“I don’t think it did,” she said. “I think it was the voice in my head of my fickle dad.”
Maybe her ability to see it, to say it aloud, was a sign she could heal, just as he had. Well, had started to. He had a way to go, but he was on the path now. He was dropping fears along the way so fast he’d begun feeling light in a way he’d never thought possible. So many things he’d never thought possible.
“So…” he said, resting his chin on the top of her head. “Song lyrics, huh? I bet that was an impressive apology.”
“It would have been, if I’d finished it. Or started it. In the last two days I’ve listened to Keane, Jukebox the Ghost, Brandi Carlile, Billy Joel…”
He laughed. “All my hoodies.”
“I guess all I really need to say is…I walked all over the wounds in your heart with my stiletto heels on. I know I did. I know I’ve said things that left you in pain.”
“Claire.” Tears surged into his eyes, and he pressed his fingers to the corners.
She tilted her head up to meet his eyes, and hers were shiny too. “Yes, I did, Tai. I didn’t mean to, but I did.”
“I’m not wounded,” he said.
“All of us have wounds inside. I’m figuring out we don’t have to be ashamed of them. It’s what makes us whole people, real and deep people. And if someone offers those wounds to us, and we don’t treat them with the care they deserve, then… Well, we can walk away from their hurt or we can stay and make it right. Whatever you need, I’m ready to make this right.”
“You’re doing it now. Naming the hurt and believing me. Really believing me.”
“Hmm. Doesn’t feel like enough.”
“Well, it is.”
She stretched up on the bench and kissed him, and all the care she’d spoken of for the wounds inside him came through in the gentleness of her lips on his. She said, “I love you so much.”
“I love you too. And I’ll stay for the rest of our lives.”
“I know you will.” She kissed him again, harder this time. “I. Know. You. Will.”
Taste. Bite. Pledge.
Not now, not here.
“Tai?”
“I… Claire, I talked to Peter. Saturday night—well, Sunday morning—after the fight.”
“And?”
“And I’ve been terrified of something I never needed to be. He knows bloodbound couples where one of them is a bloodfiend. He talked me through it, and it was so clear to me that he’s right. That I can be. Safely.”
“Wh…at?” The word came on a nearly silent breath. “Tai… We could be…?”
He nodded, and Claire shook her head, and he laughed.
“I don’t need it now,” she said. “I faced things. I decided.”
“Well, in that case, let me know if you ever change your mind.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Their next kiss was a shower of icy sparks that fully glitched out his thoughts as pleasure and overwhelming love exploded from his chest outward, all the way to his fingertips and toes. His inner melody was a joyful reprise of their song, arranged to sound like delighted laughter. This woman. Claire Elisabeth. His. And being hers was the greatest feeling he’d ever had.
“I know the streetlights are on now,” she whispered against his mouth, “and I know we’re off the main path, and the willow branches help too, but I think we might need to head back to your place.”
“Yes,” was all the reply he could manage.
