Page 74 of Until Forever

I laughed in spite of myself, right along with the rest of the town.

“But I made sure their names were carved right here into the side of the building,” he pointed out.

Claire reached out and squeezed my hand. I could see her tearing up over the mention of her parents. I was doing my best not to cry over it all, too.

“Lana,” Keith called out to me again, more softly this time into the microphone. As if it was just me and him. “It’s really good to see you. And…thank you. Thank you for everything.” He straightened and cleared his throat, remembering that we were surrounded by everyone in the whole town. “Sorry,” he told the crowd. He quickly rushed away from the podium and let Derek take over again.

Keith seemed to disappear after his speech. Claire and I headed inside to check the place out.

“It looks amazing,” she told me.

“Yeah. It really does,” I replied, looking all around.

Maybe I got everything started, and it was my vision for the place—which Keith had stayed true to even though he questioned it in the beginning. But he was also the one to finish everything. He stuck it out, even though it obviously pained him to do so. It couldn’t have been easy.

I walked over to the window and spotted Keith walking off from the party. He headed down the edge of the lake, towards the fallen tree we had sat on so many times together. I slipped away from Claire and everyone else to follow him.

“Hey,” I said to him as I stepped onto the big exposed roots of the tree. He was sitting on the other side of it, dangling his legs over the water.

His face lit up at the sight of me, but he didn’t say anything. He looked as speechless as I felt, but one of us had to push ourselves to speak. I figured the ball was probably in my court.

“You did it. Congrats,” I offered.

“No,” he shook his head. “We did it.”

“I’m sorry I left it on you to finish everything alone,” I said softly.

“It’s okay. I deserved it.”

“No, you didn’t,” I argued. “I talked to Claire. I know you were only keeping your promise to her by not telling me.”

He nodded slowly.

“I owe you an apology,” I forced myself to say.

“No, Lana…”

“Shh, let me say this,” I insisted, holding up my hand to silence him. “I’m sorry for always expecting you to read my mind. I understand the kind of man you really are now. If you knew how I felt about you in high school…”

“I never would have left you alone at that dance,” he said in earnest.

“I know. At least now, I do. I’m sorry for always seeing the worst in you…because, honestly, there isn’t as much bad to you as I wanted to think. It’s like I had to blow it all up and make you out to be the villain…because if you weren’t, then that’d mean…you might just be a great guy that I loved…and maybe you wouldn’t feel the same way about me.”

“I’ve always loved you, Lana.” He shot to his feet and balanced himself to come closer.

“Maybe it’s not me who’s too good for you. I think…I think you’re too good for me,” I admitted, my voice cracking.

“That’s not possible,” he answered vehemently just as the distance between us closed.

He crashed into me, holding my face in his hands as he kissed me long and deep. We stood there for a long time, just stroking each other’s faces, staring into each other’s eyes, and kissing passionately. I think we were too afraid to speak…too afraid of doing anything wrong that might tear us apart again.

At some point, we found ourselves standing together on the edge of the tree again.

“I love you, Lana Miller.”

I smiled wide. “I love you too, Keith Mullins.”

“We own a marina together now,” he marveled, staring off at the party in the distance. “I guess we should get back. Will you come with me?”

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