Chapter 47
Saturday
Brooklyn
I tried to run down the bleachers, but there were too many people in my path. It felt like I was in high school again, watching Matt play. Everyone cheering his name, but knowing he only cared that I was cheering for him.
I no longer saw him out on the field. He’d disappeared in the sea of people rushing the field to celebrate with the team. I ducked under someone’s arm and sidestepped someone else. I was barely halfway down the bleachers.
I turned around to make sure Jacob had stayed where he’d promised. I laughed when I saw him perched on Tanner’s shoulders so he could see better. They were both cheering like crazy. And so were the rest of our friends. The Hunters and Caldwells all back together again. New friends and old. I felt tears welling in my eyes.
For so long, I thought everyone was better off with me gone. But I was wrong. About all of it. I’d needed them in my life again. And they’d needed me too.
And for just a second, I saw a flash of brown hair behind them. Matt had told me that if he looked into the crowd and squinted, he could almost see me. That it almost felt like I was there when he thought I was dead.
I squinted at the crowd, picturing Miller.
I smiled. Matt was right. It was easy to picture ghosts when you wanted to. Especially here where everything all began. I touched the ring that was once again hanging from my neck.
Miller would always be here.
He’d always be in my heart.
I turned back around to search for Matt.
And suddenly he appeared in front of me, one step below me. I leaned down and kissed him as he pulled me into his arms and spun me around.
I laughed against his lips. It felt like we were in high school again. Me cheering for him and then jumping into his arms. I felt carefree. And young. And safe in his arms.
I kept thinking to myself that I couldn’t possibly be any happier. And then another moment would come where I couldn’t stop smiling.
Matt had always been good at making me smile. Even though he said he remembered making me cry more than laugh. That wasn’t true. He’d been the reason my heart kept beating after my mom died. And my uncle.
There had always been so many reasons why Matt and I wouldn’t work. He was New York City’s elite. And I was just a poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
But we’d defied all the odds.
“We won,” Matt whispered against my lips.
And I wasn’t even sure if he was referring to the game. Or us.
“I love you, Matthew Caldwell,” I said. I wasn’t sure he heard me through all the cheers.
But then he whispered: “I love you, Brooklyn Caldwell.”
I laughed and he kissed me again.
I was pretty sure I fell in love with him the first time I saw him laughing in the halls of Empire High. I’d loved him. Then hated him. Then loved him even more. And then hated him a ton. And now I loved him even more than I thought possible.
It reminded me of a silly game I used to play with my mom. We’d pick flowers in our backyard and then sit in the grass. We’d pick off a petal and say: “He loves me.” And then pick off the next petal and say: “He loves me not.” We’d say he loves me, he loves me not until all the petals were gone. And whichever saying was accompanied by the last petal was what was true.
I wondered if she’d been thinking of my father as she picked petals. Wondering what could have been.
I hadn’t really been thinking of anyone at all when I’d played. I’d just been happy sitting with my mom. Because I hadn’t met Matt yet. My first love. And my last love.
I no longer needed to pick a petal and leave it to chance.
Matthew Caldwell loved me.
And I loved him.
Forever this time. I was meant to be right here in his arms. At Empire High where it all began. And I’d never stop loving him. Never.
I smiled.
No.
Never.
Nunca.
** *
Matt and Brooklyn finally got their happily ever after!
Will Tanner find his happily ever after too?