For Better or Hearse

by Ava Hunter

Moments later, the entrées appear. A glass of orange juice is dropped in front of her. “I didn’t order this,” she tells the waiter. “For you,” he says, nodding across the terrace. “From that man who just left.” Sighing, Ash slumps in her seat and grudgingly picks up the glass of juice Nathaniel ordered. “Fuck.”

the start of it all

Ash sighs. She’s wide awake. The whirring of her brain won’t be silenced. It’s on a tilt-a-whirl ride to anxiety land, and she’s the lone passenger.

been there done that

Instead of forcing me to play sports, they let me be me, and now I’m this person who has no talent or ambition. All I do is float through life like an unsatisfied wraith.”

Felt that

Hope you can still stomp in these, Bigfoot. She opens the box, pushes aside the tissue paper and gasps. Then laughs. Inside, she finds a pair of black spiked, studded sandals. Violent and vixenish—just the type she would wear if she liked sandals. They’re too expensive. Fancy hotel boutique wrapping from Rosalea Resort. Which means he must have bought them before they left.

“Tell me what you want in life,” he whispers, kissing her hair, her temple, her throat. “I want cats. I want a place in the forest or on a boat near the water. I want to travel to witchy woods and tremulous oceans and take lazy naps in a cabin in one of those big blankets with the loops that are so ridiculous I can already see your eye roll. But I…I want all that. I want to be healthy and have good sex and maybe live in a lighthouse.”

“You deserve it.” One hand cupping her cheek, he gazes at her gorgeous face. “Just do what you love, and I’ll make sure you’re happy.”

“I love you. I am utterly and unfathomably in love with you, Ashabelle Keller.”

“I’ll love you enough for the both of us.”

“The sun will rise, and I will still love you tomorrow. Understand?”