Page 25 of The Finish Line

I will do everything, anything, to make our ending blissful.

Simply being together is not enough. We aren’t settling.

While she remains weary, I’ll be ambitious for the both of us.

In our time at her father’s house, we were blissful, content, despite our circumstances and the underlying threats to that peaceful state. Despite the fact that I knew we were a time bomb. Despite me.

Our pleasures came easy. She could look at me then. Now she avoids it.

Standing abruptly from the counter to stretch my legs, filled with restless energy and entertaining snacking on a napkin, I shoot off a text on my new phone.

It’s me.

Sean: Me who?

Funny.

Sean: I’ll shoot the number out to the crew.

The bubbles start and stop. I pause when I read his message.

Sean: How’s it going?

Do you give a fuck?

Sean: Of course, I give a fuck. Report.

She’s fine. She’s good. Really good. She bought a café. It’s nice. Her house is too. She’s doing the daily grind.

Sean: Knew that already. What about you?

I read the text again. A question I didn’t expect. When he, correction, when Tessa invited me to their wedding, I thought maybe then we might start to repair what was broken between us, but even then, things were off. The day we buried Dom, he looked at me like he hated me. And I know he did. This olive branch he’s extending feels just as foreign as my position in my new life. I’m at the mercy of the people I hurt.

And I want to be here.

But fuck if it doesn’t suck.

When I went to Sean for help in finding her, that’s when I felt a little give on his side. Over the years, I’ve felt his absence significantly. I convinced myself our mutual cause is the only reason we’re still part of each other’s lives, despite our history. But a hope lights inside. Maybe that’s no longer the case.

You really want to know?

Sean: I wouldn’t ask, man. That bad?

Cecelia’s priorities

Dog

Café

...

ME. And fuck you for laughing because I know you are.

Bubbles. I decide I hate bubbles as much as I hate peas.

Sean: You didn’t think it would be easy, did you?

Hell no.

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