Page 60 of A Fine Line

“Alright, my turn.”

She nodded. “Hit me with it, Wells.”

“Your parents…they’re not here?”

She smacked her lips in a pop of a “Nope.”

I hummed, wondering where the line was on the topic and how I could possibly push it further into territory where I was allowed to know her deeper.

“I’ve never met them, really. My mom is Nana’s daughter. Apparently something happened with her and my aunt, Lottie’s Mom, and they haven’t spoke since. It was when she got pregnant with me, though. The family said they could stay if she apologized for…whatever she did and she wouldn’t. So, she had me in Oak Ridge and left me with my Nana. I was kind of raised equally by everyone here, but I lived in the big house with my grandparents and Lottie’s parents most of my life.”

I nodded. “So, you lost two parents but in a way…you gained four.”

She beamed at me. “Exactly. Sometime I used to wish I was in a different family, one with an actual mom or siblings for me. But then I think about it now, and I couldn’t imagine being with any other family.”

“You know,” I said after a beat, “I saw this video that said there is a one in a trillion chance of you being born.”

Winnie looked up at me, her eyebrows raised in surprise. “Really?”

“Mhmm. One in a trillion chance, and somehow… I got this version of you with me. I’m really, really grateful for that.”

She smiled, the kind of smile that made my heart stutter in my chest. The kind that felt like she would only give to me. “Out of a trillion people, I’d like to think I’d pick you again and again.”

Her words sent a rush of warmth through me, and I leaned down, capturing her lips in a soft kiss. It wasn’t the first kiss we’d shared, but it felt like the most important one. The stars above us seemed to burn brighter, the air felt warmer, and everything else in the world faded away.

Our mouths moved together, pushing and pulling, and as much as I wanted to be present in this moment; somewhere in the back of my mind I was picturing a future with Winnie. One where we could visit Willow Creek anytime we wanted. Where we could have each other and not worry about anything else. Ofmore nights in her bed, her in mine, of sleepy ‘good nights’ and groggy ‘good mornings’. I pictured a future in which I could love her anyway I wanted. Kiss her any way I wanted.

As the kiss deepened, the world around us grew quiet, fading into the background as all I could feel was her. Her hand pressed against my chest, her heartbeat matching the rhythm of mine, and I knew that this wasn’t just some holiday fling. This was real. This was everything.

And as the night stretched on, with nothing but fields and mountains surrounding us, I realized that I didn’t just understand my family better now—I understood Winnie. I understood us. And there was no going back from that.

I loved her with all of the broken pieces of myself. And she put them back together without even trying.

Friday had eventually rolled around, and we were just about to hit the road back to Philly.

The whole morning had been this buildup—packing, checking lists, stealing kisses and cracking jokes. More stolen kisses and then more of us avoiding the fact that we were going home. We were riding a high from this week, or at least I knew I was. It felt like we were floating, every little brush of Winnie’s hand or a satisfied, smug look in her eyes sending me higher.

Winnie flashed me a smile up at me as she balled her socks together, sticking them in an organized zipper compartment in her hard suitcase. Meanwhile, I was fully packed with the three sets of clothes and spare boxers I brought now rolled up together and shoved into my backpack that was ripping at the seams.

“Whatcha smiling at me for?” There was a twang in my voice that she cackled at, tossing a pair of socks right at me.

“You’ve already been here too long.”

“Nah, honey. I think the accent is gonna catch on soon.”

“I hope not.” She said but her smile told otherwise, big and shining.

I wondered how hard it would be to convince her to cancel our return flight. To stay here, and avoid everything waiting back home. Screw her apartment, I could buy her out of the contract with my savings and we could just stay just…a little longer. Until we’ve had our fill. Until we fill like we could go home and face the rest.

But then there’s shadow side of myself that thinks, you know, I do miss my family. Even though I feel like an extra, even though they’re busy and I’m…me. I’d missed them a lot. Their texts still had been flying in and out, so it’s not like I felt fully away from them. And staying away from them longer felt wrong, and yet, exciting at the same time.

We’re going back. I knew that. But still, watching Winnie pack up slow and hesitant, I wondered if she felt it too. The draw to this place. To maybe more visits. Longer visits. Time on the farm or time ‘downtown’. But always together, no matter what.

Her head cocked around to the side of her suitcase. “Have you seen my charger?”

I glanced around my area, my separate charge sticking out me bag, I checked by it and under the throw blanket beside me but it wasn’t there either. “Nope. Do you think you left it downstairs?”

“Probably,” she stood up and stretched, “One sec.”

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