by Lisa Lovell
Laughter twinkles in her eyes as her gaze slides behind me. I look over my shoulder expecting a doctor, but instead, Luke stands in the doorway.
“Oh!” I leap to my feet, sending the magazine onto the floor. “Hi. Um, how long have you been there?”
“I came in at ‘she used to put ham in my locker’,” he smiles.
“Ah.” My face heats up before I can control it. “And you heard the rest?”
“All the rest.” His smile grows bigger. “I now feel like the biggest idiot on the planet.”
My stomach flutters in a way that feels more like a knife. “You do?”
“I’ve been in love with you for years and I was too stupid to see that you loved me too.”
At first, I think I’ve hallucinated his words. Then, he closes the distance between us and wraps me in his arms.
“Is there any chance you still love me, even though I’ve been an oblivious moron?” He asks.
“A chance?” I nearly choke on my words. “Of course, there’s a chance. I’ve loved you for over a decade. I’m going to keep loving you through all of the decades to come.”
When he kisses me, I feel like I’m going to dissolve into a cloud of sparkles and flower petals.
“You know,” he murmurs when we break apart, “that means you can’t run off to New Orleans for another six years, right?”
“I’m only going to run off if I can run off with you.”
Epilogue
Marie
“I can’t believe you’re going to live in a box,” my mother huffs.
“It’s not a box,” I laugh. “It’s a very nice three-bedroom home.”
“Three-bedroom box,” she corrects as she looks around the vast empty space that will soon become my living room. “Why don’t you and Luke buy that abandoned brewery? It’s small, but the space is so unique.”
“You’re insane,” I say. “We can’t raise our future children in a renovated brewery.”
“I raised you in a renovated bakery,” she points out.
In the past six months, she’s made incredible strides. She officially had her last round of chemo last month and her hair has started to grow back. Her doctors are confident the cancer is gone for good.
“My bathroom only had three walls,” I retort. “Don’t worry if this place doesn’t have character right now. Luke and I are going to add character, personality, and memories.”
“You better or else we’re having Christmas at my house until the end of time.”
“I already assumed we’d do Christmas at yours,” I say.
“Well?” Luke asks as he strides into the empty space. “What do you think, Alice?”
“I think you’re going to have to breathe some life into it,” she says. A smile appears in one corner of her mouth. “I think you two will be able to pull it off.”
“High praise,” Luke laughs. “Are you sure you don’t want to move in with us? We have three bedrooms now.”
“I’m not an invalid just yet,” my mother winks. “When I am, this is the first place I’ll come.”
“Noted. Our boys will have to be content with sharing the second bedroom,” Luke nods.
“Our boys?” I raise my brow. “I think our girls will fight over closet space.”
“What if you have a boy and a girl?” My mother asks.
“Then we’ll build you a She Shed in the backyard,” Luke grins.
“This man has thought of everything,” she laughs. “Your eventual children are going to grow up in a fairytale.”
I’m not pregnant. At least, not yet. Luke and I agreed that while we could get engaged and married within the month, we want to date. We want to have the experiences we should have had in high school.
Marriage and children are in the future. We talk about it as easily as we talk about what to make for dinner or watch on TV.
As eager as I am to embark on that part of my life’s journey with him, I also want to savor every moment.
No more stolen fantasies. No more looking in from the outside. No more wishing. It’s all become my reality.
When we first started walking out and about together, people looked at us strangely. At first, my old fears resurfaced. I worried everyone would think I wasn’t the sort of girl he should be with. Then, I simply stopped caring. I’m too damn happy to let my fear stop me from having what I want.
“I’m going to head home. It’s nearly time to take my meds.”
I give my mother a hug goodbye. Luke walks her to her car.
When we’re all alone, he takes me in his arms, and kisses me hard enough to make me forget my name.
“This is a nice, spacious house,” he says.
“It is,” I agree, pulling him in for another kiss.
“There are a lot of rooms,” he says.
“Indeed.”
“We better get started now if we’re going to christen all of them before the furniture arrives.”
I giggle against his mouth. “Let’s start right here.”
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