Page 44 of Midnight and Mine

His eyes brighten. “I’ll get her.”

“Thank you, Mr. Miracle.”

Her dad’s arm is wrapped around her waist as he bends down and kisses her on the cheek. “You kids have a good time.”

She’s the most strikingly beautiful woman in the world. Her dark hair hangs in bouncy waves over her shoulders, and she has a bit of mascara on her eyelashes. I hold out the flowers I picked from our backyard. “For you, my lady.”

“They’re gorgeous. We must have a nice floral shop… I love the organza bow. Thank you.”

I want to surprise her with a trip to our house this week, so I keep it a secret about where I got the flowers.

Wynter has on a navy knit dress that hugs her baby bump and a cream-colored jean jacket, showcasing her caramel-brown hair.

Her mom lays her head on her dad’s shoulder as they watch me help Wynter into the car. They look pleased, so maybe I’m on the right course. It’s hard to know what to do and how to act, but I’m going to meet in the middle where I would normally follow the rules, and Wynter would obliterate them—I’m going to provide gentle reminders.

“Where are we going?”

“Just wait and see. Here.” I pull her phone from the console. “I should have given you this yesterday, but everything happened so quickly with Drake and then… with us. Anyway, I loaded the photos from the gorge onto your phone if you want to look at them. Tell me which one you think is the money shot, and I’ll tell you mine.”

“Money shot?” she asks. “What’s my passcode?”

“Five-three-one-nine.”

She furls her lip, concentrating or possibly trying to remember why that date is significant. “Is that our wedding date?”

“Nope.”

She swipes through the photos. “These are…”

“Incredible? That’s because you have a gift.”

I continue to drive up Bluegrass Parkway as she studies each image. “Look at this one. It’s so unusual.” Her hand flies over her mouth. “This is right before I fell. I leaned back and tried to get my footing, but slipped on the mud, and I started tumbling. I didn’t want to break my camera, so I kept one hand on it while trying to stop my fall with the other. It didn’t work.”

Not that I want her to relive the trauma of the fall, but the photos are triggering some flashbacks, and it’s my opinion that each time will get us one step closer to a full recovery of her past.

"But you got the money shot," I remark, with a mix of pride and grief in my voice.

She lets down her guard, exposing the raw, tender emotions she has kept hidden beneath layers of bravado. Her eyes, usually filled with a determined spark, soften as she admits her fears. “But I lost so much more.”

I slide my hand over her leg into her hand. “You haven’t lost me. You’ll never lose me.”

She trails her fingers along my neck and plays with the ends of my hair that desperately needs a trim. Wynter goes into detail about each photo and what’s wrong with each of them, but we both agree on the money shot. Then when we pull into Bojangles, she shouts, “The coffee table book. I’m writing a coffee table book about Kissing Springs.”

“You are.” I pull into the parking lot and swipe to the photos of Kissing Springs. “We’re going to revisit all the spots over the next week or two. Ready for lunch?”

“Starving. I love Bojangles.”

“I know,” I boast, so happy she’s recalling bits of her life.

She sinks her teeth into the Bojangles biscuit and four chicken fingers. “Oh, baby girl likes this.”

I pull out my phone and show her the last text she sent me, and an automatic car wash couldn’t wipe the smile from her face.

As our first date is in the books, I walk her to the door, peck her sweet lips, and for the first night, I go home to an empty bed. It’ll be worth it in the end for her to feel wanted.

For today’s date, I tell her to wear something comfy that she can get dirty, but when I arrive with a caffeine-free caramel macchiato in hand, she steals every oxygen particle in the air. She has her hair in one braid with a tank top, running shorts, and one pink tennis shoe to go along with her bright pink cast.

“For you. How was your night? Dream about me?”

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