you. I’m sorry my mother ruined our one-month anniversary.”
His lips quirked up and he said, “One month, huh?”
She hooked her finger around his belt loop, feeling a little silly, and said, “I was making you something, but I’ll never get it done in time to give it to you tonight.”
“Then it becomes our two-month anniversary gift, or one-year, or six-year…” He pressed his lips to hers and said, “This right here? You and me on the same page, helping each other be the best we can be? That’s all I need.”
“I don’t know why you chose me when I kept denying us, but I’m so glad you did.”
“It wasn’t a choice, Chloe. When I saw you, all other women failed to exist.”
He kissed her again, longer this time, healing the fissures in her heart. “We’re meant to be, babe,” he whispered, and came back for more.
When their lips finally parted, she felt better, rejuvenated and freer. She was sure her nose was pink from crying and her hair had probably gone flat and lifeless, but she didn’t care because her heart was full, and she wanted to remember this moment forever.
“Will you take a selfie with me?” she asked.
“Always,” he said.
As she took pictures, he kissed her cheek, her lips, and her neck, making her giggle.
“You’ve got to get pictures of all of the good stuff. Mind if I take a few?” He reached for her phone, turning the camera on her.
“Justin.” She turned away, embarrassed.
“Hey, I want pictures of you.”
“We took some of us already.”
“Of us. I want some of you, Chloe.” He stepped in front of her and said, “Every moment is a new chance to move forward. We’ll never get this moment back, and I want to remember it exactly as it is.”
“I’m a mess. I’ve cried more today than I have in ages. When we’re both in the picture, you don’t notice me as much. It’s better that way.”
He put his arm around her, drawing her against him as he said, “I love your face, baby. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got makeup on or you’re fresh out of the shower, if you’re teary eyed or sweaty from making love or hiking. Yours is the face I see when I close my eyes at night and the one I carry with me during the day.” He gazed deeply into her eyes and said, “I love you, Chloe,” just above a whisper. “All of you. All of your moods and all of your moments. Please let me capture this moment, your moment, in a picture.”
Tears slid down her cheeks again. “Justin…?” Had she heard him right?
“I mean it, baby. I started falling for you the second your first snarky comment hit my ears, and I knew that was it for me. You were it for me. I love being with you, hearing your voice, holding your hand. I love the way you scowl at me when I’m being a pain and how you look at me like I’m your entire world when we’re making love.”
“You are my world. I love you, too, Justin,” she said breathily. “Everything about you.”
His mouth came lovingly down over hers and salty tears slipped between their lips.
“I’m yours, baby. Only yours.” He rubbed his nose over her cheek, so sweet and intimate, it brought more tears.
Overflowing with love and hope, and everything in between, she said, “God I love you,” and went up on her toes, kissing him with all she had.
LATER THAT EVENING, Justin and Chloe snuggled beneath blankets in the back of his truck, waiting for the fireworks to start. Justin kissed her temple, thinking about when they’d arrived home after their hike. Chloe had shown him the gift she was making for him. She’d framed a metal grate with distressed wood, and in the upper-left corner of the grate she’d hung glittery stars from black ribbons. Below them she’d clipped a picture of the two of them slow dancing that Serena had taken of them at the Salty Hog. They were gazing into each other’s eyes, their emotions seeping off the image. Chloe had burned the edges of two pretty pale-yellow pieces of paper, and on them she’d written some of the lyrics to “Heartbeat” and “Uptown Girl.” In the upper middle of the grate, not yet attached, she’d set out pictures of Shadow in Justin’s lap, licking his face, and a selfie of the two of them with the adorable one-eyed pooch. Chloe had made a tiny wooden