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“I thought your divorce was mutual?”

She shrugs.

“By the end, yes, but he’s the one that initially brought it up. Like I said, I’m content with less. It got to a point where he started to leave me alone. We stopped sleeping together, stopped eating together. And it was… fine. I mean, I wasn’t thriving or anything, but I was comfortable enough to accept my life forwhat it was. I would’ve gone on like that for another eight years. Another eighty, honestly.”

“That makes me so sad to think about.” So sad, in fact, that I struggle to clear the lump in my throat.

She’s so deserving of love, and joy, and it’s criminal that she’s only just getting it now.

“It shouldn’t. I was fine. I’m fine now. Everything happened the way it was supposed to.”

I trace delicate lines down her bare arm, and watch the goosebumps that raise in the aftermath.

“So do you think… Do you think you were supposed to end up moving in next to me and shaking up my life?”

I look up at her face to find her staring at the ceiling. I couldn’t begin to read her expression, it’s as blank as it’s ever been.

“Probably,” she whispers.

“Well, I’ve received the disclaimer,” I say.

She finally looks down at me.

“And?”

If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she sounded hopeful.

“I’m okay with whatever you’re okay with. I don’t need anything from you that you’re not willing to give.”

“That’ll change.” She says the words like they’re a fact.

“What do you need me to do to prove it?”

“Stick around, I guess.”

My lips spread in the widest possible smile.

“So, you want me to stick around?”

She doesn’t hesitate.

“Yes.”

And that little word, that little piece of vulnerability that might seem so unimportant to anyone else? It just reaffirms what I already knew. I’m absolutely sticking around.

“What a view! Are you guys at the top of a mountain?” I ask, flabbergasted.

I hear various voices in the background, a couple of them laughing at my surprise.

“Yeah, it’s really big,” Dahlia says. “We were walking so much, and my legs are too tired to walk anymore.”

“Well it’s a good thing your dad doesn’t mind carrying you around. That would make my legssotired.” Something about that makes her giggle. “How are you guys even calling me? You have service up there?”

“I’m as surprised about it as you are,” Caleb replies. “I took some pictures to send you, but this is way cooler.”

He flips the camera to show me the mountains surrounding them and I gasp. Early afternoon sunlight covers the world around them in a golden, shimmering warmth. It looks so peaceful that I could actually cry, and I’m not even experiencing it in person. There are miles and miles visible from their vantage point, and every inch of it is breathtaking.

Note to self to stop being lazy and see more of the world.