“I just didn’t think we could go forward from that place. It had all been so fucking perfect before. When the road is smooth, the smallest pebble can change your course.”
“So now that our road is rocky and full of potholes, we should be good?” she asked through a laugh.
“Kind of. Because perfect is overrated. I want to help you through bad shit, and I want you to help me. I want to fight with you, and then I want to make up with you. I want to care for you and love you over and over and over again. Proving I’m the man you need means being there. For all of it.”
“Those are just words, Finn.”
“I know that, but let me try. Can you do that?”
When Charlotte finally answered, Finn saw the well of sadness she tried so hard to mask. “I don’t know.” She turned and wandered back toward the house.
Finn and Charlotte emerged from the woods to a quiet yard. Other than a fat rabbit munching grass, the place was abandoned.
“Where’d they go?” Charlotte asked.
“I have a pretty good idea. Are you hungry?”
“Always, but nothing tastes good. Everything I eat, it’s like chewing erasers.”
Finn heaved open the rusted passenger door of the pickup and extended his hand to help her inside. “Then you’re in for a treat.”