arm. When she reached his shoulder, she left a lingering kiss on the largest one near his collarbone. Letting go of his wrist, she placed her hands on his cheeks and kept eyes locked on his. Then she breathed in deeply before she lifted her hips and positioned herself over him.

“Love me as hard as you can for the rest of the moments we have together,” she breathed before slowly sank down on him.

His fingers dug into her waist as he panted. Her breathing mirrored his, and she let out a soft moan. The feeling of being complete washed over her. Dropping her head to his shoulder, she stilled and memorised the feeling of him filling her.

“If forever existed, I would have wanted it with you,” he whispered in her ear.

Peyton’s eyes fluttered closed at his words. The same words that had caused her heart to shrivel and throb. Lifting her hips, she slowly sank back down. With Callum’s hands on her hips, guiding her, she repeated her movements, finding a rhythm of undeniable pleasure.

Forever doesn’t exist.

The concept of it all is just a process, a thought we create to give us confidence in our choices, a promise before the end.

Forever is like a blooming cherry blossom, beautiful even after the wind has blown it away from home to settle on the tainted ground below.

Peyton kissed his neck several times before she trailed her lips up to his jaw and then his ear. The way Callum thrust hard into caused her to moan as he took control.

“If I could have forever with anyone, I’d want it with you, Callum.”

Callum and I are cherry blossoms.

We flourish.

We taint.

We lie about what we really want.

We want a forever that has died long before us.

Callum and I,

We’re dying.

Dear Peyton,

I don’t know where you are in life at the moment, but I hope you’re happy. I hope that, whatever happens, you don’t hate Callum Reid. If you do, I’m sorry. That’s entirely my fault. In this moment, right now, it was a choice I made because I wanted him to make me happy. I wanted him to make me better. Being with him, I feel, and I haven’t felt in a long time. But you know that all too well.

You’re probably reading this because he’s gone and you’re wondering why you did this. You love him, Peyton. That’s why. Because you would rather be loved by him for now than not at all. Whatever his reasons are for leaving this time round, accept them. You got a lot more than last time.

I know that I should have forced him away a lot sooner, but he’s the one I can’t let go. I know he will break my heart, I knew that going into it all. But I’ve been lonely for so long that I just wanted to be loved by him, like I always have. I hope that he’s told you what ‘Sometimes Moments’ are, because I have a feeling it was what we were and all we could have.

Maybe, in the short space of time he allowed us to have together, we had our forever. That’s what I’ll tell myself. It’s been a lonely life, Peyton, but it’s been a good one, without or without Callum. I hope that you’ve mended things with Jay and Graham. Being with Callum again made me realise just how much my love for them all differs. I love Graham more purely because he gave me the strength I needed. And Jay... I will love him for his friendship. But Callum I love the most. I have always loved Callum the most. I love him more than I love breathing. I love him more than the pain I have to endure to be with him and to save him. I love him more than I love myself, and I love him enough to sacrifice a forever with him for now.

I know you’re hurt, Peyton. I can feel it right now. But your heart loves him enough to give up a future with him. You see, the heart is a funny thing. So vital yet so easily broken. It doesn’t take much to destroy an organ. But he will destroy more than that; he will destroy your soul and your belief. Give it time, Peyton. You will learn all over again. You will be okay.

I know that, in the end, this is all worth it. I hope that you told him that he found redemption the moment he walked back into your life. Give him his freedom, Peyton. Let him walk away.

Your heart will beat again. It will find a will to live and love.

I believe in you.

Peyton.

Pressing save and labelling the document “When he’s gone,” Peyton closed her laptop. Then she looked down at the rug to see him asleep near the fireplace, his designs sprawled across the floor.

After they’d made love, he’d kissed her and lain next to her until he’d gotten off the bed and put his clothes on. The sight of him dressing had been an eye opener. Words were nothing in comparison to actions. And Callum’s actions had proved that this was temporary for them. He’d given her one last kiss before he’d said that he had to go home and shower.