He’s silent, waiting for me to speak. To make up my mind. Even though I’m scared, I can’t let past experiences dictate how I live my life. I want to be with Randall. Through the easy and difficult times.
His shoulders sag at my lack of response. He must be feeling the same exact way I did at the party. I could let him stew in his pain a little longer, but that would make me a horrible person. Especially when being with him makes me happy. “Okay.”
His head snaps up. “Okay… what?”
“I’m willing to give us another chance.”
Randall pulls me up from the sofa, and twirls me around, almost knocking the lamp in the corner over. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel pressured.”
“I’m positive,” I say. “On one condition.”
“Anything,” he agrees. “Name it and it’s done.”
“You can’t pull away from me again. If something is bothering you, I want us to talk about it. Relationships aren’t a one-way street. They require communication.” I lean back the tiniest fraction. “Agreed?”
“Absolutely,” he pulls me back into his arms. “This past week without talking to you has been hell. I would keep my phone on me at all times in hopes you would call me. Text me.Something.”
“I guess it’s a good thing you don’t have to worry about that anymore, huh.” Instead of waiting for him to kiss me, I throw my arms around his neck and lift up on my toes until my mouth meets his. I’ve missed kissing these lips. As soon as they touch, I feel whole. He is the piece I’ve been missing all along.
Mom clears her throat loud enough for us to hear, and we pull apart from each other. “So, this is the boy that broke your heart in Asheville.”
“No mom,” I grin. “He helped put me back together.”
Epilogue
There arestudents milling about around campus, and I don’t care about any of them. Except for the one currently holding my hand. I never thought I’d get the chance to go back to school. For the longest time I had it in my head that my life would be centered around making sure Dad didn’t do anything to hurt himself, or anyone else. But here I am, at Asheville Community College, doing just that.
Don’t get me wrong, I still worry about my dad. He’s doing better, though. He checked into rehab not long after I moved out. Determined to get his drinking under control and work through his issues concerning my mom. I’m proud of the progress he’s made. At the same time, there’s a voice in my head reminding me that he could fall off the wagon at any time.
“Which building are we supposed to be in?” Amelia asks as we walk across the lawn. It’s not a huge campus, but we’ve never been here before, and we’re a little lost.
“It should be this one,” I point toward the brick building directly in front of us. “I’m sure we aren’t the only ones running late for Freshman orientation. I mean look at all the people hanging around the building.”
My guess is they don’t want to be the first ones to go in. Most of them are straight out of high school. There aren’t many people our age going to this orientation. We should be close to graduating if we’d done college right out of high school. Luckily for me, a few of my classes from before carried over.
“I guess you’re right,” she leans into me. “Let’s get in there so we can get this over with. I’m antsy enough about starting school so late in the game.”
“Don’t be nervous.” We stop just to the left of the door. “You are going to do great. Before long you’ll be able to manage that boutique single-handedly.”
“If you say so,” she mutters.
“I do.” Those two little words remind me how we reconnected. Who would have thought I’d have a girlfriend? After years of pushing people away, I almost gave up on finding someone. But our broken pieces made each other whole, and I wouldn’t trade her for anything.
Pulling her toward me, I grab her cheeks and tilt her head back. I kiss her until she’s holding onto me, relying on me to keep her grounded. “You’ve got this, babe. We both do. We’re going to shake up this town and show them what we’re capable of… Together.”