Her smile was rueful as she slid down in the bed to curl up next to me. "I toss all my poor scrapbooks around all the time. They're just pictures. They're nice to look at, but they're not him."
And with that, she turned into my arms and started to weep against my chest. I held her as tight as I could as her body shook. All I wanted was to be able to will away the hurt for her. My hands brushed her hair back from her face as she sobbed. The only thing I could do was stay steady for her, giving her a safe place to lay out her grief. I knew it had taken a toll on her to share it, and if I'd been in her place I wasn't sure I would have been so strong. It was no wonder she'd kept so many secrets so closely guarded.
"Wren?" I said her name as soft as I could, already feeling guilty about what I was preparing to ask. "Do I really stand a chance with you when the man I'm competing with is a ghost?"
She took several steadying breaths to gather herself before she could answer. "You big oaf." She hit me square in the chest, knocking the wind out of me for a brief second. "I like you as you, not as some potential replacement for my dead husband. It's not a competition."
"Oh, uh, OK."
She sighed. "Henry was special, but our relationship was built on the fact that we could never end up together, not really. There's no telling what our relationship might have looked like if he'd been someone I met at a party. Someone who hadn't—the first time we'd met—described in excruciating detail for me about how he was dying. The rules are different."
I could feel my expectations trying to leap out from my chest cavity. Her words so far had been everything I'd longed to hear, but there was still one thing missing. She had come back, and that was everything, but only if she was going to say—
"I love you, Carter Scott."
She inched forward to plant a quick kiss on my lips. "Also, you're very hot," she added, referencing that stupid cheer that I would never hear the end of. Somehow, it didn't sound nearly as bad when she said it, and that was exactly how I knew that she was the one.
Epilogue
"Where are we going?" I asked for the umpteenth time.
Carter had blind-folded me for our little surprise trip. I hadn't had many chances to ride in his truck. Normally, I convinced him to let me drive. My tactics were dirty, but they always worked. Not that day, though. He was adamant that he had to be the one to drive.
"You're not very good at surprises."
I tilted my head towards the sound of Carter's voice, even though I couldn't see him. "Nope. But I promised Rose I'd be home to help pack up the rest of our dorm stuff." We only had until the end of the week to finish moving out now that the spring semester had ended.
"I know. You've already told me at least ten times." Amusement colored his voice.
"Can I see now?"
"No."
I tried to snake my hand up to the back of the blindfold. I was pretty sure if I got it loosened just a little that I'd be able to peek over the top.
"Stop that."
"Stop what?" I asked innocently, burying my hands back in my lap.
"You're not sneaky." He paused. "And stop pouting like that. It's distracting me."
Smiling, I reached blindly for his hand. After letting me sweat it out for a second, he reached for me. Our hands clasped.
"Sooo..." His hand gripped mine tighter. "Where are we going?"
He pulled his hand out of mine. Before I could complain he pulled the tie on the back of my blindfold. I had to blink against the sudden light exposure. My vision cleared just in time for the car to start bouncing as we hit gravel.
I sat up straighter in the seat. "You brought me to the petting zoo?" I squeezed his arm. "I love this place."
I was surprised to see so many other cars in the parking lot. Normally when we went it was only us. My grin widened as my attention moved to the main building. The renovations had finally been finished.
Each time we'd visited, I'd quietly made a sizable donation to the guy that owned the place. It was the only reason he kept giving Carter and I full buckets worth of food to feed the animals. Usually, they just gave you a little cup.
"This isn't the surprise."
"It's not?" My eyebrows sank as I glanced back at Carter.
"Nope."
He was smiling as he got out of the car and came around to my side to open my door for me. Wordlessly, I put my hand in his and let him guide me inside. We walked straight through the building. I tried not to pout when the owner didn't appear with food buckets. Carter kept us moving towards the opposite door.
I saw why as soon as we stepped outside.
Everyone was there. All of the people that I'd come to love at Kelley over the past two semesters. I laughed as I looked around in awe.
"What is this?"
Carter put his arm around my waist. "This is a living scrapbook."
"A what?"
"A living scrapbook." Carter shrugged his free shoulder. "I know you like collecting pictures of people and places, but we thought this was better. A real-life scrapbook so we can re-live the best memories from this year."
Tears sprang to my eyes. It was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. I took a closer look at everyone, and sure enough, they were all reenacting the best moments of our friendships.
Carter led me to Matty and Rachel first. They were dressed up like characters from Helltomb.
"Wren, I can't thank you enough for what you did for me and my game." I opened my mouth to protest but Matty shook his head. "I did some digging. It wasn't hard to find out that you had your dad put the call in for me. Getting Henrik Wade to look at my game is the whole reason he gave me this summer internship. And I have you to thank for that."
Matty looked beside him at Rachel, who he'd officially made his girlfriend. "I also have you to thank for introducing the two of us."
I put my hand over my heart, which felt so full it might burst.
Carter led me gently to Rose and Travis, next. They were decked out in the mock lingerie Travis and I had created last semester for our business class. Rose and him had modeled for some fake advertisements we'd created. We'd gone a little bit overboard with it all, but it had been fun. Needless to say, we'd gotten an A.
"Nice thong." I looked pointedly at the underwear Travis was wearing. He definitely wasn't shy about showing everything.
Rose put her hand on my arm. "You're a good friend, Wren. I'm gonna miss being your roommate."
"We'll still see each other all the time," I vowed.
I was planning to return in the fall for my sophomore year, but I wouldn't be rooming with Rose again. After Carter had gotten booted from the football house, Dad had set him up in a studio apartment for the remainder of the year. I'd ended up spending more time there with him than in my own dorm. Together, Carter and I had decided that next year we'd be ready to officially share an apartment. My dad was particularly fond of me signing a year-long lease.
Next in the lineup was none other than my father. He opened his arms to me as I approached. I pulled away from Carter to hug him.
"I'm so glad you're here," Dad murmured into my hair. "I hate that we missed so much time."
"We're both here now," I reminded him.
My dad released me, letting me melt back into Carter's side. He looked at the two of us fondly. He didn't like to talk about it much, but I knew he really liked Carter. He'd never really gotten the chance to get to know Henry, and I knew he'd worried that I would never move on. If I hadn't met Carter, he might've been right about that.
Dad cleared his throat. "I got you something." He held up an unmarked envelope.
My stomach dropped as I pictured him giving me another exorbitant check the way he had after we'd first met. I had no need for more money. I already felt guilty enough about all the money I had that I didn't feel like I'd earned.
"Dad." I prepared to object.
"Just open it," Carter urged. The shine of his eyes told me he already knew what it was.
Reluctantly, I t
ook the envelope. I peeled open the flap and carefully took out the contents. I studied the two paper slips in confusion.
"Tickets?" I looked at my dad for an explanation.
"You mentioned that you and Carter were planning to spend the summer traveling together. I asked him to give me the general itinerary so that I could buy your first set of tickets for you."
I marveled at the slight pink tint of his cheeks. My dad didn't get nervous often, but when he did his blush reminded me of a more subdued version of mine. Like father, like daughter.
"You didn't have to do this."
"I know."
It wasn't the tickets that brought fresh tears to my eyes. Rather, it was the intent behind them. I could afford to buy my own tickets, and he knew that. The one thing I couldn't buy was his approval of my traveling. By buying the tickets himself, he was proving he trusted me enough to come back. We'd finally managed to meet half-way.
I gave my dad another long hug before Carter shuffled me to the next person. There were nearly a dozen other people there waiting to greet me. Each one had kind words for me. I'd both cried and laughed several times over by the time we'd made it through them all.
Once we'd made the rounds, everyone started to mingle. All the people I loved had naturally learned to love each other. It was beautiful seeing everyone all together like that.
I grinned up at Carter. I had no idea how I'd gotten so lucky to fall in love with not one, but two, thoughtful, kind-hearted men.
"I thought this would be a good chance to get everyone together one last time before we all disperse for the summer. What do you think?"
"I think this is the second sweetest thing you've ever done."
"Second?"
"Agreeing to help me finish Henry's bucket list is the first."
"That's fair." He leaned down to kiss me.
Afterward, I looked up at him with a smile and waved our airline tickets in his face. "I just hope you don't start crying when we board our plane."
Thanks for reading!
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-MSJ
One Good Play Page 16