Page 56 of All The Happily Ever Afters

“Fuck.” He breathes into my neck. “I’ve missed you so fucking much.” He breathes heavily and his words come out with desperation. “I’m not letting you go again.”

As the high from what we’ve done starts to fade into the dark night, my ragged breath comes back to me.

And as it does, a pair of lights shines down the road signifying a car driving towards us.

“Shit, shit, shit.”

ALEX

“Fuck,” I mutter beneath my breath, still stumbling with my belt as I hear the car roll up. Dammit Jimmy. He was a cock block in high school and I suppose some things never change.

I round my car and head towards the parked cop car as the passenger window rolls down.

“Everything OK here, Alex?”

I can hear Valerie’s heavy breathing as I walk out onto the asphalt.

“Yeah Jimmy everything is fine.” I turned around looking over my shoulder to see Valerie. Her skin is still flush from what we’ve just done but she’s smoothing out her skirt as she steps to the side of the car and comes into view.

“Actually I have somebody I’d like you to meet,” I tell him with a proud smile on my face as I wrap my arm around her shoulder. Valerie’s soft body molds to mine and her arm squeezes around my hip. “Jimmy, this is my wife, Valerie. I’ve been dying for you to meet her.”

“Well I’ll be,” Jimmy says leaning across the dashboard and sticking his hand out the window for Valerie take it.

When we met all those years ago, she scooped me up within weeks and took me back to her hometown. I’ve always wanted to be a police officer and it just made sense to leave with her.

She met me as a kid playing pretend. It was just a Halloween party and just a costume of the man I wanted to be. A night of flirting turned into so much more when I followed her home. Halloween is for pretend and recklessness. And so I thought my sweet angel would only be with me for a night. But Valerie’s proved me wrong since the day I met her.

“All Alex has been doing since he’s been here, is talk about you.” Jimmy‘s comment gets a chuckle from Valerie.

Her sweet smile and soft voice is everything to me. I’ve missed her so damn much since I’ve come back here. “We can’t thank you enough for sending him down here during this hard time.”

Valerie takes a step towards Jimmy’s car, both of her hands resting on the open window as she answers him with sincerity. “I’m so sorry to hear about the fire.”

“It’s mostly all fixed up now,” Jimmy says confidently, although his gaze shifts behind us and into the dark forest. He’s an emotional man and the loss has been hardest on him. “But I can’t tell you how wonderful it’s been to have Alex back here.”

“He’s always talked about coming back,” Valerie says, looking over her shoulder. Her hair falls down to her lower back.

My grip on her tightens as I say the words, “it’s always been home to me.” Valerie’s eyes go and soften as she nods just slightly. Just for me.

When I left years ago, I was young and in love. And I’d still do anything for her. She knows this place calls to me though.

As I look at her and then back at Jimmy, he seems to understand exactly what we’ve been doing here. I can practically see the light bulb turn on in his head. He swallows thickly and all the warm welcome and good wishes seem to leave him.

The leather of his seat groans as he leans back in his seat and gives us a wave. “I’ll be seeing you two tomorrow night at the barbecue?” he asks and we answer in unison, “we’ll be there.”

“I’m really looking forward to meeting everybody,” Valerie says. There’s an eagerness in her voice but also hesitation. I know she never wanted to stay here and I’d never keep her here if she didn’t want to stay.

I can’t help that this place will always be home to me though and will always be the place where we first met. Where I first fell in love.

“Well, all right; till tomorrow night then,” Jimmy says and drives off before Valerie can get another word out. She’s left with her hand still in the air as the red of his rear lights become smaller in the distance.

I wrap my arm tight around her waist and pull her closer to me, even though her eyes are watching the cop car.

“Come here,” I pull her in close and up against me, her small breasts press against my chest. Her warmth makes the hot summer night feel cold around us. I can’t get enough of her. The tip of my nose brushes her before I lean down for a long slow kiss. The kind that I’ve missed every day since I’ve been here.

It’s been months since the fire broke out. It cost our town some of my childhood heroes. My best friend’s fathers and mothers. There’s nothing like a tragedy to bring family back together. I left as soon as I could, transferring out here, but my heart stay behind until she could come with me. And now that summers out and schools over. She only has a few months to be with me. Unless she’s thought about what I asked. A wish. I can only hope she knows how much it means to me.

“I missed you so much,” she tells me, as she leans against me, her fingers gripping onto me like I’ll float away if she lets me go. Her cheek presses against my chest and I breathe her in.

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