A World Away (A New Adult Romance Novel) (18 page)

I babbled like an idiot for a while, not being able to do anything. I felt like I was on cloud nine, and I was never coming down. The smile stick to my face so hard it began to hurt, my muscles tiring from the effort.

Eventually I settled down, right around as desert was brought out.

“So this is really happening. This isn’t a dream. You’re actually going to come with me to
America.”

“Yes. It really is happening.”

“You were absolutely right. This is the most amazing thing I could have imagined.”

We decided to walk back to Philippe’s apartment,
enjoying the warm evening air, while I told Philippe everything I could about San Francisco. I told him about my apartment, that Clara, Alice and Peter would be thrilled to have him join us, or that we could find our own place. I told him about the people, the sights, the streets (I hope you like hills!) and everything else.

“I love you, Sophie.
I want to live my life with you. This is going to be an incredible adventure.”

“Yes, Philippe.
It absolutely will be. I love you too, and I will spend the rest of my life with you too.”

A week later our plane touched down in San Francisco. Clara was ready and waiting for the two of us, complete with a sign made of glitter announcing “WELCOME BACK LOVERS”.

I rolled my eyes and laughed when I saw it,
hugging her warmly. I had forgotten just how much I missed Clara. Noelle and Claire had made me promise to stay in touch, and I definitely planned on doing so, but Clara was still my best friend.

“
Bahn-jooah” she said to Philippe in an extraordinarily bad French accent, and he leaned down and kissed her hand. Clara flushed, her hand rising to her face.

“Oh my God, Sophie.
Philippe is such a gentleman. I’m just warning you now, I might try and steal him from you.”

“I regret to inform you,
mademoiselle
, that you will not be able to,” Philippe replied, wrapping a protective arm around my waist that felt so right as his touch sent tingles through me. “Sophie has captured my heart the way no other woman possibly could,” he continued, and Clara pretended to swoon.

“Sophie, he’s perfect. I’m so jealous of you. I can’t believe you left here to forget about men and came back with the perfect guy, with a sexy French accent to boot.”

I laughed, but I could tell my eyes weren’t laughing along with me. If only Clara knew what I had gone through with men in France. I still had nightmares from time to time. I still got nervous whenever people touched me without warning. I knew I was never going to be able to forget what Jacques did to me. That memory would be with me forever.

But I wasn’t going to let it dictate my life. I was with Philippe now, and I was so happy.
I was happier than I had ever been in my life. Everything was perfect. As we loaded up all our things into Clara’s old beater of a car and she drove us back to our apartment, I told her all about the trip, leaving out, of course, the parts about Jacques. Maybe I would tell her one day, but for now that secret was between Philippe and I.

As I fell asleep that night,
Philippe’s arm wrapped over me and on my breast, I thought about my semester abroad. It had been so unlike anything else I had ever done. I felt more pain than I could have thought possible, but also discovered new realms of pleasure. And now, now I was with a man that I considered my soul mate, a man I knew I would be with for the rest of my life.

That brochure had been right. My semester abroad had been the adventure of a lifetime.