Page 138 of Loving Wild

She turns sideways to face me.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” I tell her.

“Is this the house you were in when Jackie . . .”

I hold my hand up to stop her.

“I’ve thought about that. Yeah, it is, but ya know what?”

“Tell me,” she says as we both turn to lean on the wooden handrail, our eyes still on each other.

“The happiest memories of my life are tied to this house. Most of the memories I have of my mum happened here. More good things happened to me here than bad, and I’m not willing to give it up, that would be like letting her win. Instead, I’d rather replace the bad with more of the good.”

She’s quiet as she stares at me.

“You can do that?”

I shrug and smile.

“Total honesty, Ren, with you, I feel like I can do any-fucking-thing.”

“Let’s do it then,” she says as she moves in and kisses me. “Let’s replace the bad with more good and fill this place with more beautiful memories.”

I watch as Lauren’s auburn hair moves as a breeze blows around us, it comes out of nowhere and is gone in seconds, but it makes my skin prickle with awareness.

“You feel that?” Lauren asks.

“What the fuck was that?”

“Your mum and dad just let us know they approve,” she whispers.

“You gonna cry now?”

I feel her nod against my chest before she looks up at me.

“I already am.”

“Woman . . .”

“Don’t call me woman.”

Epilogue

Gabe.

Walkingfrom the water with my board under my arm, I know as soon as my eyes hit Lauren’s that there’s something wrong.

“She okay?” Jack, who I’ve been out on the water with asks me.

His son, Finn, asks, “Is Lauren crying?”

Without a word to either of them, I drop my board and run up the beach towards where she’s sitting with her back to the dunes, Ava kneeling beside her. Lauren has her head in her hands and seems to be shaking it from side to side.

“What’s wrong?” I call out as I approach.

“Her waters broke,” Ava calls out to me over her shoulder, and my heart falls into my stomach.