Page 61 of Master Debater

A laugh spilled out as I peppered kisses across his face. There was movement in the booth again, the people obviously ready to get on with recording the demo. Now that I had my personal piano player back, so was I.

But there was one more thing that needed to be said, and I wanted it on the record. “I love you too, Nathan Fox. And you should know that this song we’re about to play? It’s dedicated to you.”

Epilogue

Willa

Nate rushed into the living room, so much excitement on his features I was sure it meant he’d won his court case. The jury had been out for days, and I meant that in the most literal, torturous meaning of the word. “Did you hear?”

I lowered my phone, the sounds of the show I’d been halfway watching blaring in the background. “How would I hear?” I asked, not following. It’s not like he needed an explanation as to why they kept a tight lid on legal cases that were still ongoing.

He leaned over the back of the couch, lifted the remote from the cushion next to me, and punched the power button. Then he upped the volume on his phone. “It’s on the radio, Willa. The radio.”

* * *

There are fantasies, and there are dreams

And most people settle for the in between

No more, not me. Light it on fire,

send it out to sea

Done with the harsh reality

A new life, that’s what this was meant to be

Until that moment you came crashing into me

My heart forgot how to beat, too focused on the words of a song that’d been about falling in love after declaring it didn’t truly exist.

The artist who’d fallen in love with “Crash Into Love” had sent it to me after she recorded it. But hearing it on air, knowing other people were out there, bobbing their heads and cranking my song—our song—louder…?

Thus far, everything had seemed so surreal, a copy of a copy. Where my dreams came true, but it also felt like I might wake up any minute.

I reached over and pinched Nate’s arm.

“I felt it,” he said. “It’s real, sweetheart. You did it. I knew you would.”

I burst into tears, and Nate didn’t even bother rounding the couch. He dove right over the top of it, pulled me into his arms.

“When’s the last time I told you I love you?” Nate asked, and I snuggled deeper into his embrace.

“This morning, when you left for court. How’d it go, by the way?”

Nate tapped his finger to my lips. “This is your moment, baby. We can discuss that later.”

I considered arguing with him, but I’d spent way too long ignoring my dreams. This was a moment I wanted to remember forever.

How it felt to be in Nate’s arms.

Inhaling his scent as we listened to the tail end of the song I’d written about us falling in love.

Turning my head so that our mouths aligned and kissing him with the emotions behind the words.

* * *

A forever love, one deep as the ocean

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