Page 104 of If the Shoe Fits

“I’m very good at missing flights…and disappearing. I’m good at that too.”

“You feel like disappearing this weekend and meeting me in Italy?” I ask, my lips brushing against his as we kiss with every syllable.

“My disappearing act has been known to go on the road.”

“I’ll be back in two weeks,” I tell him. “But I guess we’ll have to see if you make it past the first elimination.”

“The competition stands no chance,” he says as he pulls me tightly against him.

“Oh, and I’m moving to Brooklyn.”

“Well, that’s it,” he says with a playful smile. “We’re over.”

I still don’t know if I believe in fate and if everything happens for a reason, but I do know that the best thing I can do is find purpose in everything, as well as joy, like Mom wrote all those years ago. Whether it’s living as fully as I can to honor my parents or if it’s just being thankful for the friends and connections I found on a silly reality television show. Anything can have a purpose. Anything can have a meaning if you make the choice to give it one.

I grin into his lips. “Henry?”

“Mon petit chou?”

“What’s in the shoe box?”

“Shoes, of course. A very memorable pair of shoes.”

“And they’re really for me?”

“If the shoe fits,” he whispers.