Page 26 of Write Me For You

June

Jesse and June’s Happily Ever After

T he room looked strange now that all my things were packed.

The wall opposite my bed was bare, free of Jesse’s many drawings of me, of us, of Ginger, and all of us Chemo Club members together in the movie room.

They were some of my most-prized possessions and were tucked safely in a folder in my suitcase.

I exhaled a long sigh. We had all come here dying, with mere months—maybe even just weeks—left to live. But the ranch had become a place of healing, of laughter and love, and now we were all cancer free and graduating from high school and from the new treatment that had worked so well on us all.

I took my headscarf off the bed and ran my hand over my scalp, the feeling of hair growing back again making me smile.

I’d gotten used to the smoothness. I moved in front of the mirror, finally recognizing the girl before me.

She was a warrior, and she was perfect. Though I adored seeing my new dark-brown fuzz.

I fixed my headscarf in place and smoothed my hands over my dress. It was the sage-green one I’d worn my first day here—I knew it was Jesse’s favorite.

A familiar knock on the door filled the room. When I opened the door, my mouth parted seeing Jesse Taylor on the other side. Gone was the boy who lived in T-shirts and faded jeans, and instead, he wore a linen button-down and navy-blue shorts.

“Jesse…” I said as he leaned his arm against my doorframe.

In the past several weeks, Jesse had begun building up his muscle mass and weight.

In mere weeks, he would leave for preseason training at UT.

I would follow after that, when the nonathletic freshman class arrived.

Jesse had done it. He had taken his short window to get fit and turned it into gold.

We had made it. We were in remission, and we were going to UT.

I chuckled when I saw that, in typical Jesse fashion, he still wore that damn backwards Longhorns baseball cap that he never took off. Like me, his hair had begun to grow back; he had tufts of light-brown hair that I couldn’t wait to see begin to curl.

“Junebug Scott,” he said, voice awe filled. Jesse held out his hand and I took it. “Give me a twirl, darlin’,” he said, voice hoarse, and spun me around on the spot. “Beautiful,” he said, then pulled me to his chest. Bending me back a little, Jesse leaned down and kissed me.

“You’re in a good mood,” I said against his lips, which felt like such a redundant thing to say.

Our entire group was practically euphoric.

The only thing that had dampened our spirits was Dr. Duncan’s farewell talk, where he mentioned that at our age, we were 50 to 85 percent likely to relapse in the next five years.

Jesse and I had decided not to concern ourselves with that and only focus on what we could control and what was happening now. Cancer had at least taught us that living in the moment was the only way through this life.

Jesse kissed me again, and just like all the many times before, I melted against him.

He wrapped the tail of my headscarf around his hand, keeping his mouth on mine.

Smiling against my lips, he said, “Soon I’ll be able to do this with your ponytail.

” I blushed so hard, I felt on fire. “Now, won’t that be kinky,” he teased.

A throat cleared behind us. “I heard that, Jesse Taylor. Now kindly release my daughter.”

Jesse stilled, muttered a barely audible shit , then stepped away from me. I straightened my dress and saw my daddy in the hallway. Jesse stepped beside me and took hold of my hand. I fought back a laugh. Daddy’s arms were crossed over his chest. He wore a shirt and tie and looked really handsome.

“Hey, sir,” Jesse said in an overly polite tone, squeezing my hand twice.

Daddy regarded Jesse in silence for a while, then said, “We’re getting started in ten.

” He walked away, but if I wasn’t mistaken, I saw his shoulders shaking with laughter as he made his way down the hallway.

His favorite pastime seemed to be teasing my boyfriend.

But we all knew my mama and daddy loved him to pieces.

Jesse groaned and turned to me. “I can’t wait until we’re at college and your daddy can’t keep popping out from behind corners every time I kiss you.”

I pulled him in the direction of the rec room. “I wouldn’t put it past him to follow us.”

Jesse pressed me against the wall and kissed me again. “Not a chance. At college we get to be us alone—no chemo, no antibody treatment, just Jesse and June taking on the world.” Jesse lifted his fist. “Group two for the win.”

I met his fist with my own. “Group two for the win.”

He kissed me again, then said, “Not sure how I’ll survive not seeing you for the next couple of months.”

“I know,” I said and ran my finger down his face, committing every inch to memory. We had been here now for several months, together every single day. The ranch was our own little world, where everything we did felt more, bigger, brighter. Several months here felt like years in the outside world.

I wasn’t sure how we were going to go from our little cocoon here to the big, wide world. Plus, we would return to our small towns miles and miles from each other for a while first. I was going to miss him so much.

Jesse kept a tight hold on me as we entered the rec room, which was now decked out in balloons and a banner that read, Graduation . All of us had missed our high school graduations, so we were getting our own version of that today.

“I have to say, there better be a medal or something for us,” Jesse remarked. “Surviving both high school and terminal cancer surely must be better rewarded than a handshake from Doc Duncan and a piece of paper pretending to be our high school diplomas.”

Chris came from behind and put his arms around our shoulders. “We’re getting sprung, guys. What a glorious fucking day!”

Emma linked my arm with hers and laid her head on my shoulder. “I’m happy, but I’m so sad to be leaving y’all,” she said, echoing my feelings. “What will I do without my besties?” She glanced over to Chris. “Well, without my June and Jesse.”

“Pssht,” Chris muttered. “I got you through this place, Em. And you know it.”

Emma rolled her eyes, and smiling, I laid my head against hers. Emma had become incredibly important to me—a true best friend who had been by my side through thick and thin.

“You’ll come to UT to visit, and I’ll come to College Station to see you too,” I said. “We have a deal.” UT and Texas A&M weren’t too far apart, so seeing Emma and Chris there would be doable.

“Chemo—but no more of the chemo part, please God,” Chris said making us all laugh, “Club for life!”

“Chemo—but no more chemo—Club for life!” we all said and broke into hysterics. The air felt charged with happiness.

“Shall we begin?” Neenee said and took to the makeshift stage. Dr. Duncan stood with our diplomas. As Neenee made her speech and began to call our names, it almost felt surreal. None of us had expected to get to our graduation. Yet here we were, feeling almost brand-new.

I was leaving the ranch changed. I had best friends and the love of my life.

My passion for writing was more pronounced than ever, but I wanted to write something true, something real.

I wanted to write about my greatest fear—about not having more time with Jesse, not having a future at all.

Even as I sat there, my hands itched to write.

I had begun to put my writing onto a public platform under a pseudonym, chapter by chapter, and it was receiving so many reads that my head spun.

I was doing it. I was writing a love story and people were loving it.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Jesse said quietly and bumped my shoulder with his. There was no pain as I did, no aches. My knee still gave me a slight limp, but that was all.

“I’m just so happy that we’re here.” He put his arm around me and held me close until our names were called, one after the other—S and T were beside each other in the alphabet.

Destined.

Jesse’s mama and sisters hooted and hollered as we climbed the stage, and my parents whistled and cried.

This day was about gratitude—something I had in volumes.

Next was college, and a new chapter of our story would begin.