Chapter 71
Ella
Friday
There’s a handsome young man waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.
Our eyes meet, and we share a silent smile that lingers. Not really saying anything, yet knowing precisely what the other is feeling.
Silly, imprinted smiles on our faces. Impossible to erase.
A glance full of something unspoken, yet completely understood.
Drunk on what happened today.
I notice the moon up in the sky. It’s one of those nights where the moon itself seems to smile, its curve thin and discreet.
Miles gently places his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer as we begin our walk. There’s no rush, no need for more words. Just the simple joy of being together.
“Got a swimsuit with you?” he asks. I raise my eyebrows at him. “Thought we’d celebrate in Evermere.”
“Yes!” I answer, sounding a little too excited, and he laughs, big and unfiltered.
We don’t leave.
We stay long after the sun has dipped to kiss the ocean. And the sky has painted its clouds pink.
The crystal-clear blue water is changing colors, too.
The sound of waves crashing in the sand is my favorite sound in the world.
I look at Miles, wrapped in a towel, walking toward me.
It’s funny how life unfolds. We were driven apart when our inner selves needed to grow on their own. And the big romantic part of me believes that we would always find each other when we were ready to.
I stand still, also wrapped in my towel, just watching the moment. This second.
But I’m not on alert.
I’m not trying to predict a storm on the horizon.
I’m relaxing.
Feeling the sand beneath my feet.
Miles is a safe place for my busy mind.
With him, I release the river’s edge and go. Float.
Let go of control.
He lets my soul melt into all its emotions without making me feel weak or guilty, I’m still… just myself.
Miles puts his hands on my towel and guides me to walk in circles on the sand.
“What are you doing?” I laugh.
“We have to move to warm up from the cold water,” he plays around.
Our minds both jump to that memory, and we burst out laughing as he nudges me around, I tighten my towel until he wraps his arms around mine, and we unintentionally tangle our feet.
We laugh. He’s someone who makes me laugh. Someone with whom I’ll always feel free to be my inner child again.
We should never forget our inner child.
We never wonder why we grow up and completely forget how to play like that child.
Maybe we should never forget how to play in life.
Miles folds one arm beneath his head, resting it on the sand. I glance at his green gaze, fixed on the starry sky, and we stay there for a few more minutes.
When we get into his car, my body is slowly warming up under his extra sweatshirt, but I still can’t feel my toes. Not a single one, nor my hands, nor my feet.
I notice a CD album tucked into the passenger door and grab it with my very non-existent toes.
Miles is still outside, loading the bags and towels into the trunk. When he gets in, I ask, “Can we listen to this one?” pointing at the CD, the one with Miles’s, Asher’s, Finn’s and Elliot’s names on it.
He grins at me. “Of course! I’ve heard they’re pretty good, you know,” he says, sliding the CD into the player.
“Well, I’m hoping to get concert tickets soon.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that.”
Miles and his friends are keeping the band “rolling”, as they said. Their jobs, projects, twists and turns of life won’t pull them apart. There will always be time for their music together, as he told me. These are his friends for life.
I rest my head against the seat as I listen to his quiet voice softly singing along with his own voice coming from the car speakers.
We drive through the green mountains, past trees each more distinct than the next, and as we ascend, the blue horizon unfolds beyond Miles’s window.
Then my eyes focus back on his face.
He is driving.
The music is playing.
The night is settling in.
And I close my eyes in the car.
The End