“What’s that?” he asked. To his credit he didn’t sound tense or trepidatious at all, merely curious.
She took a deep breath and made herself say the words. “I really hate apples. So much. You have no idea.”
He paused, then, “Good thing we didn’t just plant two hundred of their trees.”
She snorted a laugh and then couldn’t stop. They laughed until they were spent, then crawled together, seeking warmth and each other.
Celeste sat up and smoothed the hair at his temple. “Are you hungry?”
“Always,” he replied, smiling up at her, warm brown eyes brimming with affection.
“Come on.” She stood and tugged him with her. They held hands on the way to the house. He planned to follow her to thekitchen and help prepare supper, but she led him to the couch, bade him sit down, and retrieved one of her journals, the first one in the series.
“Are you sure?” he asked, sounding a little awed. His tone made her feel humbled and more than a little loved. These were only her memories, and yet he was treating them like they were a precious treasure, merely because he wanted to know her.
“I’m positive,” she said, trying to sound braver than she felt. She couldn’t stick around and watch him read, though. It was too much. “I’ll make supper.” She could do that now that she’d learned to make an entire week’s rotation of meals.I can cook and love and open myself to the world around me; I am bent but not broken, well on my way to wholeness one baby step at a time.
She whirled and immersed herself in preparing food. Tonight they would have chicken salad. As the first thing Celeste learned to make, it was now her go-to comfort food. She was nearly finished when she realized Sam stood in the doorway, watching her.
“Come here a moment,” he said when he had her attention. He held out his hand to her. She took it and allowed him to lead her to the couch. He lay down and pulled her with him, encapsulating her in a full body hug, squeezing tightly.
“What’s this about?” she asked, not that she was complaining. She enjoyed hugging, and she especially enjoyed hugging Sam, who was almost as deficient on his hug quota as she was.
“The common theme I’m reading in your journal is that you wanted to know you were safe and loved, and though it’s a little late, I thought it seemed appropriate to pause and tell you that you are safe and loved. I am so proud of you. You are precious and worthwhile, and you always have been, even when no one else realized.”
She squirmed a little, nestling closer as she hugged him back. “Thank you.”
“Also, I think we should get a dog.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” she asked.
“Every girl needs a dog. They’re good therapy.”
“Is this an elaborate way of making it seem about me, when you really want a puppy?” she guessed.
“Mitch and Caldwell’s dog had a litter. They said we could have one. I told them I’d have to check with you. Please, pretty please can we get one?”
“I’ve never had a dog before,” she said.
“Then it’s well past time,” Sam said.
“I’m nervous, but okay,” she said. “Also, supper is ready.”
“I’m hungry, but…”
“But…” she prompted.
“But I think maybe I like and need this more than food right now,” Sam said, smoothing his hand on her neck, beneath her hair. He always seemed to know exactly how to touch her to make all her stress disappear, to bestow maximum affection, sort of like magic.
“Same,” Celeste agreed.
They lay cuddled on the couch, feeling safe and warm andcontent, their supper forgotten until they eventually fell asleep. When they woke a few hours later, they ate their forgotten chicken salad and talked about their dog, attempting to preemptively find a name. It was all so ordinary, maybe even mundane, but Celeste had never been happier, and she knew Sam felt the same. And she realized, as they sat on the floor making a list of puppy names, that perhaps they had stumbled on some grand truth, that love made the ordinary extraordinary.
She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, a vision of their future dancing before her, so clear she could almost touch it. They would get their dog, and theywould get married. Eventually they would have children, and those children would spend their days running barefoot on the orchard, greeting customers who came to pick fruit and buy apples. They would grow old together; Sam would shrink and his belly would round, Celeste would become a brittle wisp, but they would remain happy and in love, forever in Paradise.
