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“Really?” My heart expanded, flooded with light.
“Really.”
We moved together at the same time. I wrapped my arms around his neck, meeting his open mouth with mine, pushing into his lips with a sure kiss, a relieved kiss, a kiss with his still hands on my ribs, his fingertips sliding around to my back, mine brushing his chest, exploring in a way we had never gotten a chance to before.
“So no matter how the hearing goes, we’re going to do this?” he asked when we let go.
“No matter how it goes,” I said. “And we’re going to win. Well, we’re going to fight it hard, anyway.”
“Damn right, we are,” he said, wrapping an arm around me, pressing, holding.
I looked over at his family, and gave a feeble wave. Jake and Jacob senior turned away, pretending to fiddle with the grill. Hailey hid a smile behind a cough, and JJ stared unabashedly, a toy car dangling from his hand, forgotten.
I turned back to Luke, and looked at the time. It was five. We were going on at nine. “Shit.” I smiled at him. “I gotta go play a show.”
“Okay.”
We headed side by side toward the driveway, skipping every other step, making good time. He took my hand as we walked. My eyes pricked hot, wet.
“Cassie,” Luke said suddenly.
“Yeah?” I said through my tears.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do, or how this will work, but I love you,” he said. I let go of his hand, and got into the car. He added through the window, “And then we’ll go from there.”
I nodded at him, unable to speak. As I backed out of the driveway, Luke waved. I waved back.
Luke was right; we didn’t know what we’d do. We knew we were no longer the worst things everyone once thought of us. We weren’t criminals or addicts or liars or cheats, but what came after, we didn’t know. But maybe we didn’t have to know. We’d love each other, first and foremost, and then we’d go from there.
