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“When you said you’d lost someone …,” he starts and clears his throat. “You were talking about yourself, weren’t you?”
I crack a smile. “Perceptive, aren’t you? Yeah. Yeah, I was.”
He nods. “I thought so.”
“I was fourteen when it happened. I had to mourn for a life that I no longer had. I can never get that naivety back, of not even considering the fact my body might fail me one day.”
He takes my hand again, fitting our palms together. Both of us look down at them.nbsp;
“I think you’re the strongest person I know.”
“You don’t know me,” I protest.
His eyes meet mine. “I know enough, and I want to know more.”
I think back to that day where Perry ran into him outside the coffee shop, how he made me feel with one glance, and I think about all our encounters since.
I became a big believer in signs after my diagnosis, and once you start looking for them and pay attention, they’re everywhere. I don’t believe everything is by chance, I do think sometimes the world places things in your path for a purpose.
For some reason, I’m supposed to get to know Jasper.
He’s supposed to be in my life.
Of that, I am certain.
“I’d like that,” I admit.
“Good.” He stands and hauls me up.nbsp;
He holds onto my hands, looking at me as my hair swirls around my shoulders from the breeze.
“I need to stop in at the house before we head back, is that okay?”
&n
bsp; “At your grandparents’?” I ask stupidly, and he cracks a grin.
“Yeah.”
“That’s fine,” I agree.
We walk back to the Jeep and a part of me is sad to leave this place behind. I can’t help but hope I get to come again.
The drive up to his grandparents’ house is longer than I expected. They must own a lot of land. Eventually, we turn up a gravel drive and bump along until we come across a decent sized house covered in blue siding with a red front door and red shutters. To the right, I can see a stable, and out in the field cows roam freely with no fencing. This place is so different compared to the beachy fun time vibe of Santa Monica.nbsp;
Jasper parks the Jeep in front of the house and hops out. He starts up the steps and looks back at me.
“Are you coming?”
“N-No, I’ll just sit here.”
He comes back down the steps and opens the car door.
“You’re coming,” he says stubbornly.
I laugh. “You don’t take no for an answer, do you?”
“Never,” he quips.
