Page 92 of Courageous Hearts

“See that?” Bo asks, pointing off into the distance.

I peer, but all I see is blackness. “What?”

“The dark,” they say softly, looking over at me with a little smile I can barely make out by the light of the moon. “It’s never like this in Chicago.”

“No, I suppose not,” I agree.

“I like the city, though,” Bo says. “There’s somethin’ comfortin’ about knowin’ you’re never truly alone. Even if you feel it.”

I turn their way, tucking my arms around Bo’s waist. They sigh, leaning into me.

“Do you feel like that often?” I ask. “Alone?”

Bo shakes their head. “Not anymore. I’ve got Dee. The folks at Gertie’s.” They’re quiet for a moment. “You.”

My chest swells, heart beating rapidly.

“Don’t think I’ll ever truly outrun this place, though,” Bo adds, looking out over the darkness.

“Why do you say that?”

“The accent for one,” Bo answers.

I squeeze them tighter. “I like the accent.”

“I’ve always been a bit self-conscious about it,” Bo admits. “When I first got to Chicago, it just felt like another way I was different from everybody else.”

I tip Bo’s chin my way, holding it gently as I catch their eye. “Different isn’t bad. It’s pretty spectacular from where I stand. And you don’t have to get rid of your past to be someone other than you were,” I point out. “Your past is a part of you. Part of your fight. But who you are now, Bo? Accent and all?” I shake my head lightly. “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Jamie,” they say quietly, resting their head on my shoulder. Their breath puffs against my neck. “You always make me feel so good.”

The words zing through me, but before I have a chance to voice a response, a melody fills the air. It’s Cooper, singing slow and sweet, his words floating gently our way. I don’t know which one of us starts it, but Bo and I begin to sway together, moving in a slow circle as Bo’s brother lights the evening in a serenade. Bo feels perfect tucked in my arms. Warm. Sturdy. All hard planes that are so different from what I knew before them.

Everything feels like it’s separated into two distinct times. What it used to be like. And what it’s like with Bo. They fit against me, with me, in a way no one else ever has. It’s as if some bone-deep part of me recognizes them as the piece I was missing. The thing I was searching for.

As we dance, the fire flickers, sending orange sparks drifting up into the dark sky. Stars litter the space over our heads, too far to ever reach. And a soft breeze blows across the field we’re in, rustling Bo’s hair against my cheek as Cooper croons about love.

It’s one of those moments. The magic, sparking kind.

“Bo,” I say quietly.

“Mm?”

“I—”

“Hey, you two want s’mores?” Tru calls out.

Bo shifts, looking up at me, a little smile lighting their lips. “S’mores?”

“Sure,” I say around a puff of air.

Bo leans up, pressing a gentle kiss against my lips before they grab my hand and tug me toward the fire. I follow, heart still dancing.

In a couple days, Bo and I will be back home. Together. I don’t know what the future holds, but there is one thing I’m certain of—my mom was right.

Having come here, I’m richer than ever before.

Chapter 28

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