Slowly, he looked back up at me, and by now his face was clearly illuminated in the blue light of my bedroom. My heart was in my throat. Mortifyingly, I felt tears coming to my eyes: I was overcome. Fear—my old friend, my wonder drug—but so different now with no place to go.

“Katie.” He reached out and took my hand, which was clammy in his. “Do you want to be with me?”

Instead of waiting for an answer, he kissed me.

After a long moment, I pulled away. “But . . . what about . . . everything?” I was furious at myself for losing my composure. “I’m scared,” I said.

“It’s okay,” he said with a laugh. He’d seen through my tough talk, and maybe that’s what I’d been counting on. If he’d wanted the out, I’d given it to him. If he stayed, it meant he didn’t want it. “I am too.”

I felt frozen in place.

“What does this mean?”

He chuckled. “I have to spell it out for you, don’t I, Bomber?”

I forced a smile. “It wouldn’t hurt.”

“Katie Cleary, I’m in love with you. I don’t know exactly when that happened, but here we are.”

With the words in the air between us, Luke’s leonine confidence faltered at last.

“Look, maybe you just need some time to absorb all of this, so I’m going to just let you . . .” He started to get up off of the bed, and I grabbed his arm and pulled him back to me with all of my strength.

“Me too,” I managed.

He shook his head. “Say it.”

It was sweet, unexpected that he’d need to hear the words. It was the most vulnerable I would ever see him.

“I love you too, Luke.”

Liz with Her Eyes Closed