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“Everyone texts everything nowadays, except you.” “I text.” “You text like a serial killer.” “I do not.” “You wished me a happy birthday, and it felt like a threat.”
Unknown Number: Hello Wendy Wendy: Hi! Who is this? Unknown Number: Jasper. Would you like to work for me for the summer? Wendy: How’d you get my number? Jasper: Peter Wendy: Wait, did you just text me a job offer? Jasper: People text job offers Wendy: I didn’t know that. Jasper: Let me know by tonight if you’re free Jasper: I need you to start tomorrow Jasper: I pay competitively Jasper: Thank you Wendy: Wow. So formal.
Jasper: It’s a job offer Wendy: Sure it’s not a ransom note? Jasper: Yes or no Wendy: Yes. I’m actually free as a bird. What time should I be there? Sundown? In the cellar? Jasper: Seven in the morning will do fine
“You know what, my Wendy Bird? This sounds like an awfully big adventure.”
“You said you liked them,” I answer. “I do.” “Then, why wouldn’t I do something simple if you like it?”
“Y’know, I hear you can make a magnet out of those.”
“No, it’s important to you. If we can’t love the things significant to us without guilt, then what can we love? Your tattoo is important because you think it is. And that’s all that matters.”
“God, you’re like my star in the sky, Wendy.” “Your star?” “My North Star. Always showing me the direction I should travel. I’ve never met someone like you before.”
“I’d let you break me, Wendy Bird,” Jasper whispers gruffly. “And I’d thank God every single day for the guilt that followed if it meant I could keep you for myself.”
“You want me? Then, come and get me, Captain.” With those final words, I leap off Deadman’s Drop. And the last thing I see before plunging into the deep is Jasper diving after me.
“You like my tattoo,” I observe. “I like its meaning.” And then he leans in, resting his lips against my ear as he whispers, “I think I needed a little bird to remind me to fly too.”
“You always know how to break me, Little Bird.”
We eat on the back porch, watching the sun fall below the horizon, tossing a stick for Roger to chase after—down the stairs and up again. We put Sam to bed, and I continue the story from the night before until it gradually turns into collaborative storytelling. Sam interjecting situations. Me riffing off those. And Jasper looking between the two of us with a serene smile, more content than I’ve ever seen him.
“I think you underestimate just how much I’m obsessed with you.”
“Can you read my mind?” “Maybe we’re connected like that, Wendy Bird.”
“She is the first person who’s made me feel like existing is possible,” I admit. “That the world isn’t going to collapse around me. That maybe I’m not failing at this whole life thing after all.”
“Your parents,” I croak, and it doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. “I feel very sad tonight,” I admit. “The ocean helps me when I feel sad. Would you like to go to the ocean with me?”
“You’re my dad now, right, Cap?”
And then, when we’re mostly whole again, maybe we’ll be blessed with someone who can make falling in love feel a little more like flying.
“What are you doing?” I ask. “Stealing you away.” I can’t help the grin that spreads. “I was wondering when you would, Captain.” “Sorry for making you wait, Little Bird.” And then Jasper Davies cups my face in his palms and kisses me.
The bird that flew. My Wendy Bird.
She shakes her head, sucking in her cheeks. “You know what upsets me the most?” she asks. “The fact that you thought my love was conditional.”
“Don’t worry about Pete,” Maggie says, watching my expression. “He’s happy for you.” “He is?” “He called me last Saturday. He said tonight’s dinner would probably be awkward, but that we should all get over it because you’re good for Jasper. Too good. That you just don’t know it yet, but it’s not our job to tell you.”
