He took a deep breath and leaned down to kiss me. “And when you get mad, don’t leave. I hate it when you go.”
“I will really try, Flynn. But that’s something I need to work on. I promise you that I will.”
“And we’ll go places together. And you’ll help me stay calm. We can see things that you want to see. And then we can come back. To our house. Where we belong,” Flynn agreed.
“Where we belong,” I said, wrapping my arms around him.
I had thought that I needed more than Wellston. More than what this place could give me. I had only ever associated it with bad memories, bad choices, bad people.
But there was one thing that trumped all of that.
It was here, in this quiet town where I had lived my entire life that I had found Flynn.
A lost girl had met a sad, lonely boy and had found her heart.
“I love you, Flynn.”
I felt him kiss the top of my head. Soft, light touches that I felt to the tip of my toes.
He leaned down and whispered words in my ear that erased everything that had ever come before this.
This one perfect moment.
“I love you, Ellie.”
Epilogue
-Flynn-
A few years later
My collar is too tight. The fabric makes my skin itch. I pull it away from my neck so I can breathe.
“Here, let me do that.”
Ellie walks into our bedroom and loosens the tie around my neck and unbuttons the top button.
“I usually button the top one,” I say.
“Yeah, but it will be more comfortable like this,” Ellie says and smiles.
I love her smile.
I love her.
I like telling Ellie that I love her and see the way her eyes smile like her mouth.
“Do I look all right?” Ellie asks. She looks nervous. Her hands won’t stop moving.
I reach out and take a hold of her hands and hold them.
I love touching her more than I love anything.
Because today, Ellie and I are getting married.
“You look pretty,” I say and she does. Her dress isn’t white like I’ve seen in movies. It’s a pale yellow with flowers. Yellow like our living room that I painted just for her. The material feels soft when I touch it.
“You look pretty, too,” she says, laughing.
