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“Good, then you’ll love your surprise from Brett. Let’s head back okay?” We made our way back down the trail, Kaleb turning to help me down from rocky outcroppings and making sure that I didn’t fall on my way back down. My sneakers were muddy and ruined, but I didn’t care. I was wiling to give them up for a memory of what he and I had just experienced.
We had more work to do, but the foundation was there, and I wasn’t going to let anything tear us apart now. Never in a million years would I have thought that the four of us could grow this strong together, especially after everything that happened.
But we can. And we were.
Brett and Jackie were talking when we walked into the parking lot, but Brett cut off their conversation in mid-sentence when he saw me, bent down to pick up a picnic basket, and closed the gap between us with long, purposeful strides.
“My turn, Rose.” His voice was dark and deep, and even though he and I had spent all the car ride together, there was something about the way he looked at me that gave me pause. Things with Jackie and Kaleb were easier somehow, and even though Brett and I had come a long way, especially since we talked at the beach, there was still something between us.
I just hoped that it wouldn’t always be there. I hoped that we could break down the wall that still stood between us. We’d come clean with each other, so why were things still difficult?
It didn’t feel that difficult with Kaleb and Jackie, and all I could do was hope that that meant that the end reward was that much sweeter.
“You hungry?” Brett watched Kaleb walked away from me and then reached out for my hand, turning me around to the last trailhead. It had a green marker, which I knew that it meant it would be the easiest. I couldn’t imagine Brett trying to carry a picnic basket on either of the other trails I’d been on this morning.
“I am. Mom made breakfast, but all the fresh air makes me munchy. What do you have in there?” I tried to peek into the basket as we walked, but he swung his arm away so that I couldn’t see.
“I did some cooking. Just some stuff that I remember you liking from when we were kids, so I’m not sure that I can call itcooking, exactly, but you’ll see. I did my best.” He smiled at me, and in that moment, the wall between us began to crack.
Trying to hide my excitement, I looked around at our surroundings. The other paths had been dirt, with roots jutting up, but this had gravel put down, making walking incredibly easy. We crunched along in silence until we came to an open field. Right in the middle of it was a huge patch of flowers, and that was where he led me.
Before I could sit, he opened the basket and pulled out a blanket that he flipped out onto the ground. I sat carefully on the edge and watched him. Brett pulled out sandwiches, brownies, apples, and even bottles of soda. My mouth began to water, especially since I knew that this was the last junk food I’d get until Christmas break.
“What kind of sandwiches?” I asked, reaching over and picking one up. I opened the bag and took a huge whiff. It smelled sweet and sugary, but I couldn’t place it.
“Fluffernutter.” Brett took a bite of his sandwich, watching me as he did. My eyes widened in surprise and I laughed, pulling it from the bag.
“Are you serious? I used to love fluffernutters when I was a kid! Pretty sure I haven’t had one in years.” Closing my eyes, I took a bite, the cloying sweet of the marshmallow fluff and the peanut butter mingling together on my tongue. “Holy crap, Brett, that’s amazing.”
When I opened my eyes, he was staring at me, a grin on his face. “You really like it?” Before I could answer, he pushed a bag of salt and vinegar chips over to me. “Pretty sure you used to like these, too, right?”
I didn’t know what to say. Brett and I had history, that was for sure, but I never thought that our history was something that we would be able to build on. I always thought that it would be something that was between us, like a wall. Now I could see that it was more of a stepping stone.
A stepping stone that we tripped over all last year, yes, but a stepping stone nevertheless. If this continued, and I was already planning to fight for it to make sure that it did, then we were going to be just fine.
“So you made a lunch with all of my favorite foods? But you have to tell me the truth—did you make the brownies or did your mom?” They were dark and chocolatey, loaded with tons of frosting, and so sweet that they were almost cloying in the back of my throat.
Even so, they were delicious, and I ate three of them and washed them all down with cream soda. Finally, I leaned back, resting on the blanket, and waited for his response.
“Well, my mom made them,” he finally admitted, licking a bit of frosting from the tip of his finger, “but I frosted them.”
“With the frosting she made?”
“Of course. I don’t want to lie to you, Rose. You’re definitely the better cook, but I’m an appreciative eater.”
“Is that so?” Turning, I propped myself up on one elbow so that I could look at him. “And what would you say to me if I told you that I don’t really like to cook? Or that I’m not any good at it?”
“I’d laugh and call your bluff. You think that I don’t remember all of the cookouts that your family invited me over for? I know that you had a hand in making something, even if it was just the potato salad.”
“I do make good potato salad,” I agreed, grabbing a handful of grass and throwing it at him. He dodged my toss so that the blades hit him in the chest rather than in the face and leaned over me, pinning my wrists to the blanket.
The blanket was itchy against my skin, but I didn’t want to move. I could feel my heart start to race as Brett leaned over me. “We go way back, Rose.” Slowly he leaned down, his face just centimeters from mine. “But I need to know—do you think that we can find a way forward? Can we have a future?”
The answer was yes, and I knew that he could see it in my eyes. Now that I had Brett there was no way that I could imagine ever being without him. There was something addictive about being with him. Jackie was funny and could always make me laugh, Kaleb was emotional and we connected on a deeper level, but Brett?
He was my constant. He was something that could ground me in a way that nobody else ever had, and in a way that I didn’t think anyone else ever could, and I loved him for that.
“We can, Brett, and we will. You and me? We’re in this for the long haul. I know that things were rough last year, but that doesn’t mean that they have to stay that way. You saved me, Brett. You cared for me when people were afraid to, and you led me to the loves of my life.”
