Then I smiled.
“Not for a single second.”
Karen squeezed my hand.
“Good.”
She glanced toward the city.
“Because I have another favor to ask.”
I laughed.
“Of course you do.”
“Take me somewhere quiet.”
I opened the passenger door for her.
“Anywhere you want.”
And this time, I knew exactly what she meant.
We weren’t running away from heartbreak.
We weren’t hiding from the past.
We weren’t asking anyone for permission to be happy.
We were simply two people who had found each other at an unexpected moment and chosen, carefully and honestly, to build something worth keeping.
Behind us, the city continued to shine through the rain.
Ahead of us waited the rest of our lives.
And for the first time, neither of us was afraid of what came next.
