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“Loneliness is a liar,” Graham told me, sitting down on the edge of his bed as he spoke. “It’s toxic and deadly most of the time. It forces people to believe they are better off with the devil himself than being alone, because somehow being alone means a person failed. Somehow being alone means a person isn’t good enough. So, more often than not, the poison of loneliness seeps in and makes a person believe that any kind of attention must stand for love. Fake love that is built on a bed of loneliness will fail—I should know. I’ve been alone all my life.”
“You’re a selfish asshole,” I stated, stern, angry. “You’re a selfish asshole for doing this to Mary. You’re a selfish asshole for doing this to Karla weeks before her wedding. You’re a selfish asshole for doing this to me. I hate you for thinking if I knew, I’d run. I hate you for being right about it, too, but please, Professor Oliver…”
“Don’t go. You can’t go, you selfish fucking asshole, okay? You can’t leave Mary, you can’t leave Karla, and you absolutely, one hundred percent, cannot leave me.”
“Please, Ollie. Please don’t go. Please, I’ll do anything…just…just…”
In that moment, the young boy’s heart began to freeze.
Talon filled his heart with love, the same love he had once believed didn’t even exist. For that one moment in time, he seemed okay.
She was right beside me. She caught me before I hit the ground. She became my strength when I could no longer be brave.
I studied the man I had learned to quietly love as he prepared to say goodbye to the first man who ever taught me what love was meant to look like.
“Oliver was a man who loved unapologetically. He loved his wife and his daughter. He loved his work, his students, and their minds. Oliver loved the world. He loved the world’s flaws, he loved the world’s mistakes, he loved the world’s scars. He believed in the beauty of pain and the glory of better tomorrows. He was the definition of love, and he spent his life trying to spread that love to as many people as he could. I remember my sophomore year, I was so mad at him. He gave me my second F, and I was so pissed off. I marched straight to his office, barged in uninvited, and right as I was
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‘The world’s a little darker tonight, Graham.’ Then he wiped away his tears and said, ‘But still, I must believe that the sun will rise tomorrow.’”
Ollie’s tree.
My heart skipped. She looked exhausted—no makeup, messy hair, and absolutely everything I’d ever wanted.
“You make the world a lot less dark.”
“I am in love with you,”
Loving Lucy Hope Palmer wasn’t a choice; it was my destiny.
My mouth crashed into hers, making my mind swirl as I felt her lips on mine. I felt her entire being wrapping around my soul, soaking me in, changing me into a better man than I’d ever thought I could be. I’d died a million deaths before I gave living a chance, and my first breath of life was taken from her lips.
“It’s you,” I whispered, our lips still slightly touching. “My greatest hope is, and always will be, you.”
“The kiss. Did you think it was good?”
“I thought I’d been in love before. I thought I knew what love was. I thought I understood its curves, its angles, its shape. But then, I kissed you.”
“And I realized you were the first and only thing that ever made my heartbeats come to life.”
“Of course. It’s just a little poop. That wouldn’t change the fact that I’m in love with you and want to take you out on a date.”
“You’re in love with me?” “With every piece of my soul.”
a little girl walked past me. My eyes widened at the same exact moment Graham’s did as he stared at his daughter. “Did she…?” he asked. “I think…” I replied.
“Hi,” he said. “Hi,” I replied. He sat. He stared. He spoke. “You’re sad.”
“But, you are my heart, Mari, and I know I’m yours. So, when they hurt you, find me. Find me and I’ll put your heart back together, and then maybe you can help me fix the cracks in my own.”
“If you need to fall, fall into me.”
“One day I’m going to wake up,” he replied, his mood somber, “and it will be you lying beside me.”
“I love you, Graham Cracker.” “I love you, Lucille.”
“Yes?” “Time,” he softly said. “Time?” He shrugged his left shoulder and allowed it to drop quickly. “Just give it a bit of time.”
“I just want to make something really clear to you, Jane. I didn’t choose you. I want nothing to do with you. You can live in my house, you can hold my daughter, but you need to understand that there’s not an ounce of me that wants you.” My hands formed fists and my brow knitted. “I chose her. I chose my daughter. I’ll choose her every second of every day for the rest of my life because she is my everything. So, let’s stop pretending that we are ever going to live happily ever after. You are not my final sentence, you are not my last word. You are simply a chapter I wish I could delete.”
I didn’t care. Every moment I could, would be spent with my daughter in my arms. One day, somehow, Lucy would come back to us both. Because she was always meant to be my last word.
“I’ve never loved your oldest sister. I’ve been numb for years, and Jane was just another form of numbness. She never loved me either, but Lucille…she’s my world. She’s everything I needed, and so much more than I deserve. I know you might not understand that, but I’d go to war for her heart for the rest of my life if it meant she’d find her smile again. So, I’m standing in your shop right now, Mari, asking if you love him. If he is everything you know love to be, stay. If he is your Lucille, then don’t for a second leave his side. But, if he isn’t…if there is even a sliver of your soul that
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“Mari, we’re talking about Lucille here. Forgiveness is all she knows. I know where she is right now. I’ll help you get there so you can do whatever you need to do to get your best friend back. I’ll handle all of the details. All you have to do is run.”
“I was wrong about him. The way he loves you is inspiring. The way you love him is breathtaking. If I am ever lucky enough to feel even a fourth of what you two have, then I’ll die happy.”
Each chapter flowed effortlessly. Each sentence was important. Each word was required. I read the story about a boy who became a monster who slowly learned to love again. And then, I reached the final chapter.
The Wedding His palms were sweaty as his sister, Karla, straightened his tie. He hadn’t known he could be so nervous about making the best decision of his life. Throughout his whole life, he’d never imagined falling in love with her. A woman who felt everything. A woman who showed him what it meant to live, to breathe, to love. A woman who became his strength during the dark days. There was something romantic about the way she moved throughout the world, the way she danced on her tiptoes and laughed without any regard for appearing ridiculous. There was something so true about how she held
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Graham had never in his life written a happily ever after ending. Until me. Until us. Until now.
“Mari, we have to go back.”
She took off the heart-shaped necklace Mama gave to me and placed it back around my neck.
I saw the gift Lyric had left for her daughter—the small music box with a dancing ballerina that Mama had given her.
Always dance, Talon
Will you marry us?
“I love you, Lucy,”
“I love the way you give, the way you care, the way you laugh, the way you smile. I love your heart and how it beats for the world. Before you, I was lost, and because of you, I found my way home. You’re the reason I believe in tomorrow. You’re the reason I believe in love, and I plan to never let you go. Marry me. Marry Talon. Marry us.”
“So this is our happily ever after?”
“No, my love, this is merely our chapter one.”
When he kissed me, I swore, in the darkness of the night, I felt t...
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“I love you, Grandpa Ollie,”
“Mama, why did you pee your pants?”
“Hospital?”
