Another pause. Longer this time.
Jo:Michelle...
Michelle:I’m not saying don’t be happy. I’m saying be careful.
Amber:She’ has a point.
Jessica:She really does.
Jo:Fine. But also, have you SEEN the way he looks at her?
Michelle:I have. That’s what worries me.
My phone keeps buzzing, but I set it down. Ruffy resettles his head on my ankle, sighing contentedly.
“They’re ridiculous,” I tell him.
But Michelle’s words sit differently than the teasing. Because she’s not wrong.Levi is leaving. He said it himself—a couple months, then he’s gone. And I’ve already let him take up more space in my head than is safe for a man with a return ticket.
Outside, the neighborhood is settling into evening. A dog barking somewhere down the street. The porch light next door flickering on. The ordinary sounds of a place where people come home to each other.
Levi looked at me today like he used to. Like I was something precious. Something worth waiting for.
I’m not sure I deserve that look anymore. And I’m not sure I can survive earning it only to watch him leave.
But for the first time in a long time, I think I might want to try.
Ruffy’s tail thumps once against the couch cushion.
“Yeah,” I whisper. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s time to stop running.”
He thumps his tail again, as if to say:Obviously. I’ve been saying this all along.
I fall asleep on the couch with my dog at my feet and something that feels suspiciously like hope blooming in my chest.
Even if hope has an expiration date too.
EIGHT
LEVI
The song is killing me.
I’ve been staring at my notebook for two hours, trying to write something meaningful for Dean and Jo’s ceremony. Something that captures who they are. Something that doesn’t sound like every other wedding song ever written.
So far I have:
When you find the one who sees you?—
Cliché. Delete.
Love is patient, love is?—
That’s literally the Bible. Scrap it.
She walked into his life like?—
Like what? A hurricane? A dream? A woman who feeds his dog table scraps against his explicit instructions?
