Josie: Sent 3 photos.
Cadence: Sent a video.
I opened the first one. It was a candid shot of us from a few seconds ago. The fire was roaring behind us, casting a glow over everything. Cal was looking at me with this… expression. He looked completely enamored. And me? I looked like I had everything I had ever wanted right in my hands.
It was the first time I had ever seen us from the outside.
Our relationship had been hidden in the dark, shadows in hotel rooms, glances in locker rooms. I only knew what we felt like on the inside. I had never seen what the world would see if we let them.
We looked… right. We looked happy. We looked like we belonged to each other.
I turned the screen so Cal could see it.
Hewent still. He stared at the photo for a long time, the music fading into the background for a moment.
“We look happy,” he whispered.
“Wearehappy,” I said.
He looked up at me, his eyes glassy in the firelight. “I can’t wait to have forever like this. Seeing pictures of us… existing. Just being us.”
The word hung in the air.Forever.
“Forever?” I asked, my voice thick.
Cal nodded, his fingers tightening in my hair. “I don’t know about you, Reed, but I don’t plan on being with another person again. Do you?”
I stared at him. The sounds of my brothers laughing, the crackle of the wood, the twang of the guitar, it all narrowed down to him.
“No,” I whispered. “Never.”
I leaned in and kissed him, slow and deep, tasting the smoke and the sweetness of the night on his lips.
As I kissed him, I felt something settle deep in my bones. It wasn’t the adrenaline of the ring, or the panic of the secret. It was heavier than that, and yet, it made me feel weightless. I had spent so much of my life running, running from my father’s shadow, running from the botch, running from the terrifying reality that I loved this man.
But I wasn’t running anymore.
I was standing in my backyard, surrounded by the people who knew me best, holding the only person who truly knew my soul. And he wanted forever.
I looked at him as we pulled apart, his forehead resting against mine. I looked at the way the firelight caught the sharp line of his jaw, the way his lashes fluttered against his cheeks.
Forever.
I was going to marry him.
The thought didn’t scare me. It didn’t feel like a cage. It felt like the only freedom I had ever truly known. I was going to ask him. Not today, maybe not tomorrow. But soon. I was going to make sure that “forever” wasn’t just a promise we whispered in the dark, but a vow we made in the light.
“What are you thinking about?” Cal whispered, tracing my cheekbone with his thumb.
I smiled, capturing his hand and kissing his palm.
“Just that the music sucks,” I lied.
Cal laughed, the sound bright and clear and perfect. “Yeah. It really does.”
And as we swayed there, under the Carolina stars, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be.
31
