by Shelia Grace
“We don’t have to tell anyone.”
I bit my lip.
“That’s a big secret.”
“Not a secret. A postponement.”
“So when do we tell them?”
“Three years?”
I cracked up.
“At my graduation?”
I studied him seriously.
“You’re going to finish your doctorate, aren’t you? I mean, at some point. And we’re going to go see your dad, right?”
He laughed and reached forward to smooth my brow.
“Alex, relax. We don’t have to have all the answers today.”
His features turned serious, and he looked up at the sky.
“I kept thinking that all these other things mattered. I kept looking for what was wrong about us.”
“Yeah. Me, too,” I admitted.
“Then you know what I realized?”
I shook my head.
“That I love you, and as long as you know that, nothing else matters.”
I felt my eyes fill with tears. I wasn’t going to lose him. This wasn’t our last moment. Looking around at the blooms on the trees, the budding flowers, I thought about how I had always secretly hated spring because it had felt like a big obstacle to summer. Now, though, it was like I was seeing everything around me with new appreciation. I felt weightless … I felt happy, which scared me. Like someone was about to show up and take it all away. I put my hands on his chest and studied Ryan’s perfect features.
“I wasn’t joking last night. Not one of my favorite books or movies has a happy ending. It’s stupid … but I always kind of thought it was a bad omen for my life. Like happily ever after was just some kind of cruel joke.”
Ryan pulled me to him and kissed my forehead.
“But this isn’t a happy ending,” he said softly. “It’s the beginning.”
I smiled.
Not happily ever after.
The beginning.
Table of Contents
Dedicated to the two people who know who I am.TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter 1Chapter 2
TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4
Chapter 1Alex
Chapter 2Ryan
Chapter 3Alex
Chapter 4Ryan
Chapter 5Alex
Chapter 6Ryan
Chapter 7Alex
Chapter 8Ryan
Chapter 9Alex
Chapter 10Ryan
Chapter 11Alex
Chapter 12Ryan
Chapter 13Alex
Chapter 14Ryan
Chapter 15Alex
Chapter 16Ryan
Chapter 17Alex
Chapter 18Ryan
Chapter 19Alex
Chapter 20Ryan
Chapter 21Alex
Chapter 22Ryan
Chapter 23Alex
Chapter 24Ryan
Chapter 25Alex
Chapter 26Ryan
Chapter 27Alex
Chapter 28Ryan
Chapter 29Alex
Chapter 30Ryan
Chapter 31Alex
Chapter 32Ryan
Chapter 33Alex
Chapter 34Ryan
Chapter 35Alex
Chapter 36Ryan
Chapter 37Alex