Page 93 of Truths

“Hey, hey, there's nothing to be sorry for.”

“I thought I could...”

“Baby, I got to hold you for the first time in almost three years. You don't know what that means to me.”

Her tear-filled eyes look up to his. “It was just a hug.”

“It was everything,” he whispers, tears filling his own eyes. “I dreamed of being able to touch you again every night since I came home to that fire. You just made a dream come true.”

“You're sure you want to go through the craziness of me dealing with all this shit? I have a feeling it'll be a lot of ups and downs. Are you prepared for that?” Dani asks.

Smiling at her, he nods. “I'm not going anywhere, baby.”

“My ring.”

Dax shakes his head. “What?”

She looks down at her left hand. “I don't know what happened to my wedding ring.”

Closing his eyes, he shakes his head. “It was burned on the finger of the woman we thought was you.”

“Oh.”

“I'll get you a new one. We'll both get new ones. Fresh start... whenever you're ready.”

Her eyes lock with his. “That sounds good.”

Reaching behind him, he unclasps the chain she'd gotten him for their first wedding anniversary when they had almost no money. She'd gotten it on sale at a pawnshop, and he never took it off. He slips off his wedding ring and puts it on the chain before handing it to her. “Here.”

“What's this for?”

“This will remind you that I'm here. The two most precious gifts I was given by you are right here, and I have to leave, but I want you to have them. To hold them and wear them to remind you that I love you. I waited for you for years, and I'll wait a million if I need to.”

She puts the chain on over her head and looks down at the wedding ring. He remembers how she tearfully slipped it onto his finger when they went to the courthouse to get married. How happy she was and promised to love him forever. That's what keeps him going.

Before he can react, she presses herself against him, her arms around his waist. “Hug me.”

He does, his arms tentative before tightening around her. “Oh, baby.”

“Tell me a happy... a happy memory.”

“The first time I ever saw you, you were working in that little used book store. I don't know that I ever told you this, but I saw you through the window, and I knew I wanted to spend my life with you. I walked inside, and I pretended like I was looking fora book. You asked which one, and I stupidly said the only book I remember reading in school.Of Mice and Men.”

Laughing, Dani holds him just a little tighter. “I remember that. I love that book.”

“I bought it, and I got your number that day, too. I spent the entire fucking night reading it, so I had something to say if you started talking about it again. I wanted to be able to hold a conversation with you, and it became my favorite book. Every time I came across that book in the past three years, I bought it. I have a small bookshelf filled with them.”

“I thought you were lying about the book when you came in and said it, but when you talked about it with me the next night when we went to that little diner, I thought I was wrong about you.”

He holds back his desire to kiss the top of her head, unsure if that would make her panic or not. “No, you were right. I just really wanted to impress you.”

“It worked,” she says and pulls away from him, her hands taking his. “Are you going to find Ryan?”

Nodding, he stares into her eyes, scared to blink. “Yes.”

“Do me a favor?”

“Anything.”

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