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“Single ladies!” Selena yelled out, holding a Popsicle with one hand and a champagne glass in the other.
Taylor giggled while the Haim sisters danced around the backyard of her Rhode Island home.
Ashley nudged her arm and she turned her head to look at her friend.
“How are you doing?” Ashley whispered.
Taylor could barely hear her over the music that Selena and Este started playing, Alana and Danielle echoing the lyrics of the song.
Taylor shrugged and feigned confusion. “I’m fine,” she chirped, taking a sip of her drink.
Ashley frowned. “Are you sure?”
“I am so sure.” Taylor made sure to lay extra emphasis over her words.
Taylor wasn’t fine. Well, maybe she was in this exact moment, dancing barefoot in her yard. She loved her friends. She loved this house. She loved the summertime. The grass was cool under her legs, and she could smell the ocean salt in the air. If she paid enough attention to those details, she could almost convince herself that she was okay.
But when her friends inevitably leave and she would travel back to another city and another stage, she would be back where she was and had been for the past four months. There was a strange feeling about being thirty-three and at the highest peak of her career thus far and still crying into a pillow at night because none of the people who said they loved her ever really stayed when it mattered. She spent a lot of her time biting her nails down to the quick and wishing that the year hadn’t gotten down the way it did.
She was still learning how to slowly trudge forward through the mess that had become her life. She kept reminding herself of what she did have to look forward, like touring, spending more time with her family and friends, working on new music with Jack and Aaron. She keeps listing those things to herself, hoping that if she stacks up enough bullet points in the list, she’ll be able to ignore the hurt beneath it. She doesn’t have time to be sad anymore.
It seemed like the Haims and Selena noticed the shift in Taylor’s mood, because the music was suddenly turned down, and everyone was sitting on the plush grass near her.
“You know, you don’t always have to be okay, Tay,” Ashley said. “You can talk to us.”
Taylor looked at the faces of some of her closest friends and sighed. “I know I don’t have to be okay. And honestly, sometimes I’m not. But I don’t want to feel that way forever.” She took a deep breath.
“What happened between Joe and I was inevitable. That relationship was ended far before I actually called it quits. As for Matty…” Taylor shuddered in repulsion. “That was a mistake. A delusion. A poor decision. He gave me attention, I needed a distraction, and it made it feel good until it didn’t. But it crashed and burned, just like it was always going to.” Taylor took a sip of her drink. “It’s all over now. I’m over it.”
Selena reached out a hand to place on top of Taylor’s. “It might be over for those two, but it doesn’t have to be it for you.”
Taylor shook her head at the suggestion. “Oh please, dating again isn’t even on my radar right now. That’s not even a category in my brain. I need time to be myself again.”
Este made a noise of agreement around a mouth full of Popsicle and said, “Can’t argue with that!”
“You know how they say its hot girl summer?” Alana asked. “This can be your independent girl summer.”
“You’re already halfway there, getting together with all the independent girlies,” Ashley teased.
Taylor smiled at her friends. “Exactly. I’m ready to move on and move forward.”
Move on and move forward, she repeated in her head.
She would get onstage in Kansas City that weekend, get onstage, give them her all, and then do it again. That’s exactly what she would do.
However, the universe always has tricks up its sleeve.
She finds herself months later back in Kansas City, the crisp air of a summer night blowing over her skin. The fire pit crackled and she could feel the heat radiating from it.
She watched as Ross set up cups on the table, arranging them in triangles on opposite ends. Aric stood nearby with ping pong balls in his hands as Harry started to pour beer into each cup. They were all arguing about beer pong rules, and she found their laughing and shoving to be a little childish, in the most endearing way.
All of it felt very normal in a way she struggled to find herself recently. These were Travis’ people, at his home, but as the few weeks of them being together went on, it started to feel a little bit like hers too.
She smelled cologne mix with the ash of the fire, and felt big arms slide around her waist from behind.
“You gonna be on my team?” Travis whispered into her ear.
The sound of his voice sent goosebumps across her body and a warmth throughout her lower stomach. She tilted her head back to look at him and nodded.
“I have to warn you, I’m not going to be very good,” she admitted. “I can’t tell you the last time I did this.”
He grinned, pressed a kiss to her cheek. “I’ll carry us,” he whispered. “Don’t even worry.”
They ended up winning, without much of her help, but Travis insisted to everyone that it was all her anyway.
They ended up half drunk, loudly singing to each other without a care for anyone else around them. As the night started to fade, and his friends all headed off one by one until there was no one else but them, she collapsed into his arms, tipsy and warm.
“You look insanely gorgeous tonight,” he muttered straight into her ear. “I mean, you do everyday, but right now…damn.”
She blushed as he pulled back to look her up and down, still not quite used to all the compliments, though he was quite consistent with them.
“Thank you for coming out here again,” he said. They were swaying now, pressed in a tight hug.
“How many times are you going to thank me for that?” she asked.
“As long as it takes for you to believe me when I say it,” he replied.
“I’m trying,” she said shakily.
“I know you are, sweetie,” he reassured her, pressing a kiss to her hairline. “I just want you to know how welcome you are here.”
She tightened her arms around him. “I wish I could stay longer.”
“You gotta work,” he said, not even a little bit of resentment in his voice. “I get it. But lets not focus on you leaving when I’ve got you right here.”
He nudged her face up, kissing her mouth in that tender way that made her question her initial decision to forego relationships.
By the time mid-October rolls around, she’s become a regular in Kansas City. She has a preferred route through Arrowhead, a favorite place to get barbecue, and a knit throw blanket on Travis’s couch that he claims is her blanket. She’s caught him several times using it when he thinks she’s not paying attention.
He keeps the fridge stocked with snacks after one evening where she flew in and found it empty. He had apologized through his embarrassment, attempted to pull something together for her before giving up and ordering take out. It was no less meaningful for her when they sat down with slices of pizza and watched some 90’s comedy she didn’t even pay attention to because she was too busy watching him laugh. She liked the way his head tipped back, and she could see the dimple in his cheek. She could have stared at him all night long.
He had practice one day, leaving her alone, and she ended up looking in the drawer of the nightstand on the side where she slept. Inside were a few of her hair ties, the same brand of lip balm she kept in her purse, and a notebook she thought she misplaced weeks ago. Her eyes welled at the thoughtfulness and the consideration, the sheer fact that he was carving out space for her in his home.
A few weeks later, he bought a new house. He claimed it was for the privacy and security, the obvious stuff that a man with his visibility needed, but she could hear words unspoken. It should’ve scared her, the thought of him, only a few months in, buying a new house for his safety, of course, but also for hers. Yet, the fear never came. Something about it made her feel protective of him and the idea that he was slowly intertwining his life with hers.
She got to help him decorate his new place. She bought throw pillows for the couch and hung art on the bare walls and told him the color he should get for the new kitchen backsplash.
There were nights in that house where they would cook together, usually disastrously because they could never stay off each other. She would run her hands under his shirt or he would kiss the sweet spot on her neck, and it would undo all of their focus. Half the time they forgot about the food, which resulted in messes that weren’t easily cleaned.
Other nights they would sit on the couch and order chicken tenders from the place not too far away. It never stayed innocent for long. He would start kissing her fingers, and she would try to push him away laughing, only to drag him back by his shirt. They would be fused together at the mouth, knocking over everything in their haste.
That was always her favorite part.
She had never been initimate with anyone the way she was with him. She used to think sex only counted if it was soft and slow, done in pretty candlelit rooms. With him, it could be all of that, but also so much more. Sometimes, they were loud, ungraceful, and a little careless. Sometimes they were so into it they bit too hard or scratched without meaning to. Other times they would be laughing so much they could barely breathe. One night, she tipped too far backward and nearly rolled off his lap. He caught her mid-fall, both of them completely hysterical. His arms wrapped around her, practically folded himself in half before he even considered letting her hit the floor.
Even the gross parts of being around each other felt oddly romantic. He would tease her about her hair clogging the shower drain, or she would fake a snear at him for leaving specks of toothpaste around the faucet, and sometimes they both would giggle at the crumbs they left in the bed during their midnight snack time.
After she had just flew in from a days long recording session in New York, she jumped into his bed fully dressed. He joined her, nudging her hip.
“You’re taking up all my space,” he complained.
“It’s my space too,” she mumbled, wiggling over an inch so he could lay beside her.
She liked those moments, when it was just them. When it was just his hand tangled in her hair, or her fingers grazing over the stubble on his face, and kisses pressed onto lips and necks and thighs. There was so much happiness to find in little habits and learning to coexist with someone.
There was something about being with him, in his home, around his friends and family, feeling so much like herself and at the same time so different. A part of her felt more hopeful that she didn’t have to carry the past alone. That perhaps love wasn’t always fleeting, and she could allow herself to imagine a future with him in it. She found herself wanting that more than she wanted to admit, even to herself.
Even then, she couldn’t have imagined it would take her here, a year later, still in Kansas City.
She woke up early one morning. It wasn’t too long since she had been back home from the international leg of the tour.
The bedroom was quiet. She felt the bed beside her and noticed Travis wasn’t there. She sat up and rubbed her eyes, assuming it was already past the time when he needed to be at practice.
She got up to do her morning routine, running her fingers through her tangled hair, before trudging down the stairs in his t-shirt.
By the time she got towards the den, she could smell coffee coming from the kitchen. She walked that way and saw Travis standing at the coffee maker, a steaming mug in his hand while another sat on the counter.
She watched him move to grab the oat milk off the bar and pour it into the mug, before stirring it around and then adding just a little bit of honey. She smiled, because she realized he was making it for her, just the way she liked it. She loved watching him to do things like that. It made her feel like they had been doing this forever, like it had always been their life together.
He looked over his shoulder and grinned when he caught her watching him.
“Why are you just standing there staring at me?” he joked, walking over to hand her the mug.
She sighed, putting one hand on her hip. “So I can’t look at you anymore?”
“I never said that,” he defended, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
She hummed, taking a sip out of the mug. He was fixing up his own cup now, and she still was looking at him, bare chested in the kitchen. She couldn’t help but to walk over, placing her mug on the counter, and brush her hand along his shoulder. She liked when he looked all domestic and sweet in the morning. She loved everything about him, more than she thought she could even a year ago.
“Why are you up so early?” he asked, leaning into her touch.
“Don’t know,” she mumbled, wrapping her arms around him. “I must’ve missed you.”
She felt something soft brush against her ankle, and looked down to see Olivia there, looping through her and Travis’ legs.
“Like mother, like daughter,” Travis said, stepping away from Taylor to bend over and pick Olivia up in one arm, petting through her fur. Olivia nestled into his hand, purring, and Taylor melted into his side.
She stroked Olivia’s fur too, and a little tingle went up her spine. In her head was a moment exactly like this, but with a small human between them instead and a baby scent mixing with that of the coffee.
They sat Olivia down, finishing their coffee together. Travis eventually went upstairs to get ready for practice, and she went to feed the cats before heading up to the bathroom. She was brushing her teeth when Travis wandered in beside her. He leaned in to kiss the corner of her mouth not covered in toothpaste, and she let out an involuntary laugh the second his mustache tickled her cheek, sending the foam in her mouth splattering onto his face.
“Taylor!” he spluttered, moving back.
She slapped her hand over her mouth, laughing. “I’m sorry! Oh my god, Travis, I’m sorry!”
She tried to wipe it off with her hand, which only smeared it more. He grabbed the hand towel from the rack beside them and wiped his and her face clean, wearing a very unserious frown.
He grabbed her chin to press a minty tasting kiss that was far too inappropriate for that early in the morning to her mouth.
“I’ll see you later, love you,” he mumbled.
When he left, she stood still for a solid minute in a lovesick daze.
She took advantage of the time on her own to tackle emails and write on the couch. She was hunched over her laptop, headphones on, when she heard the sound of keys in the front door as Olivia bolted toward the entryway.
Taylor took off her headphones just in time to see Travis walking through the door, his sweat-stained shirt clinging to his frame.
“You’re home early,” she said, setting her laptop aside.
“I got done faster than expected,” he said, dropping onto the couch beside her, stretching his legs over hers. “And I think my knees are trying to murder me.”
“You’re in luck,” she said. “I happen to be a certified masseuse now.”
He groaned as she pressed her onto the fleshy part of his knee. His sharp intake of breath made her laugh, and he pushed at her hand. “Okay! Okay! Not too hard!”
“Too late,” she said. “You wanted help!”
“Yeah like gentle help! Not digging into my knees help!”
“You’re dramatic,” she said. “Do you want to walk without pain tomorrow or what?”
He muttered complaints under his breath the entire time, but she knew it was all in jest.
Hours later, after a hot shower where they both somehow managed to behave, dinner with a little too much of a new bottle of red wine, and him returning the favor of her earlier massage by rubbing her back and sliding his hands too low, they drifted off to the bedroom.
Travis sat against the headboard after they both shed their clothes, legs spread to make the invitation painfully clear.
She straddled his lap, and he was already hard, thick and hot against her. He moaned when she rolled her hips. She reached between them to guide him in, sinking down onto him slowly. He grabbed her waist, fingers digging in, head falling back as he bottomed out.
“Fuck, Tay,” he groaned.
She savored the feeling of him filling her, watching him fight not to thrust up into her. That’s when she started to move, rolling her hips in circles. His hands held tighter onto her waist as her palms slid down his chest, her nails catching the hairs.
“Love you,” he murmured.
“Love you,” she said through a smile, leaning in to kiss him, only for her hair to fall forward directly into his mouth.
“Baby, wait, your hair—”
She pulled back to find him with a full strand of her hair plastered to his tongue.
“Are you okay?”
He fumbled to pull the strands out of his mouth, saying, “Woman, your hair is everywhere!”
“I can’t help it!” she said, giggling. “Besides, you’re one to talk. You don’t hear me complaining about your hair, and it really is everywhere!”
He glared at her, then grabbed her hips and pulled her down onto him with a sharp thrust.
“Travis!”
“That’s what you get for making fun of a man in distress.”
She was breathless from the sudden motion, and when he did it again, she let out high pitched whine.
“Yeah,” he mumbled. “That’s what I like to hear.”
She began riding him faster with little gasps and groans. He slid one hand between them, thumb stroking circles on her clit, and her entire body jolted.
“Trav,” she moaned.
“C’mon baby.”
She felt the pleasure building low in her stomach, her thighs shaking around his hips. He watched her with his eyes dark, mouth open, and hands all over her body.
“Let go, Taylor,” he demanded roughly. “I want to feel you.”
Her body clenched hard around him as she came, and he gripped her ass and thrusted up into her through every pulse. It pushed him over the edge quickly, and his breath went unsteady against her shoulder as he spilled into her, holding her tight enough that they were both shaking.
After, he nuzzled into her hair, and she breathed in, pressing her cheek against his heart. When he went to move away, she tugged him closer.
“Don’t go,” she said. “Can we just stay like this for a while?”
“Yeah,” he whispered, his lips brushing her temple. “Yeah, sweetie. As long as you want.”
She wanted a lot longer than just a few minutes. It was more like forever she wanted this moment, and though she didn’t say it to him, she was aware that he knew.
Later, during the first weekend she went back on tour, Jason and Kylie brought their two oldest girls to one of the shows. Taylor had been jumping around all night in excitement, and after the show had long ended, she had taken a shower and climbed into bed, laying on her side, staring at her phone screen as it lit up with FaceTime call from Travis.
It was far too late for either of them to still be awake, but sleep without the other’s voice had become an impossible ask. They kept trying to break the habit, but kept failing.
She had just finished telling him about the night, and Travis was looking back with an expression of amusement and mild frustration.
“You jealous?” she teased. She already knew the answer. He was more than a little left out from not being able to come to the shows during the football season.
“Fuck yeah,” he muttered. “Would do anything to be there if I could.”
She smiled. “I know, baby. The girls kept me great company though.”
“They better have,” he said with a grin. “Were they excited?”
“Oh yeah,” she laughed. “You would have loved it. They came backstage before. We spent some time dancing and looking at costumes and playing in makeup. It was a lot, but adorable.”
Travis sighed. “I can’t even imagine. I miss being there.”
Taylor wished she could reach over and hug him, grab his hand, or climb into his lap.
“Well, that’s what counts, right?” she mumbled. “You’ll have more chances. You’ll get to experience this all again. Maybe with our own kids.”
His eyes softened. “Our own kids, huh?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“That would be a lot of mess and noise and me losing my mind,” he stated.
She chuckled loudly. “Probably, but you would love every second of it.”
“I would,” he admitted. “I wonder what it’ll be like, trying to juggle shows and travel and children. You think we’d survive?”
Taylor felt a warmth spread down from her head to her toes. She loved this about Travis. He indulged in every little thought with her, and though it was all hypothetical, it felt so real.
“We survive everything,” she replied. “We always do. Remember the sink disaster a month ago?”
"I do not want to be reminded of that ever again,” he groaned.
Not even weeks before, Taylor had gone out for lunch with Brittany. When she came back home, Travis was wedged under the sink, drenched in water as a puddle on the floor formed around him.
She stood by the counter, watching him look up at her with dripping hair and a defeated glare.
“What happened?” she asked flatly.
“The damn hose is kinked up.”
She crouched down beside him, grabbing the hose. “Shouldn’t we call someone?”
“No,” he said. “It’s a simple fix.”
"Do you need my help?”
“Can you hold the hose steady?”
She held the hose while he untwisted it as the water continued to flood, their elbows bumping, then their forearms, then their shoulders, until she bumped her forehead into his shoulder.
“Ow, sorry,” she whispered, laughing as she winced.
Eventually, the hose finally went in the right direction and the water stopped flooding.
Taylor sat back on her heels. “Well that was fun.”
“Fun is not the word I would use,” he said, wiping water off his arm and flicking it at her.
She laughed now lying in the bed in Miami. “You were the one telling me we could fix it ourselves,” she reminded him.
“Yeah, and then it flooded,” he grimaced. “Still can’t believe we ruined a pair of my shoes.”
“As if you don’t have hundreds of others.” She rolled her eyes. “And it couldn’t have been that bad. You’re still in love with me after it.”
“Obviously,” he said, as if the statement itself offended him. “You know that I’m going to love you forever by now.”
They were both quiet, and a little sleepy. If he were beside her right now, he’d be playing with her hair and she would be sticking her cold feet between his legs. They would grumble about being tired, but refuse to stop talking. She missed that a lot right now.
“It’s funny,” he said softly, his eyes half-closed, “how I can’t imagine a day without you in it.”
“I feel the same,” she responded. “Even when it’s a little messy and exhausting.”
“I like it,” he smirked. "I like you all the time.”
“I know you do, and I like that you like me even when I’m covered in sink water.”
Her eyes were growing heavier.
“Get some sleep, sweetie,” he said.
“You first,” she countered.
They both drifted off within minutes, phones still connected.
When she woke up the next morning, her phone was dead, and her body felt a little stiff and cold, but the memory of their conversation made her smile anyway.
Some weeks later, he was in Indianapolis, watching her on the stage for his final time in-person.
“I still can’t believe you came all the way out here to see maybe half of the show,” she said when they made it into her dressing room.
“Half the show is better than none,” he quipped, brushing a hand over the hair at the crown of her head that had gotten mussed and frizzed in the stadium. “Besides, I’m a little interested in the singer.”
Taylor raised her eyebrow. “Big fan?”
“Massive,” he smirked. “I hear she’s dating this amazing football player, which is clearly a reflection of her great taste.”
She rolled her eyes and sat down on the chair, bending to slip off her boots until Travis was suddenly on his knees before her, pulling at the zipper himself. She didn’t fight it. He always did stuff like that when she was too tired to argue.
“It was my last possible chance to watch the greatest tour of all time,” he said, sliding the boot off and pressing a kiss her calf. “I wasn’t going to miss it for the world. And I’ll never pass up the chance to be with you.”
She reached out for him, grabbing his face to bring him up closer to her. “I love you,” she said and kissed his mouth.
“I love you too,” he breathed out. “You were incredible, by the way. I’m so proud of you.”
“You know, sometimes I forget how lucky I am to have you,” she whispered.
He scoffed. “Please, sweetie. I’m the lucky one in this relationship. No competition there.”
By the time they made it to the hotel, laying in the bed, her brain felt more at ease than it had during any time this tour leg.
She was face down in the mattress with her cheek pressed into the pillow as Travis worked his hands into the knots in her shoulders. He never half-assed it, always saying she was just as much of an athlete as he was and needed proper care. He moved down her spine, then to her legs, and each time he found a sore spot, she let out a low noise.
“You know,” she murmured, lifting her head up just enough so her words weren’t muffled by the sheets, “sometimes I think we are like…unofficially married.”
She felt his hands pause, before they continued working the muscle of her sore legs.
“Unofficially married?” he questioned.
“Yeah. Like, we live together, we know each other’s routines, what we need without asking,” she explained. “We basically act like a married couple without the paperwork.”
He sat back a little, rubbing circles into the back of her thigh with his thumb. “That a bad thing?”
“No,” she said immediately, rolling onto her side so she could actually see him. Her hair was a mess and mascara smudged the corners of her eyes, but she didn’t bother fixing any of it. He didn’t care, and she knew he didn’t care. “It’s just weird sometimes. In a good way. Like I’ll be brushing my teeth and realize you’re in the kitchen and the cats are fighting over your side of the bed, and it feels like we already are something bigger.”
He looked at her for a long moment, taking her in the way he always did.
“Well,” he said finally, “it doesn’t scare me. If that’s what you’re wondering.”
She swallowed. “I wasn’t wondering.”
“Okay,” he said, smiling. “Good.”
He continued to massage her legs as she laid back down, thinking of how easy and simple that was, about how a confession like that would have normally killed her, but it felt so natural now.
Somewhere around Christmas, they were sitting on the couch with the Christmas tree reflecting onto them. The TV was playing something that they had both seen probably hundreds of times. Benjamin was perched on top her feet, which were on Travis’ lap, purring loudly as he slept.
Taylor curled her toes under the blankets, feeling them going numb from Benjamin’s weight, and traced a finger over the back of Travis’ hand with one finger. Her motion faltered for a moment, just enough for him to glance sideways at her, seeing the way she chewed her bottom lip.
“I had a dream last night,” she said suddenly.
Travis picked up the remote to turn the volume on the TV down. “Should I be nervous?” he asked dryly.
She snorted. “No, it wasn’t a bad kind of dream.”
“What kinda dream was it?”
“It was about us.”
“What were we doing?”
She took a breath. “We had a baby.”
“A baby,” he repeated. “Boy or girl?”
“A boy,” she said quickly. “I’ve always felt like I’d have a boy first.”
Travis nodded like it all made perfect sense. “Alright, so we had a boy. What did we name him?”
“I don’t remember. That part is fuzzy.”
“Not helpful,” he said, poking gently at her side. “How am I supposed to practice being the best dad if I don’t even know his name?”
She shoved his knee with her foot. Benjamin sat up to glare at her, and she apologized while Travis petted the top of his head until he laid back down.
“But,” she continued, “I do remember that he looked just like you.”
His attention shifted back to her. “Did he?”
“Yeah. I was watching you play with him outside. You were trying to teach him to throw a basketball, but he was so small you had to lift him up so he could get it in the hoop. He laughed the whole time, exactly like you.”
Travis groaned dramatically, covering his face with his hands. “God I hope he doesn’t laugh like me. That would be terrifying.”
“No,” she said. “I want our kids to have your laugh.”
“I hate my laugh,” he commented flatly.
“You don’t hear it the way I do. I love it,” she said, reaching out to trace his jawline. “One of my favorite sounds in the world.”
He didn’t have a smart-ass comeback this time, just stared at her a little shy.
“You want to hear the next part?” she asked.
He cleared his throat. “Of course I do.”
“We all sat on the couch afterwards. Me, you, and him. And the cats, obviously. We watched movies,” her voice turned wistful, and she saw his eyes glaze over. “Until he fell asleep on your chest.”
Travis let out a breath like the wind got knocked out of him. He leaned back into the couch cushion, titling his head toward her, his fingers grabbing hers. “That sounds like a perfect day.”
She nodded.
He sat with that for a while, thumb rubbing unconsciously over the inside of her palm. The Christmas lights shone across his face, catching in the slight crease between his eyebrows.
“You know,” he said eventually, “we really would make a good team.”
“We already do,” she replied.
He huffed a laugh.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Is this your way of telling me you’re volunteering to be the tiny-human-lifter?”
“Absolutely,” he said. “I’d be great at it. I’m tall, I’m strong, and I already lift you every time you pretend you’re too tired to walk to bed.”
“I am tired,” she insisted.
“Sure you are,” he said, smirking.
She nudged him again. He nudged her back, a little harder. Benjamin meowed in protest, hopping off the couch.
The room settled into that comfortable silence, and they both looked at the TV again.
Finally, Travis turned his head, and lifted her hand to press his lips to the back of it.
“Hey,” he said softly. “Just so you know, dream or not, that’s going to be us one day.”
She tightened her fingers around his.
“I know,” she whispered. She had wished long enough for it, added it to the list of things that she wanted.
It felt like that future was already beginning to take form. Just two people, dreaming their way into making their wish list come true.