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Story: All I Have Left

I nod, drawing it out for the fun of it. “Now what?”
She smiles, remembering when I said that line last. “You know what happens now.”
“I have an idea.” I take the ring from the box and hold it over the finger it will stay on for the rest of her life. “These words are just words, but then again, they’re not words at all. They’re memories for you.” It’s then my fucking voice shakes. With a deep breath, the anxiety passes and I get out the words, “What I say is important to you. I know that. But sometimes, simplicity is just as good.”
Evie grins, tears falling down her flushed cheeks.
“So—” I pause, for the effect and then look up at her. “Marry me?”
Evie’s eyes break from mine, to the ring, and then back. “As if there ever was a doubt.”
I stand, place the ring on her finger and bring the microphone to my lips. “You can’t take it back now. They all know.”
She snorts. “I’d never take it back.”
We do our duet together and it’s the perfect song if you ask me. “We Owned The Night” by Lady Antebellum. We do own tonight, and every night after this.
I pull Evie behind the stage after the song.
It reminds me of the night I came back and she didn’t know what to say to me when she saw me again. She fidgets, her eyes on the ring. “Are you sure about this?”
I lean in, my mouth near her ear. “I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t.”
Her eyes find mine, her arms sliding over my chest and around my shoulders. My breath hitches, reality setting in. “This is crazy,” she whispers.
“What?”
“That you gave the worst day of our life a new meaning.”
My jaw tightens, my weight shifting as I back her against the stage risers. “I’ve lived and felt alive in ways I never thought possible, and all those moments have happened with you.” The bass vibrates against the metal and it pulses between us. I cup her cheeks and hold her face in between my hands. “We deserve a beautiful life together and I’m going to give it to you.”
Pressing my lips to hers, I promise without words that no matter what, I’m going to make good on this one.
I have a tattoo on my arm. Seven matches, all burning. The last one, a pile of ash. I don’t know why I chose them, but the idea remains the same. We meet matches in our lives. People who come and go. But there’s always one that burns brighter than the rest and refuses to go out. No matter how hard the wind blows, the flame remains.
Evie is the one burning inside me—resilient, strong, steady—and she’s going to be my wife.
70
EVIE
3 MONTHS LATER
Your wedding day is supposed to be peaceful and everything goes smoothly because it’s well,yourwedding day.
Are you laughing? I bet you are because it’s been my experience, from the one wedding I was in, it did not go down like that. In fact, the only mellow part about Ethan and Frankie’s wedding was the part where they said their vows. Everything else had been a clusterfuck.
That’s also the night Grayson and I almost broke up.
Now here we were, our own wedding day, and nothing is going as planned. The caterer showed up late and the florist delivered black roses instead of pink.
“Did he think he was coming to a funeral?” I ask, staring at the very large display of roses.
Frankie snorts, holding one of the roses up. “That can’t be a good sign.”
“What? Really? Do you think it’s bad luck for our marriage?”
“No way.” Julia waves her hand around. “Don’t let her freak you out.”