All My Heart (Count On Me Book 4) (20 page)

You’re not supposed to understand. You’re just supposed to accept. Trust me. Kayden didn’t forget your anniversary.

“That’s all you’re gonna tell me?”

He grins again and despite not really feeling a reason to do it back, it happens anyway.

Yep. So, has a
nyone ever told you that you think too much? :)

~*~*~

By the time I’m walking home, the worry over whether Kayden forgot about what today is, or if he cares at all, is gone.

Opening up to another person, someone that despite only knowing him a few weeks,
I seem to trust implicitly did what I needed it to. It calmed me. Isaac was right. Kayden does love me and I have to believe in that. Nothing else matters.

That’s what fills my mind when
I slide the key into the lock and push the door open. Putting my bag on the hook the same as always, I make a beeline for the kitchen and it’s only when I pull out a water bottle and set it on the bar that I see the stray piece of paper sitting directly in the middle.

Reaching over
and flipping it open, I see the words on the page and Isaac’s earlier words come rushing back.

“You’re not supposed to understand. You’re just supposed to accept. Trust me, Kayden didn’t forget your anniversary.”

He was right. Staring back at me on the paper, in Kayden’s familiar scrawl are words that prove everything Isaac said to be true. Kayden didn’t forget.

Isabelle,

We’re going on a scavenger hunt. Well, you are. I’m just guiding you through it from Toronto.

Located around the house are three presents. Gifts
that remind me of you and of us. When you’ve located them; on the final one you will find instructions for what you’ve got to do next.

You’ve got until 7 PM to find them all and reach the location listed on the final present.

I love you, Belle. Happy Anniversary <3

Kayden

Looking down at my watch, I see that I’ve got six hours to find the things he’s talking about, along with the note that will let me know what I’m supposed to do next. With two more classes after lunch, both of them just over an hour long, it leaves four and a half hours, maybe a little more. 

Tossing the note back onto the counter and grabbing the water bottle, I head straight for the back of the house. Kayden’s old room, the one he stayed in before I moved in and he went into Dean’s. If he’s going to hide anything in the house, my room would be the best place to do it.

The last place someone would expect to find something in a game like this is the very place they’re most familiar with.

Shifting the water bottle into my left hand, I swing the door open and I’m
immediately met with darkness. It’s only when I flip the light switch that the room brightens, but not in the way I expect. Just like the day in the gym last fall, the lighting above my head is low and blue, stars finding their place all over the carpet below.

Wanting to stop and enjoy the way seeing this makes me feel, the swell it brings to my chest and the way it make
s my knees weak, I remember I’m on a time clock and move deeper into the room. Starting at the shelving units and working my way around, I keep my eyes alert for anything that might stand out as something that reminds him of us.

It’s only when I get on my knees and lift t
he comforter off the floor, looking under the bed that I see it. Right in the middle is a square case. Sliding under and grabbing it and bringing myself back out, I look at my prize.

A CD, but not just any CD. It’s a Parachute CD and the meaning behind it is obvious. Opening it up, I see the note inside and wasting no time, grab it and toss the CD onto the bed.

Success. You found our band. This is present #1.

The reason this band means so much to me isn’t because it’s what I played on the PA. It’s also not because it’s the song that I danced with you to in the gym. The reason it’s so important is because when I asked you for a song, you didn’t even hesitate giving it to me. It’s the moment I realized that you were thinking about me as much as I was about you and Isabelle, knowing that changed my world.

Now before you run off to find present #2, please go to the desk. Eat your lunch. You’re going to need your strength for later.

Madly is the way I love you. Forever is how long it will be. <3

Looking over to the desk, I see a Styrofoam container and a bottle of water, like the one in my hand directly beside it. If his words in the note hadn’t already turned me into a puddle, knowing that he was thinking about me enough to have lunch here would’ve done it. It’s so powerful, what he’s done here that before I can even pick up the spoon in order to eat what he’s placed here for me, the tears start falling.

He’s done it again. He’s taken my breath away.

Chapter Eighteen

Kayden

I’m like the kid in a candy store. You know the one. He walks in and his parents tell him not to touch anything. He can look, but he can’t touch because if he does then they’ll have to buy whatever it is he puts his pudgy little fingers on and he touches anyway.

Seeing Belle leave the house about an hour after she walked in, I wa
nt to be that kid. Run right up and touch her despite the warning because I’m so eager to know how she reacted to the scavenger hunt. I’m willing to risk paying for everything by blowing the rest of the plan to shit because I’m excited.

With the way I’m acting, it’s no surprise I don’t have memories of going into a candy store.

There’s noticeable differences now that weren’t there this morning. Her head isn’t gravitating toward the ground anymore, she’s not smiling, but there’s a hint of one on her lips and even from the distance I’ve placed myself away from her, I can see her eyes are as blue and bright as they’ve ever been.

It means everything to me.

I did the right thing not pulling the plug on this. I even did the right thing calling her mom and having her talk me down from completely throwing the plan under the bus. I’ve made everything okay again. Done something right.

Putting all of this together, I knew she wouldn’t have enough time to eat and
look for the presents I left, so the last one; the present she needs to find in order to lead her to our meeting place, now’s the time I have to hide it.

I’ve already made sure that Dillon is at the ready. He won’t be her first call, but when Eric, Cadence, Sarah and Grace make themselves unavailable to help, he’s going to be the one to step in.

When I first put the plan together, it was going to be me getting her there, but the minute the idea of a scavenger hunt hit, it became obvious it couldn’t be. That left Dillon. I could have easily had Grace do it, but I figured it would be better having someone not as attached to the outcome.

Dillon might want this night to be awesome, but not because he’s invested in any way. He’d want it because it would be something that would make his two friends happy. With Grace, it’s more than that, so Dillon driving her there it is.

Making sure I’ve given myself enough time after Belle leaves so I don’t end up getting nailed making the run from across the street, I move out from my hiding spot and make quick work getting to the door and sliding my way inside.

The final present, it’s a big one. It’s something that I decided to do right after I left and came to Toronto, but that didn’t go through until about two days ago
.

Grabbing a blank piece of paper from the printer and making my way over to the bar, I pull a sto
ol out and throw my body on it, more than a little ready to write out the final note that will bring her the rest of the way in this anniversary adventure. Where the other notes had come easily, this one doesn’t and after staring at the page for more than a few minutes, the blankness of it glaring and taunting me, I give up.

In order to write this the way I want, I need something. It’s obviously something that’s not here in front of me or even in the house at all.

I need her.

Sliding my phone out of my pocket, thankful that
over the last year nothing has happened to it, I pull up the screen that will give me exactly what I need.

Pushing play and watching the scene unfold in front of me, it works its magic.

Picking up the pen while the sound of her laughter plays on repeat in the background, I start writing and I don’t stop until every word that I want to say is filling the page.

The same way she has in every other instance in my life, Belle has given me exactly what I need and now the only thing left to do is place this where I need it to be and wait for her to come home and find it.

It’s time for our anniversary to really begin.

Belle

When I race through the door a few hours later, practically running the entire way home in order to give myself enough time to find the final two presents, the first thing I notice is that there’s printer paper on the bar. Paper that definitely wasn’t there when I left earlier.

Picking it up, I see that it’s blank and a feeling of dread sets in.

Kayden’s in Toronto and other than me, he’s the only one with a key to the house, which means whoever put this here had to have broken in. I’m scared at the thought of someone else being in the house, but the paper being the only thing that’s out of the ordinary, it’s confusing.

Who would break into a house just to use some paper?

Not having an answer and not wanting to be a sitting duck in case someone’s here that shouldn’t be, I move around the bar into the kitchen and open the pantry cupboard.

Wh
en Kayden left at the end of the summer, my fear of being completely alone more than I could stand, I stashed an old baseball bat I found in here.

In all the weeks since he’s been gone I’ve never once had to use it, but if there’s someone in the house right now, there’s no way they’re going to get the better of me. Grabbing it out and holding it up high, I slowly make my way back around until I’m in the center of the living room, able to see anything and everything that might be happening in the hall.

Moving slowly, swallowing the fear that’s building, I take steps down the hall and using the bat push both Dean’s and Kayden’s doors open. Clearing both rooms, catching sight of the bathroom from my spot in Kayden’s doorway,  content that there’s no one here, I finally release the breath I’d been holding on to since I picked up the bat minutes before.

Maybe Kayden coming home is a good thing after all if I’m freaked by a little paper on the bar.

Putting the bat back where I found it, I close the pantry and balling up the scrap paper and tossing it in the recycling bin, put my focus on the whole reason I came back so quickly.

Kayden’s presents.

Two of them that I still need to find before I can figure out what else he has planned for me.

Eliminating the bathroom, assuming since it’s a place that I wouldn’t normally put things, I’m pretty sure Kayden wouldn’t either, it leaves me with the living room and his new bedroom.

Making my way back down the hall, this time less concerned with my speed, I peek around before stepping all the way in again. My eyes fall first to the picture frames lining the mahogany dresser and who’s in them.

Us.

One frame after another, some of me alone smiling and others of the two of us. Memories of our year together. Instances I never want to forget because sometimes it almost feels like they’re a dream.

Opening each drawer, looking around inside and findi
ng nothing but clothes and the random junk drawer Kayden uses for emptying his pockets and even sometimes the contents of his backseat, I don’t see anything that would stand out as a present. Taking another look around, I move over to the bed before sitting down and opening the drawer of the bedside table.

Where I expect to find it empty, it’s not and it’s when I pull out the papers inside, along with another CD case that I realize I’ve found present number two.

Written in black marker across the front of the CD are two words.

Play Me.

Fingers firmly grasped around the papers I have yet to read, I head back out of the room and across the hall into mine. Making a beeline for the desk, I slide the disc drive open and place it gently inside. Hearing the familiar hum of the laptop as it boots up whatever is on the disc, I slide myself down in the chair and wait until the entire screen turns black. The video program opens up and a gigantic play arrow lands in the middle of the screen.

Clicking on it, I watch as
a video I’ve never seen before starts playing.

It’s one of me
running my hands through my hair, looking straight ahead and smiling, even going so far as to laugh while my hair whips around my head because of the wind swirling around me.

What is this? When was it taken? Why don’t I remember this?

It’s only when it ends a few seconds later that I look down at the two papers in my hand. One another note from Kayden, like the first one I found earlier and the other, another reminder of our time together last fall.

Two perforated pages with my handwriting, complete with smiley faces.

He kept them.

Placing them on the desk after wiping at my eyes, the reality of seeing these pages again hitting me a lot harder than I was expect
ing, I pick up the other paper and read his current words.

Isabelle

This is a two part present! Knowing you, I’m pretty sure you watched the video first so I’ll explain what it is and why it means so much to me.

The day you made the voice file, it altered the course for me. One day when we were outside together, I made the video. At the time, you caught me and I told you I was taking your picture, but that wasn’t the truth. The video with your laughter, your smile and how natural it all was, it’s how I always want to remember you. My air. My reason, at her most natural.

The papers are a little different. At the time I had no idea why I kept them, but with us about to celebrate one year together, it’s never been clearer. Right from the first happy face, you put me under your spell and whether it’s a year from now or ten, I never want to forget the exact moment it happened.

The exact moment you saved me from drowning.

“Actions speak louder than words ever could, Kayden.”

The final present awaits you, but here’s a hint. It’s not in the house.

I don’t know how long it
’s been since I read the words, but it’s like time’s completely frozen. The world is completely still.

There’s so much
he told me after we got together, about how my words affected him and made him see things in a different way, but he never told me this. All I’ve ever wanted in my life leading up to the day Kayden came back into it was for one person to break the mold and be different than what was expected of them.

One person to step up, accept and understand and after watching the video and reading Kayden’s words, I see it coming to life.

He’s the one.

Wiping at my eyes for what feels like the hundredth time since I came into the room, I close the lid to the laptop and make my way out until I’m again standing in the living room.

His final clue said that the present wouldn’t be in the house, which only leaves out front or the backyard.

Making my way over to the window, I pull up the blinds and take in the small ar
ea. The trees in the far corner and the picnic table just off to the left. Whatever he’s got out there, it’s obviously not going to be sitting front and center for me to find so making my way to the screen door, I push through it until I’m standing on the back steps.

At one point when we were younger, I remember being over here. I don’t remember much of being inside the house, but I do remember being right where I am now. Daphne liked flowers and even though the flowers
are long gone, there’s a large patch of old soil in the left of the yard and it’s where I head to first.

I see the green metal watering can first, but moving in closer, I see movement underneath it. More white paper, lifting slightly w
ith the breeze. Kneeling down until my legs are digging into the ground, I lift the can and pull up the papers underneath, but not before seeing the words on a small magnet resting on the side of the can.

Home is where our story begins.

It’s worn and a little dirty in the corners so I know that even if these papers are Kayden’s final present, this magnet didn’t play a part in it, but the way it makes me feel seeing them leaves no doubt in my mind that they were meant for me to find.

Home, whether it was mine or the one I find myself in now was where our story started and I just know that it will be where the story ends too.

Getting back to my feet and making my way back over to the stairs, I sit down and start reading.

You’ve found the final present! Before you look under the paper to see what it might be, there’s something I want to say to you first.

“Welcome Home.”

Two of the most beautiful words in the English language and the two words that may mean even more to me than I love you.

I know you don’t believe this, but you are my home, Isabelle Reagan. My safe place to land, my preserver when I’m drowning and my air when I can’t breathe. When I’m with you, I’m home.

Go now. Unwrap my present and then come back because listed on the back of this paper is the location of where you need to be at 7.

I love you Belle and I can’t wait to see you.

Happy Anniversary.

I’m a cheater. I flip the paper over the minute I’ve read the final words because even though I want to know what the present is and why he chose it to be the last one, where I need to be in order to see him matters more.