He stood up and hugged me. “I am.”
“What am I going to do?”
Brandon pointed. “I suggest you get the hell out of here.”
Dave fished his car key from his pocket. “My car’s out front. Are you okay to drive?”
I nodded as I took my first step since finding out the glorious Gabe loved me. He loved me. He loved me. I looked at Dave and Brandon sitting at the table.
“We should hit the town sometime.” Brandon pointed at Dave. “You’d make a good wing man.”
Dave groaned. “I might just need a wing man myself.”
Bells were ringing and dinging in my brain. “What’s happening with Liv?”
Dave shrugged. “I’m not sure anymore.”
“Welp, this worry will have to wait for another day. But you can bet your ass I will be all up in this topic soon.”
“Fern, I don’t need your bossy mode.”
I gasped, “I’m not bossy. I just know what you should be doing.”
He pointed, “Don’t you have somewhere to go?”
We enjoyed a group hug before I hauled ass out the door.
I went to my apartment, but it was no good. I didn’t have practice until Monday afternoon, and I needed to get the hell away from everything.
I made my way to the cabin. Once inside the front door, it immediately felt different than it normally did. The last time I was there, Fern was with me. Now everywhere I looked I saw her face.
I paced the floor for a while, not able to get past the vision of her on the stairs and knew I needed to do something. Not the smartest move, but I grabbed my snowmobile out of the garage and took a dark ride around the lake.
I knew I wouldn’t sleep with the vision of Fern with Brandon burned into my skull. The loss of Fern was a brutal physical pain pressing down on me. Every breath was a shard of glass slicing through my lungs. There was only a hollow ache now as the realization that the woman I saw as my future, the one who was already a part of me, was now just a shattered dream. How had this gone so wrong? I hadn’t realized how much I thought she was going to give me a shot.
I looked in the distance at the snow-covered land lit brightly by the winter moon above and imagined her walking out to me. Through the snow, I could almost see her coming to tell me she’d forgiven me for my past jackassiness and that she’d lit Brandon on fire to come and be with me. I’d tell her I’d get rid of the charred douchebag’s body so the cops would never catch her, and we’d ride off into the sunset.
I zipped around the trees a little more to get to the spot we shared one time. When I pulled up and stopped, I blinked hard. Out on the frozen lake in the distance was somebody walking.
It was the kid from the cabin behind the woods. But it was too late and cold for kids to be out. I got off my snow mobile and walked onto the ice. I squinted my eyes at the same time whoever was out there started running away.
“Hey! Are you good?” They kept on running, and I took a few more steps and yelled louder. “Are you okay out there?”
“Only if you come and get me!”
My heart quit beating as I stood frozen while the voice of my angel echoed off the trees behind me. I don’t remember running, but I remember needing to get to her like I needed air.
She screamed with laughter as I pulled her to me. I looked hard into those twinkling eyes.
“Hi.” she whispered.
“Hi.” For the first time in my life, I felt like glitter was pumping through my veins. “You’re here.”
“I’m here.” She stretched up and kissed my cheek. “I couldn’t be anywhere else.”
“I can’t believe this. What did I ever do to deserve you?”
“Well, you are a pretty lucky fella.” She wrapped her arms around my neck. “I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I can be pretty epic.
