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“I love you, Jesse.” She giggles and my whole world lights up.
“I knew you were special right when I met you. I fell in love with you when I finally opened my eyes at the library. I watched you read to the kids and you looked like an angel sent from Heaven. Every day since then I’ve wanted to witness every smile, every laugh. I wanted you so desperately, more than I’ve ever let myself want anything. It was terrifying,” I admit.
“I felt the same way about you. I didn’t think anyone would ever care for me, let alone love me the way you do. You became my safe haven. And after everything that you told me about your childhood…” she pauses, seeming unsure. “I want you to know that you are my family now, too. You’ll always have me, Nathan, and Callie. I want to be your home, as much as you are mine.”
Hearing her voice her commitment to me, to us. She is my home, my world, and the center of my universe. The literal sun that shines down on me and lets me get through another day.
I nod my head, only to acknowledge her, the lump in my throat too thick to respond verbally. I can’t begin to explain how deeply her words mean to me. The young boy in me is drowning in the joy and love that he never got to receive.
She nudges my shoulder, urging me back down to the pillows where she lies next to me as closely as she can without touching me. When I notice her furrowed brow as she adjusts again, I realize her concern is about me, not herself.
“You can touch me. I won’t break.”
She looks at me worriedly before shifting her body closer and resting her head on my shoulder, gently placing her hand on my chest. I hurt. My whole body aches, but the thought of her not being able to touch me is a far greater pain. Whenever she wants to touch me, I’m hers. Forever.
We lay quietly for a while, neither of us saying much, but rather absorbing everything that happened and everything said. Until another thought pops into my head that dampens my mood entirely.
“I have to take a red eye tonight to Texas.” I’ll have to leave in a few short hours. “It was an order, not a request after my commander found out what happened.”
“Oh.”
“I have to debrief about everything. Probably drown in paperwork, but then it will officially be over. I’ll make sure my transfer is a done deal and then pack up my apartment,” I tell her, hoping it eases some of the sting of my leaving.
“Pack up to move here, right?”
“Yeah, I should be stationed close by.”
“I mean, should I make room for your clothes?” She asks, shyly.
“Is that what you want?” I watch the pink stain her cheeks.
“Yes.”
“Thank God. I don’t want to be anywhere but here.”
She laughs at my relief and I wince when I try to laugh along with her. Broken ribs are no joke.
* * *
The first week gone was spent debriefing with my unit. We didn’t find any more information about where Jameson could be hiding or what he was planning.
Curtis is still a missing person. I checked the Rollins County and surrounding areas coroner’s reports every day, hoping I didn’t come across a body matching his description.
I advocated for him, still hoping he would turn up. My commanders agreed to dismiss his pending charges and only punish him for going AWOL. He was a lost kid, but as soon as he realized Jameson was up to bad shit, he wanted no part of it. I insisted they know that.
The second week, I wrapped up all of the paperwork I needed to and made sure my transfer was officially approved.
The rest of my days in Texas were filled with packing and selling stuff I no longer needed. It was like purging my old life away in the most freeing sense and getting to start fresh.
It was the longest three weeks of my life, but at least I knew at the end of it I was finally coming home. It doesn’t matter what city I’m in, it doesn’t matter what house I live in, it matters that I’m with her.
“Hey, Sunshine, what are you doing?” I tuck my phone between my ear and shoulder as I grab my carry-on.
“I’m picking out what I want to wear tomorrow,” she responds, distractedly.
“For what?” I rack my brain, trying to think if she’s told me of any plans.
“I have a 5k tomorrow. I kind of forgot about it until Latisha mentioned it at work today,” she explains.
