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I ran my fingers over his chest. A year back, I couldn’t tell if I’d have been able to even understand this. But now, having experienced how freeing love could be, I could picture his life too.
It wasn’t that he’d just lost his soulmate or partner. June had been his best friend.
Like the real best friend, the kind who goes out with you and can be your bro and your lover in the same breath.
The kind you came home to after a long day at work, maybe a bit later than you intended, and found patience and empathy instead of anger and flying slippers.
It didn’t have to be textbook love. It could be anything, so long as they were happy. And he sure did sound like he’d been very happy.
“Elex had a lot of good memories,” I murmured. “But Elijah has a chance to make even more.”
He ran his hands through my hair.
“Elijah Taylor had only one quest when he was born. Two, actually. One was to make his daughter a warrior and teach her to own her shit. The other was to get revenge.”
He exhaled.
“Honestly, I had no idea how I’d go about with the revenge bit. I knew what I wanted. But I couldn’t come up with a plan until you happened, Rory. And you came with much more than a plan.”
He lifted my head up and looked at me, his eyes full of tenderness.
“You gave Elijah Taylor a new story. One where he isn’t consumed by revenge. One where he gets another shot at doing life.”
I brushed the tears away from my eyes.
About an hour later, we finally got up, and I left Benjamin a message. In the rush of sorting things out, I hadn’t had the chance to really sit and talk with him.
And I’d thought about a perfect little spot where we could talk about the stars, etc.
That was my only order of business for tomorrow night.
The calendar caught my eye.
Three days to go.
36
Benjamin
The winding path leading to Stonehill would never cease to make me feel like a child who’d been handed a lollipop for the first time ever.
It rose in front of me, a structure straight out of some enchanted forest.
Ivy and moss climbed up its pointed spires and twisting turrets, and in my head, I was a prince going to meet his princess.
A bit corny, but hey, a man could dream.
Rory stood in front of me, right near the observatory’s gate. “How did you even get us through?” I asked her. “Isn’t this place closed tonight?”
She nodded. “Oh, I know some people.”
I grinned at the mischievous play of light in her eyes. “Aurora Sullivan, it feels like I’m learning new things about you each day.”
“Nice new things?”
The best new things.
Stepping inside, we were greeted by a vast, circular chamber filled with shimmering starlight. The walls were lined with towering bookcases filled to bursting with volumes on astronomy and physics.
