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Connor handed the card over to me to show what was making him so emotional. I read it out loud. “Kilter & Roe Landscaping: Two Men and a Hoe.” Classy. I liked it.
“You really want to start up another business with me?” Connor asked.
“It would be an honor.” Jax held his hand out toward him. “What do you say, partner?”
“I say hell fucking yeah!” Connor jumped around with excitement. “Oh! I almost forgot the best news I had to tell you about my mom. She’s in remission. The cancer is officially gone.”
Jax’s eyes welled with tears as he tossed his arms around Connor and flung him around from excitement. “Fuck yeah!” he hollered.
Connor laughed. “Language, Jax! Anyway. I’ve finally saved up enough to take her to Disney World this winter, and I wanted to invite you both to come with me. You know, I need my partner there to experience the happiest place in the world.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jax said, grinning so wide. At that moment I was reminded of something so important about life. I was reminded that even though there were dark moments, there were ones filled with light, too. Connor’s mother found a happy ending, and I knew there were so many more happy endings to come in our lives. I was looking forward to all of the moments with Jax. The ups and the downs.
“Just to be clear, I’m not paying for you both, so you better start saving up. I want you there, but I’m not your meal ticket,” Connor joked before hurrying off to talk to other people.
Jax pulled me into a hug and held on tight. As we stared out into the crowd, my heart filled up with joy as I saw a little girl shoving her face full of cotton candy.
“Daisy,” I muttered to myself.
“What did you say?” Jax asked, smiling my way.
“Nothing.” I stood on my tiptoes and kissed his lips. “Just felt a wave of love, that’s all.”
Went spent the rest of the night losing our money at the carnival games and whirling around on the Tilt-A-Whirl. When I went home with Jax that night, I couldn’t help but feel grateful. So much had happened in my life, and even through it all, I was still able to smile. I was thankful for all the rainstorms that brought me back to him.
* * *
“Do you want to read them?”I asked Jax, after we made it home from the carnival. We sat on his bed with the shoebox of old letters that we’d sent each other. For the past few days, we’d been debating what to do with them.
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. When I wrote those letters, I was in a very dark place. I’ve relived that place for so many years of my life, and I’m tired of that story. I want to move on, and that means getting rid of those letters.” He pulled me in closer to his body. “We have the rest of forever to leave each other love notes.”
I kissed his lips when the doorbell rang. “Expecting someone?”
“Never,” he said as he stood to go answer it. I followed closely behind him to see who it could be.
When he opened the door, we were both surprised to see Amanda standing there with a box in her hands. Her eyes landed on me before she gave Jax a weak smile.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt your night. I figured it was about time I return your stuff you left at my place. I don’t know why I held on to it for so long, but here it is,” she said, passing it over to Jax.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Yeah. And I’m sorry about what happened at the bar. Lars was wrong for what he did. He’s a jerk sometimes. You didn’t deserve that.” She kept fidgeting with her fingers and avoiding eye contact. “You deserve to be happy.”
“You do, too, Amanda. You deserve more than Lars.”
“Maybe.” She nervously laughed. “Only time will tell.” She looked toward me and gave me a broken smile. “Take care of him, will you? This man doesn’t love easily. For a while, I thought he didn’t love at all, but I see it when he looks at you. You make him whole. You were his missing piece. So, can you do me a favor?”
“What’s that?” I asked.
She smiled to us both and released a weighted sigh. “Stay.”
39
Jax
Kennedy refusedto leave my side throughout all of my hardships. She stayed during my darkest moments, and promised she wasn’t going to go anywhere without me. Day by day, she opened up my heart, and she didn’t seem afraid by what she saw.
When it came time for some deeper healing, I knew exactly where I had to go.
