Page 105 of To Catch a Firefly

“Promise we’ll still do this when we’re sixty or eighty or a hundred. I want a lifetime with you, El. Me and you. ’Til the end of time.”

I draw an X over Lucky’s heart.

Promise.

Chapter 36

Lucky

“You know, if I didn’t know you were excited to get back home to your lover, I’d take your joy in parting from me to heart, Lucky-boy.”

I snort, sparing Danil a glance. “My lover?”

“Is he not?” Danil asks, arching an eyebrow. “Sure sounded like it last night.”

I decide not to comment on that last part. It’s not my fault I didn’t realize the door to our adjoining rooms was open when I was on the phone with Ellis.

“Let’s not call him that,” I mutter. “Youhave lovers. I have…”

“Your Ellis,” he fills in.

Exactly.

“This is the longest we’ve been apart since I moved back,” I note.

It’s been half a year since I relocated from New York to Nebraska. Every time I hop on a plane after an assignment, it’s to go back home to Ellis.

Ten-year-old me would have been appalled to know I never escaped the land of corn. But twenty-six-year-old me is older and wiser. He has life experience under his belt and a whole collection of memories from around the world. I’ve traveled more than most ever will in a lifetime. I’ve seen pyramids and oceans. Photographed endangered animals and swam with literal sharks. I’velived, and I’ve learned. And not once in the past six months have I regretted moving back to the small, rural town I once couldn’t wait to get out of.

Because I also love. I love deeply and with my whole heart. And that, quite frankly, is more important than any other phenomena I could capture with my lens. Love moves mountains.

It moved me.

Danil shifts, checking the time on his phone. “Well, I wish you a happy reunion, Lucky-boy. I need to get to my terminal.”

When Danil stands, I do the same, pulling him into a hug. He kisses my cheek before giving me a salute, and then he’s off, weaving his way through the airport just as boarding is called for my own plane. I stand in line, a smile on my face as I think about the man who’ll be waiting for me on the other end of my flight.

“You’re not Ellis.”

My dad gives me a big grin, opening his arms. Even though I’m confused, I let him smother me in a hug. “Hey, kiddo. Welcome home.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask, hoping my tone doesn’t sound as disappointed as I feel. Ellis doesn’t pick me upeverytime I fly in—sometimes he’s at work—but I was expecting him today.

“I’m supposed to deliver you,” my dad says cryptically. He grabs my suitcase from my hand and starts walking toward the exit.

With a stutter-step, I follow. “Deliver me where?”

“My lips are sealed,” he says, smiling wide.

My heart takes off at a gallop.

Dad leads me to his vehicle, turning on the air conditioning once we’re inside. It’s late evening, so the sun isn’t at its peak, but it’s still a hot summer day in Nebraska.

My foot bounces as he drives. “You can’t tell me anything?”

“I could,” he hedges. “But I won’t.”

My foot bounces some more. “How’s Mom?”

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