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But I won’t steal a single piece of this experience from him.
He’s got his hand on my back, a flashlight in his other hand. There are no lights on this road and the sun has set.
He looks imposing in the semidarkness, tall and strong, and every inch of him beaming protective impulses.
It’s like he’s daring attackers to leap from the thick forest on either side of us as if he’s ready to defend me like he did outside my apartment.
The day we made love for the first time, the eruption in confidence will never leave me.
Finally, he stops at what looks like a small gap in the trees.
When he turns the flashlight to it, I see that it’s a dirt path.
He pauses, taking a breath, his jaw going tight.
Above us, the stars gleam down.
He looks at me, a soft smile on his lips. “Have you guessed where we are?”
“Your childhood home?” I ask.
He nods, then places the flashlight on the ground, facing up, so it provides some light for both of us. His eyes gleam with even more intensity.
“I was going to take you down the path, but there’s nothing to see there. This is far enough. It’s the place….”
He trails off.
I can feel his pain emanating from him.
Stepping forward, I place my hand on his chest, squeezing down so I can feel his heart pounding.
He flinches, and I think I know why.
I can feel something else.
A small box in the inside pocket of his jacket.
I warn myself not to rush ahead, not to let my dreams spring up with too much enthusiasm.
“The place?” I whisper, prompting him, then I feel bad. “You don’t have to say anything else if you don’t want to. We can just stand here.”
“No.” He lays his hand atop mine, pushing it firmer against his chest like he wants there to be no space between us. “It’s the place where something died in me. My old man, the things he’d do… the things he’d make me and my brother do, fighting when we never wanted to, when we were best friends… Something died here. Or I thought it did. I thought only my characters would be able to feel love and live a happy life. But I was wrong.”
I let out a trembling breath, tears springing to my eyes.
“I love you, Alice,” he says firmly. “I love you more than anything and everything. You are my everything. I love you right down to your bones, your soul. I love every single part of you. I love you so, so much.”
“I love you too,” I say, sobbing, happy tears flowing down my cheeks.
I almost lose complete control when he lowers himself to one knee, reaching into his pocket at the same time. He brings out the ring box but doesn’t open it right away. He looks at me with the flashlight glimmering in his eyes.
A single tear rolls down his cheek.
He’s cried in movies, but this seems so much more real.
“You proved I was still capable of real feeling, of love, of everything other people seem to take for granted. But even that’s an understatement. It’s more special because I had to wait for you to fly into my life, like an angel, like a miracle.”
I’ve got my hands on my face, pawing at the tears, struggling to stop myself from disintegrating into full-fledged weeping.
“Alice Clark, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I yell, almost before he’s done speaking.
He grins from ear to ear, then slides the ring onto my finger. I stare at it in the light of the flashlight, the chunky diamond, the elegant band on my finger, knowing I’ll cherish this moment forever.
Cherish us forever.
Standing, he wraps his arms around me, sweeping me into a kiss.
I hold tightly onto him, our lips fusing, as the forest makes its quiet background noises all around us. The past dies down the lonely dirt path, and the future blazes to life in the hunger of our lips.
EPILOGUE
THREE WEEKS LATER
Weston
I stand at the set’s rear, watching as Patrick London directs the actors.
Patrick, an award-winning director, has agreed to let me shadow him as he directs his new movie. A studio would give me a shot at directing even without the training, but if I do something, I will do it right.
I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket a while ago, but I’ve managed to resist checking it, even if it’s difficult.
Alice and I don’t text as much as we did in the beginning since we spend so much love-filled real time together. But with each vibration of my phone, I’m brought back to how it all started.
Before she moved in, Aurora agreed to let her pursue road-safety campaigns from within the company while still receiving training. Alice and I made love all night, watched movies, and did nothing all day, simply lying together, being together…
