Free Searching for Tomorrow (Tomorrows) by Katie Mac, Kathryn McNeill Crane

again, or where he would go to think.
    This was such an abrupt change in Tripp. I had no idea how to handle it. I couldn’t help but feel alarmed. Tripp had never pulled back from me, separated himself from me. Not one single, solitary time. I was clueless as to how I should process all the thoughts and emotions that were swirling around in my head.
    Liam wrapped his arm around me and carefully guided me towards the house. When we stepped onto the porch, instead of taking me inside, he led me over to the porch swing. We sat there, slowly swaying back and forth, his arms enveloped around me while my tears drenched his shirt. Liam smoothed his hand over my hair and whispered, “It’s going to be okay,” over and over again.
    I had no idea how long Liam and I sat like that on the swing. I only know that when I heard Tripp close the door on his truck, the sun had already begun its journey behind the mountains. The temperatures had approached the freezing mark. In my numbed state, I had somehow missed the slow passing of time.
    Tripp climbed the steps, and as he reached for the front doorknob, the movement of the swing caught his eye. He turned towards Liam and me and hesitated. “My Wrynn.” His whisper broke the silence. Those anguished words brought me to my feet and forward, propelling me into his arms. I had no doubt that was where I belonged—sheltered, enveloped, protected … loved.
    I felt the flex of his muscles when his arms squeezed me tighter. My face burrowed into his chest as I tried to get closer to the heat pouring from his body. His mouth dipped to my ear as he whispered his love for me , and his promise of forever. He apologized for leaving me when he knew I needed him, and told me that he would always be there for me.
    I turned my head and sought reassurance that he spoke the truth as his lips met mine. Time stopped, and a fire that I had never before felt burned through me. This was no soft, gentle peck. This was a kiss filled with hunger and desperation. The need flowed between us as I opened my lips beneath his. Our tongues danced together, and as Tripp drew my body closer, a deep longing-filled moan drew up from the depths of my being. The world around us disappeared, as I held tight to the man who had claimed my very soul.
    This was the kiss that I had always longed for. The kiss that marked me as his. The kiss that spoke to me of forever. The feelings and emotions it evoked told me the story of his never-ending love.
    A throat cleared behind us. The sound startled me and broke through the invisible walls that we had temporarily erected around our bodies. As I looked up, I met the reddened eyes and tear stained cheeks of my parents, and realized Liam had somehow slipped off the porch unnoticed. I felt as if someone had doused my fire with cold water. I shivered and Tripp’s arms tightened around me once more. He then released me, only to turn me around so that we both faced my parents.
    Tripp’s arms embraced me again as he pulled my body flush against him. He looked first to Mom and then to Dad. “I have something I need to talk to you about. Some of the things I’ve been thinking about today. Decisions that I know I need to make, but I need your help, your wisdom. You’ve never failed to give me guidance, and I need it now more than ever.”
    Dad took a deep breath and cupped my face in his hands. His eyes never left mine though he spoke solely to Tripp. “Son, you know we love you. Heck, you’re one of ours. We’ll do anything possible to help you. You know that. I see the confused, angry look in your eyes and I understand. I really do. But after all that has happened today, do you really think it’s a good time to be making life-changing decisions? Decisions that will affect all of us? Decisions that could shatter my little girl into a million broken pieces?”
    Now , I had always considered myself a fairly intelligent person, but at that exact moment, I lacked even one ounce of