“I’ve never met anyone like you,” she whispered, turning my way. “You’re so confident and sure of yourself. If you want something, you go after it.”
“Life is full of shitty moments, so we have to make plenty of happy memories to replace all the bad ones.” I’d never given it much thought before, but that was one of the reasons I didn’t let my past overwhelm my present or future. No one else was going to look after me. I learned at a young age to focus on what I wanted and needed and how to make it happen. “Everyone has the same basic needs, sweetheart. Love, acceptance, freedom, companionship. It’s just how we’re made.”
Stefanie smiled, her lips turning up at the corners in a way that brightened the morning sky and lit up my heart with warmth. She was radiance. Joy. Love. Hope. Everything I never knew that I wanted until now.
My chest ached, and I lifted a hand, pressing over my heart.
Stefanie caught the gesture. “You feel it?”
“This connection between us? Yeah, my pretty pageant girl. I feel it deep inside, and I don’t think it’s going away.”
“I don’t think it will either,” she acknowledged, lowering her head to rest on my shoulder.
We watched the rest of the sunrise that morning and the swath of colors reaching across the sky without speaking another word. Just two souls who found one another because of a biker club and the president who also loved as fiercely as his new prospect.
Sweet peppermint and chocolate swirled in the air around us while Stefanie drank her hot chocolate and snuggled closer. This was a memory I would revisit in the future often and think fondly as the one where her heart and mine formed a bond together that even the worst of circumstances could never sever.