Chapter 22
The Lanterns Again
Friday night's final lantern walk drew twice as many families as the first.
Lucy should have been thrilled.
Instead, she spent the entire route thinking about train schedules.
Boston to New York.
Four hours.
Too far for dinner. Close enough for weekends. Impossible and possible at the same time.
Ben walked beside her but did not crowd her.
That, too, was a kind of love.
At the park, Mara took over the cider table and Priya handled the quartet.
Lucy stood beneath the same maple tree where Ben had almost kissed her weeks earlier.
He joined her.
"Full circle," he said.
"You almost told me here."
"I almost ruined everything here."
"You did not ruin anything."
"I was going to say 'I think I like you.'"
Lucy laughed. "Coward."
"I improved the speech later."
She leaned against the tree.
"I don't want to lose this."
Ben's face softened.
"Neither do I."
"But I also don't want to spend ten years wondering what would have happened if I took the fellowship."
"Then take it."
Lucy looked at him sharply.
"You make that sound easy."
"It won't be easy."
"You hate long distance."
"I've never done long distance."
"Exactly."
Ben stepped closer.
"Lucy, I run into burning buildings for a living. I can learn how to use a train schedule."
She laughed despite herself.
"That's not the same thing."
"No. It's probably harder. Amtrak has delays."
Lucy shook her head.
Ben took her hand.
"We don't have to know if it works forever. We just have to decide if we're willing to try."
Lucy looked at the lanterns moving through the park.
For years, she had wanted certainty before she moved.
Maybe certainty was not the requirement.
Maybe courage was.
"I think I want to try," she said.
Ben squeezed her hand.
"Me too."
"That is not a plan."
"We'll make one."
Lucy smiled.
"A detailed one."
"Obviously."
They kissed beneath the maple tree while paper lanterns drifted past.
This time, no child interrupted them.
Progress.