I gaze up at her from where I’m kneeling on the floor with my fists clenched so tightly my fingertips ache. My vision blurs as her words sink in. “You can’t go.”

Sitting on the edge of my bed, she holds her tiny face in her hands as tears fall between her fingers, landing on my jeans. “My dad got his orders weeks ago but never told me until tonight. We leave tomorrow, Jack.” Her voice cracks on my name.

I swallow, desperately trying to process the information yet not wanting to believe it at the same time. “Tomorrow?” Panic starts to settle in my bones. “You can’t leave now.”

“I have to.” She lifts her eyes to mine in a silent plea and apology.

I wipe the tears from her cheeks, wishing we could run away and leave our lives behind. “Maybe you can stay with me.” I refuse to let her walk out of my life. We’re so close to being free of her father, only nine months from graduation.

Shaking her head, she whispers, “I can’t.” Her bottom lip trembles as she squeezes her eyes shut. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you.”

“I’ll talk to my mom. She knows we love each other, Evie.” My throat starts to close, and I feel like I’m suffocating at the thought of her not being here. Evie opens her mouth to say something, but I stop her. “Don’t give up.” I hold her hands in mine, caressing the soft skin with my thumb, and search her eyes for a glimmer of hope.

“My dad will never go for it. You know that.”

I grip her hands tighter and shake my head. I’m unable to believe we only have tonight. “There has to be something we can do.”

“I have to go, but it’s only for a year,” she whispers softly, barely able to look me in the eyes. “I’ll come back.”

“I can’t wait a year. I’ll visit you every weekend.”

“Jack,” she says as more tears fall, turning her head away from me. “We’re moving to Germany.”

Her words punch me in the gut, almost knocking me backward. “Germany?” I stammer.

Her father’s moving her to another continent, halfway across the world, and it’s entirely because of me. He’s hated me from the moment he found out Evie and I were dating.

“In a year, we’ll graduate, and we can be together forever.” I refuse to believe this will be the end for us. Evie and I have plans…a future.

“I’ll come back to you,” she promises, resting her hand on top of mine as I grip her cheeks and gaze into her blue eyes.

She’s everything to me.

I try to memorize every detail of her face. The blueness of her eyes and how they match the sky just as the sun meets the horizon on a summer evening. The flecks of brown in her blond hair that turn auburn in the sunlight and how those silky strands feel wrapped around my fingers. Near the corner of her right eye, she has the tiniest collection of freckles resembling the Big Dipper. There’s no one more beautiful than her.

She’s become part of me.

My other half.

The first thought I have every morning and the last every single night before I close my eyes is of Evie. My chest tightens at the thought of not seeing her every day.

When she leaves, what will be left?

How can there be an us if we aren’t even in the same country?

Evie being my girl is all I’ve ever known. She’s as much a part of me as the air I breathe.

I love this girl more than life itself.

“How long do we have?”

She nestles her face into my hand and closes her eyes. “He gave me an hour to say goodbye. If it weren’t for my mom, I wouldn’t even be getting this. You know how he can be.”

“It’s not goodbye, Evie. I can never say goodbye to you. We’ll see each other again. I promise you.”

“I’ll love you always, Jack. I promise I’ll come back to you. I’ll be back before you have time to miss me.”

I miss her already, and she’s right in front of me. I don’t know how I am going to do this. How do I let her go? I’m terrified that once she walks out this door, it is going to be the last time I see her.

“I’ll wait an eternity for you, Evie. I’ll never stop loving you. Just come back to me, no matter how long it takes. I’ll be here waiting.”

“I promise.” She flings herself into my arms, needing my touch as desperately as I crave hers.

We’re holding each other so tightly that I can barely breathe, but it doesn’t matter. All I want is for Evie to stay.

She’s mine.

I never want to let her go.

Not like this.

Not before our last year in school.

We made plans.

Shared our dreams.

I breathe in the scent of her strawberry shampoo, committing the smell to memory. Not that I could ever forget anything about my Evie girl. She’s unforgettable.

“I don’t want to cry anymore,” she whispers in my ear and grabs the back of my hair, tangling it between her fingers. Those soft lips I have tasted so many times brush over mine, full of desperation, matching my own.

We fall back onto my bed as I kick off my shoes and pull my shirt over my head. I need to feel her skin-to-skin. I try to push away the thought that this could be the last time I hold her in my arms. This could be the last time I taste her lips. This could be the last time she is truly mine.

“God, I love you, Evie.”

“I love you too,” she whispers as I cover her body with mine.