“Baby, don’t cry. Please. I can’t take any more of your tears. I’m supposed to make you happy, not sad.”
“These aren’t tears of sadness. They are tears of gratitude. Opening that gift to find that piece of wood polished and looking nice. Being able to trace our initials? That did something for me. It helped me see that I’ve been avoiding processing my grief for Ryan. I haven’t given myself a chance to heal. I want to heal now. I’m going to start going to counseling for a while. I want to be a healthier me. I had already had it figured out with my mom before you even came over.”
“I’m happy to hear that, Adra. I want you to heal too. I want you to be happy.”
“You want to know the funny thing about that?”
“What?”
“When Ryan died, I didn’t think I would ever be happy again. I did some things to try to feel something. Anything other than the agonizing grief I was feeling. I was surviving, but I wasn’t living. Then I met you. You changed that for me. I was happy with you. No. I am happy with you. Avi, I know what I said the other day, but after some time to reflect, I don’t want this to end. I don’t want us to end.”
My heart races. “What are you saying?”
“I’m yours, Avi. That is, if you’ll still have me.”
I pull her into my arms and kiss her hard. “I’ve always been yours. Even when we didn’t know each other, I was yours.” Kiss. “Fuck. I didn’t think I would ever get to kiss you again.”
She giggles. “You missed kissing me?”
“Fuck yeah. Holding you. Kissing you. Talking to you. Waking up next to you. I missed it all. That’s why I didn’t want to see anyone today. I wanted to miss you in peace.”
“Well now, that you don’t have to miss me, come home with me. Mom pretty much demanded it when I told her I thought you were spending Christmas alone.”
“Well, I can’t disappoint my future mother-in-law.”
“You’re so silly. Jumping ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Not at all. When you meet one of them girls, you marry her. One day, Cassandra May Davis, I will marry you.”
Epilogue
Cassi
Four years later
Graduation Day
I sit in the stands with Tinsley and Finley on my left and my parents on my right. My graduation already over.
“I’m so excited,” Tinsley gushes for the thousandth time since we sat down.
“Trust me, we know you are, Tin,” Finley says as he squeezes her knee.
I smile as the two of them fall into each other.
They are something else.
“They are something else,” my mother says under her breath with a smile on her face.
“You get used to it.”
When I met them we didn’t get off on the best start, but over the years, we’ve found our way.
I sit back and think about all the things that have happened since Avi came into my life. Going into sophomore year, Jack and Avi decided they didn’t want to be in the dorms, so they bought a house together. By junior year I moved in and going into senior year Rebecca did as well. Late-night arguments about who knows what. Study dates and holidays. We’ve done it all together.
It’s a little sad thinking of the four of us no longer being together on a daily basis. Avi and I have had our ups and downs as a couple, same with Jack and Rebecca, but that’s their story to tell. Or not. But in the end, we made it out together.
“What time is your flight?” Finley asks, pulling me out of my head.
“Nine tonight.”
“Still no idea where you’re going?” He smirks.
“Not a clue.” I sigh. “Any chance you’ll tell me?”
“Not a chance in hell.” He laughs.
“I guess I will find out in a few hours,” I muse. “Xavier does love surprising me.”
Xavier
My eyes shift between a sleeping Cassi and the view outside the window. The sun rising behind the Eiffel Tower. I roll the ring between my fingers and smile.
She doesn’t know.
For the last year, I’ve been carrying this ring around with me, waiting for the perfect time to put it on her finger. Taking pictures of me holding it with her in the background, completely clueless. As Cassi lays sleeping, I slip it onto her left hand and just stare at it.
What if I left it there? Toss my original plan out the window and do something simple, like this.
Cassi shifts in her sleep, tucking her left hand under her chin.
Shit. The ring.
For a moment, I panic. I can’t reach the ring.
Fuck it.
“Adra.” I shake her.
Cass hums.
“Time to wake up, beautiful,” I tell her as I brush some hair away from her face.
“Unless there is coffee and those French pastries you promised me, I’m not moving,” she rasps, making me laugh.
“Don’t worry, room service should bring them up any minute.”
I hold my breath as Cassi brings her left hand up to her mouth, yawning.
She freezes with her fist to her mouth, the ring staring back at her.
“Avi,” she says breathlessly.
“I told you I was going to marry you one day,” I say nervously. “Marry me, Cassandra May. Be my wife. Build a life with me.”
Her eyes fill with tears. “Of course I’ll marry you.” She laughs.
I lean down as she sits up, meeting in the middle as we kiss.
“I love you,” we say in unison.
Our kiss turns heated as I climb under the covers, pulling her body into mine.
“How about we spend the day in bed?” Cassi whispers in my ear.
“I think that can be arranged,” I
