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Since I started at Avalon, I have experienced genuine kindness for the first time. Yet, the Almighty confirming that things will work out in my future might be the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me.

Connor sighs heavily and slows. I can tell he doesn’t want to arrive at Heaven until we’ve talked. “I don’t like it when you’re being aloof with me,” he says, looking straight ahead. Something in his voice makes any irritation I still feel disappear. “It makes me uneasy. I hate it.” He sighs again. “I know I’m being unfair.”

“Con.” Connor meets my gaze. “Kiss me.”

He leans in and brushes his lips over mine. I open to him, and Connor deepens the kiss. It is sweet, loving, and perfect, but I can feel his anxiety.

“I love you,” he whispers. Sighing softly, I bury my face in his neck, letting my worries melt away. I had barely managed to erect new walls, and here he is, demolishing them without even knowing it. Connor is worth the risk, and so I let myself trust him. I need to strive for peace, and I think this might be the first step.

“Want to just go home?” Connor asks into my hair.

I pull back, looking up at him. “Why?”

“So I can just hold you.”

“Can you hold me where we’re going?”

Connor nods. He picks up his pace again, and I bury my face back into the curve of his neck, shielding myself from the wind. I take the opportunity to inhale his scent and cling to him, showing him how I feel about him in the only way I know how. His arms tighten on me, holding me closer as we soar through the clouds.

Connor lands softly and closes his wings in a soft susurration of sound. He slowly lowers me to my feet, his gaze still a little guarded.

“Welcome to the gates of Heaven, Summer.” He smiles and places his hands on my hips, turning me around slowly.

I gasp. The most beautiful garden stretches in front of me. The grass is plush with wildflowers strewn through the meadow. Trees line a pathway that leads to the edge of the cloud and garden. In the distance, there is a large, ornate gate. It’s at least fifty feet tall and surrounded by pillowy clouds.

“This is the Garden of Eden. It’s why the realm is named what it is. It was built around this gateway,” Connor explains, walking deeper into the meadow. “The path to Heaven is serene for the pure souls and treacherous for those with something to prove,” he recites as he looks at the gates. “This is merely a show. No one knows what the true entrance looks like. No one on this side of life, anyway. It’s purely symbolic now.” I hurry to catch up with him and slide my hand into his, looking up at him and then back at the gates. “Even the highest of angels don’t know what Heaven is. Not really. Only the Almighty does.”

I sit on the soft grass and tug on Connor’s hand until he looks down at me. “You wanted to hold me.”

Connor sits down next to me. He wraps me in his arms and lays us both back, pulling me against his side. I shift onto my side and rest my head on his shoulder, my hand sliding across his chest. The grass is just as plush as it looks, and I sigh in contentment.

“It’s hard when you shut me out.” He idly traces shapes down my back, caressing me.

I sigh heavily. “I was snooping.”

Connor stops drawing on my back for a moment but then resumes. “Snooping?”

I nod, feeling embarrassed.

“Snooping where?”

I sigh again. “In your bedroom.”

“And what did you find that upset you?”

“Your notebook from elementary school.” The new clarity makes me hear how fucking ridiculous I’m being, but I need to hear the words from him. I need to hear him say I’m what he wants, even though I’m broken and messy.

Connor’s hand slows again. “You didn’t like how I wrote myA’s?”

I glare up at him. “No, I saw…”

Connor’s gaze bores into mine as he waits for me to continue.

“It was a student profile, and you… you said you wanted to marry an angel with the whitest wings. Someone just like your mom.”

Connor shakes his head. “Summer.”

I bury my face against his chest, my words practically a jumble. “IknowI’msostupiditsridiculousandI’mawful.”