AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Trina
I didn’t see this coming. Of all the things Harrison might’ve requested for me to do, going to my lost friend’s gravestone never occurred to me. I’m shocked to hear that he’s been doing this all along, and I’m stymied to discover something about this man that I thought I knew so well. Obviously, there’s more to Harrison Walcott than even I would’ve guessed.
And I’m not sure how to take it.
In front of me is the headstone for my bestie, and it stings to look at it. I can no more stop the tears racing down my face than I could stop a waterfall. Yet, after several minutes of me standing, staring, and crying, I decide to sit.
The grass is cool and emerald beneath me, and as I peer up at Jane’s name from this new vantage, it strikes me as different somehow. As if now that I’m on a level with that inscription it’s not as earthshattering. Not as devastating.
“So, your hubby has been coming to see you apparently.” I begin. “I didn’t know that. Okay, this feels super weird.” Yet, I continue. “Saying I miss you didn’t even skim the surface, all right. I miss you like I would a missing leg. Or even two missing legs. It’s been excruciating for both Harrison and me.”
With that confession, a sense of tranquility settles over me, and I go on.
“Maybe that’s why what happened yesterday happened.” I almost apologize to her. Admit my terrible lapse in judgment and failing to be a good friend to her. That’s when that sense of tranquility increases. I close my eyes, letting the sensation fill me up from the inside, and as if my broken soul has somehow been repaired, I feel better. I feel acceptance. Letting all this out gives me the strength to accept things as they are today.
And everything about me now feels lighter. Like this heavy burden has been released from my shoulders.
More tears flow, but this time, the sorrow is lessened. These tears are grateful. I feel happy about what might come next.
“I love him,” I whisper to my forever best friend, just like I might’ve years ago. “But you already know that. I should tell him today. Then, hopefully we can come back here together.” I trace the letters of her name, then along the words below that spelling out, “Treasured wife, daughter, and friend.” Next, I dropped my cheek against the marble, the coolness not even phasing me.“Of course, I love you, too, and that’ll never change.”
With that, I rise and search for Harrison.
I locate him on the far edge of the sprawling property as he walks toward me, his expression as calm as I’ve ever seen it. I never comprehended why people went to gravesites to visit where their family members and loved ones were buried. That’s why I perpetually avoided it.
But it all makes sense to me now.
There’s a pretty decent amount of distance between us, and for whatever reason, this encourages me to sprint toward him. I hurry along the carefully maintained natural pathway, hopping into his grasp, and initiating the mother of all kisses.
And it feels right. Almost like an agreement he doesn’t yet know I’ve made with him.
Only after I’ve smooched the living dickens out of him do I realize that my feet have left the ground and that he’s holding all my weight. I belt my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. Although I’ve never been a huge proponent of public displays of affection—especially not in a place like this one—upon closer inspection, I’ve decided I don’t mind.
Life’s too short to care about what others think.
“Harrison, I—” But he interrupts me.
“I love you, Trina. I know we started out as friends and maybe this seems crazy after all we’ve been through. But we’re here together because of the friendship and being there for each other in the hard time. And now… Well, now I’m completely dazzled by you.”
I don’t even gripe at him for stealing my moment, because I didn’t realize until this very instant how much I needed to hear those words from him.
“Really?”
“Really. How are you feeling?” He tips his head toward Jane’s final resting place.
“Good, I think. I spoke to her like she was right there with me, and it made all the difference to get my feelings and tangled emotions out.” As if in confirmation, a bevy of monarch butterflies flutters overhead. There has to be at least twenty of them.
Harrison and I watch, mesmerized by the sight, then stare at one another. It’s one of those occurrences that goes far beyond words, so we don’t ruin it by speaking. Instead, we smile at one another—me still in his arms—and as our faces close in on each other’s like a pair of magnets, I know this matters. And also that there’s much more to this plane of existence than meets the eye.
“I’d like to ask you something,” he states.
“Anything.”
“Would you go out on a date with me?”
I grin at him from ear to ear. “I’d be honored.”
And in my head, I silently chant one phrase over and over.
