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“You’ve turned my brother into a big softie,” Izzie chuckled as she rubbed my back. “But I’ve never seen him happier. I could tell that from the first time I met you. I’m glad he found you, Ky.”
“I’m glad we found each other. He saved me from myself. In every possible way.”
“I know. You’ve come so far, though. You should be really proud of yourself. I know we all are. Anyway, ready to get all dolled up?”
I giggled. “Absolutely.”
* * *
“About time you showed up,” Braden teased as I got out of my car in the gym parking lot at our old high school.
“Oh, my God. Braden,” I chuckled, giving him a hug. “How are you? How’s Florida?”
“Fucking hotter than hell. And mosquitos the size of my thumb,” he groaned. “But I like my teammates, and my coach is pretty awesome too.”
“Good. I’m glad. We miss you around here, though.”
“I miss you guys too,” he sighed, giving me a weak smile.
“Is everything okay?” I asked him. “You don’t seem like yourself.”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said unconvincingly.
I knew he wasn’t fine, but I also had a feeling he wouldn’t talk to me about it right now. He was here for me and Ian, not for himself. But that didn’t mean I was going to let him get away with not talking to us about it before he left.
“So, what’s Ian up to?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
“Nice try. I’m not snitching on my boy like that,” he laughed, handing me a CD and another note. “Go ahead and read it. And my work here is done. I’ll see you in a little while.”
Braden gave me another hug, then walked away and got in his car. I looked down at the CD and chuckled when I saw that it was a best of Tears for Fears album. Then I took the note out of the envelope.
Yeah, so our first date didn’t exactly start out so great. We were here for all of ten minutes before one of the monsters who hurt you forced us out of here. But after we left, that night quickly turned into one of the best nights of my entire life. That was the night you agreed to be my girlfriend. And it was also the night we kissed for the first time.
The second my lips touched yours, something happened and I was head over heels. In that moment, I knew that what we had wasn’t just a crush or a high school fling. I knew even then that it was the real deal. The kind of love that was built to last a lifetime, and the kind of love that could withstand anything life threw at us.
We didn’t stay at the high school very long that night, so I’m not going to make you stay there for long now. And I’ve gone long enough without seeing your gorgeous face today, so come meet me at the place where we slow danced to track nine on this CD.
P.S. Coach Peters asked me to have you lock the gate on your way out. It’s just a padlock on the chain, and he left it open.
P.P.S. I love you. Forever.
I didn’t even have to look at the track list on the CD to know what track nine was: “Head Over Heels.” Even if he hadn’t made that corny pun, there was no way I could forget our first slow dance, and our first kiss right after that. I went back to my car and put the CD in the CD player, immediately turning it to track nine as I drove out of the parking lot.
* * *
Ian was standing next to the swing sets when I got to Quivira Glen Park, wearing slacks and a white button-down shirt with a clip-on tie, just like he had for homecoming. Everyone who had been a part of my scavenger hunt today was there with him, along with a few of our friends from college, my dad, Jody, Gary, Maya, Hillary, Hannah, and her boyfriend, Travis.
I tried to hold my tears back as I walked over to him, but I couldn’t. He’d gone above and beyond to make today memorable and special, and he’d also made sure that everyone who was important to me was here to help us start the next chapter of our lives together.
“Hey, baby,” he murmured as he walked over to me, wiping some tears off my cheeks and giving me a kiss. “You look amazing.”
“So do you. You know, it’s a good thing I drive a hybrid with all the driving around town you had me do today,” I teased.
He chuckled and kissed me again, then brushed his lips against my forehead.
“I love you. So much. But whenever I’m with you, it’s like everything I want to say gets caught in my throat and nothing comes out. That’s why I had you drive all over town today, and that’s why I wrote all those notes. It gave me a chance to word everything I’ve wanted to say to you since we first started dating exactly the way I needed to.
“You’re the most incredible person I’ve ever known, Ky. You’re beautiful and smart and you have a great sense of humor, and you get me like no one else ever has. And you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. You’ve been to Hell and back, and somehow, you haven’t let it break you. You inspire me every day to be a better man. A stronger man. Every day when I wake up next to you, I look at you and wonder how I got lucky enough that you’ve agreed to let me be the man who gets to love you. And all I want for the rest of my life is to keep being that man. The one who gets to love you and cherish you the way you deserve.”
