Garrett let out a soft breath.Likedidn’t come close to describing what she’d just done for him. “I have an old telescope in my closet. We could try to find it.”
Reese’s whole face lit up with a huge smile. “I used to have a telescope, but I couldn’t afford an expensive one. I ended up selling my crappy one when I needed some extra cash for my art supplies.”
“Give me two minutes,” Garrett said, hoping the old thing was as good as he remembered. If not, then astronomy books weren't the only thing he was going to be buying online tonight.
Less than two minutes later, he brought out the box with his telescope. It was a little dusty, but all the parts seemed to be intact even though he hadn’t used it since before he’d gone off to college. He still remembered how everything fit together, and worked quickly to assemble it and set it up on the picnic table.
When he first bought this house, he wasn’t sure how he’d like living in the country. He’d grown up in the suburbs, but this wasway more rural. His neighbors weren’t in shouting distance, and the city limits were well over an hour away. It definitely made for a long commute, but he’d quickly learned to love it. It gave him time to listen to music or podcasts, sometimes he’d pop in an audiobook.
“All set,” Garrett said, presenting the telescope to Reese like it was his baby. And in some ways, it was. He’d brought it with him to college, to his first apartment, and even after years of not taking it out of the box, he couldn’t bring himself to part with it. He looked up at the night sky, marveling at the array of brightly lit pinholes in the vast darkness, and thanked his lucky stars that he’d chosen this house over all the others. For himself. For Reese. And for all these stars.
“Let’s see if we can find it.” The excitement in Reese’s tone only made him want to hunt for that star even more. Determined to find the star she’d named after him, he put his eye to the lens and started adjusting the dial.
It had been a long time since he’d seen the world from this perspective, but it was like coming home. And he had Reese to thank for that.
“I pulled up the star chart app,” Reese said. “I think it might actually be a little more helpful in finding it than this paper.”
He hadn’t heard her go back for her phone, but maybe she’d gotten it while he was inside getting the telescope. Let’s see.”
It took almost half an hour to line up the telescope in the vicinity of where it looked like his star was. Then another fifteen minutes to find it. Reese had been patient and helpful the whole time, and the second his gaze landed on his star - it still felt weird to think of it like that - he swore the ball of fire shone a little brighter just for him.
He raised his head and looked up at Reese who was watching him expectantly. “Did you find it?”
Garrett nodded. “Come look.”
Reese came to stand in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind as she lowered her head to the telescope and looked through the lens for a long moment.
“Do you see it?” He asked.
“Yes.” She straightened and turned in his arms to face him. Her gaze landed on his mouth and it only made him want to kiss her again. “My mom got me a star a year before she died. I haven’t seen it since. But maybe one day our stars will find their way to each other.”
Garrett held her close, never wanting to let go of the beautiful and thoughtful woman he’d lost his heart to. “I think they already have.” It was too dark to see into her eyes, but he didn’t miss the way the moonlight danced in her hair, or the way her cheeks pinkened when he leaned in to kiss her delectable mouth.
It definitely felt like their stars were aligning.
