“Hi there, handsome.”
She kissed my cheek and it shivered me to my toes.
“Hey there, beautiful.”
“I’m glad you're okay.”
I nodded. “Me, too. And I like this dress on you. You should wear stuff like this more often.”
She giggled. “You mean you don’t like my brown pants and my baggy black shirts?”
“I mean, they do nothing for your form, no. But, if you're comfortable wearing them, then it’s fine.”
“You just want to stare at my tits all day.”
I grinned. “And you know you like it.”
She laughed and snuggled next to me, using my arm as a pillow. Her leg slid between mine, and together, we stared up at the sky. The sky that matched our clothes. Matched my light blue leather jacket. Matched the light blue grass we lay on and the light blue trees swaying in the cool summer breeze. White clouds moved above us, dancing for us and morphing into shapes right before our very eyes.
Rae pointed. “Look. That one’s dancing.”
I smiled as the elephant got up on its hind legs and started shimmying.
“Holy shit, it is.”
She giggled. “And that one looks like a heart. See it?”
I smiled. “I do see it, yes.”
“Oh! The butterfly! It’s flapping its wings!”
I scanned the clouds. “I don’t see it.”
“No, not the clouds. Over there, silly.”
I turned my head to where she was pointing and I saw it. The biggest butterfly I’d ever seen in my life. Easily as big as my stomach, and it had the most beautiful wings I’d ever seen in my life. Intricate light blue and white patterns as it lifted off toward the sky. It sprinkled us with something. A sparkling dust of some sort. And as it floated toward the sky, covering us in this dust, I felt peace come over me. I felt Rae relax into me.
I felt my lips loosening.
“I love you, Rae.”
Her hand cupped my cheek and she pulled my face toward hers, smiling brightly at me. As bright as the clouds hanging in the sky. Her thumb smoothed over my cheek and I leaned forward, capturing the sweetness of her lips. I rolled her over on the grass, kicking up more of that dust as we found ourselves smushed inside a patch of light blue and white wildflowers.
“I love you too, Clint.”
I grinned. “You do, huh?”
She nodded. “I do, yes.”
“Do you love me enough to stay by my side?”
“I do.”
“Do you love me enough to deal with my shit?”
“I do.”
“Do you love me enough to make love to me whenever I ask?”