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Which is exactly what I’m doing, but even after this. When Dahlia is home I want to be able to experience things like this with her.

In a perfect world, I picture all of us going on a trip together. Kara too. Maybe even my friends and their partners, and their kids. That would be so good for Dahlia, but it would also be good for me. Therapeutic even.

With tears in my eyes I thank him for showing me.

“Happy to,” he replies, and I believe him. “Where are you at the moment? That’s not your place.”

“A hotel. On the beach.” I go to the window so I can show him my beautiful view.

“That looks nice! Look Lia, your mom is at the ocean!”

She beams at the phone, and coos about how pretty the water looks. We talk about planning our own beach getaway when she’s home, but her attention doesn’t stay on me for long. I don’t blame her, she has too much to take in over there.

I thank Caleb again. He tells me to have a fun time and I tell them to be safe. It’s the first time I don’t feel all that doubtful that she is safe with him.

38

“Did you know they had a little chapel here?” I laugh. “Seems like such a random place, this isn’t Vegas or anything.”

“I had no idea. I wonder how long it’s been there.”

Although, the faded pink paint on the outside tells us it wasn’t all that new.

“Would you ever consider getting married in a place like that?” The question makes me think of another one I don’t have the answer to. “Where did you get married before?”

“I don’t know,” she answers like she’s considering that. “And it was at a park. Our parents, a couple friends, nothing fancy. What about you?”

“At his parent’s lake house. Huge backyard overlooking the water. I hate to say it, but it was kind of perfect.”

“Everything but the groom?”

I give her finger guns.

“Bingo.”

We walk past the building, taking in its details. Our destination is the taco truck across the street, but something about it draws me in. As hungry as I was, I feel like making a stop to go inside and see what it’s all about.

Kara gives me a side glance and a smirk.

“Something funny about this?” I ask, knowing the answer.

It is kind of funny, the way we’re two divorced women that fell in love walking past a dingy, old chapel. It feels like a silly sign from the universe, reminding us where we’ve been.

Or something poetic like that.

“Wouldyouever consider it?” she asks me.

As she does, a woman steps out of the large, open double door in the front. Twice our age, twice as cheery. As far as I can tell, she wasn’t getting married today. Maybe she owns it, or works there. She’s humming along as she strolls down the couple steps out front, and I can’t keep myself from staring. It helps that she doesn’t notice, as she walks around the side. A green hose sits on the ground, coiled like a snake. It might as well be the most entertaining thing I see as we get closer and closer, the sidewalk leading right by her.

She turns it on, and begins spraying some nearby bushes, and her cheery demeanor never dulls.

To my surprise, when we’re close enough to notice, she smiles and waves. I wave back, Kara refrains.

“Would you?” she presses.

“Probably. Yeah.” I don’t even know why I say it, but it feels right coming out of my mouth. Maybe it’s just the trance I’m caught in, some weird magical spell that makes the place seem so captivating.

“To me?”