Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty–Two
Jake
AFTER SAWYER LEAVES, the house feels strangely quiet. Hattie pads after her, watching through the screen door until her Jeep disappears up the drive. Then she trots back to me, tail wagging, as if to say she knows something important has shifted.
I stand there a moment, taking it in, the morning light on the lake, the faint scent of coffee still in the air. It’s ridiculous, maybe, how different everything feels this morning. Like the ground has tilted and, somehow, steadied at the same time.
I catch myself smiling. Smiling in a way I haven’t in longer than I care to admit.
How unpredictable life is. I’d stopped believing it could surprise me with anything good. And then Sawyer shows up again, out of nowhere, like the missing piece I didn’t know I was still waiting for.
It’s hard to believe she’s in my life again, after all the years we lost. Harder still to believe that last night happened, that she chose to stay. That she slept in my arms through the night.
I want to hold on to that, to believe in it, in her, in us.
But a voice at the back of my mind whispers caution. The world doesn’t make promises. And I’ve seen how fast it can all be taken away.
Still, I can’t shake the thought that maybe this, Sawyer, me, the way we fit together again, isn’t an accident. Maybe it’s a second chance I never expected to get.
Is it wrong to want to let go of the fear? To stop questioning and just believe in what we’ve found?
I want to. I really want to.
I grab my keys, whistle for Hattie, and head out to the truck. The morning air smells of damp earth and cut grass. We made a date for the hardware store, a normal kind of Saturday I never imagined having with her.
Ten minutes later, I turn down Sawyer’s road. She’s waiting on the porch, sunlight catching her hair, and I’m happy. Just happy.