but the real reason I want to be a nurse didn’t need an essay. There’s really one reason, I will pick up the torch that my mother left when she died caring for the man who would shoot her.
She did a service to others in her life, and now…
...it’s my turn.”
Taylor was crying, and she folded up her essay, sliding it into my pocket when she was done. I didn’t say a word. I didn’t dare. Love swelled up in me, and I wanted to take her in my arms, but I refrained.
She stood over her mother, then used both hands to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She stayed there, gazing down at the headstone. I waited. I’d wait an eternity for this woman. I saw the strength in her. I was drawn to her from the beginning, knowing she wanted to fight for Sam, or maybe she just wanted to fight. Something deep in me was drawn to her, so I used an excuse to talk to her. I didn’t want to admit that it wasn’t really Delray. I didn’t care about him. I didn’t even really care about messing with him. It was her the whole time, only I didn’t know it myself. Now here we were. This visit was different. It wasn’t because of the essay, though. I felt it in the air. We came another time, but there was a sense of finality in her voice. Her tears seemed deeper.
She was letting her go.
I straightened, frowning. “Taylor?”
She gazed at me, her eyes uncharacteristically bright. Then she smiled, and the sight did two things. I felt the twitch deep in me, when only she could smile at me, and it transformed her face. The pain was gone. All of it.
“You’re okay?” I had to know. My fingers still ached to reach for her.
She nodded. “I am.” She took a breath. “Do you have it with you?”
I pulled out the vase, then the sand, and handed over the sparkler. She took everything, bending back down so the vase sat in front of the headstone. The sand went inside, and she stuffed the sparkler in there, standing it upright. I handed her the lighter, and after she lit the sparkler, she stood back, moving to stand beside me. Her hand found mine, and we stayed there, watching the firecracker spark to life.
I used to be a partier. I used to be a manwhore. I used to fight—well, okay. I would still party. I would still fight, and I’d be a manwhore, but it was over.
Tate’s words came back to me. “I hope you fall in love. You can feel what the rest of us feel.”
I scoffed at that. I saw more heartache than good coming from loving someone, but here I was.
I was holding hands with my last girl.
TAYLOR
We were setting up for the big party, and when I say ‘setting up’, the guys went to get two kegs while Sam and I stayed behind to get the food done. I came to Fallen Crest with Logan for the holiday break, and we were at his mother’s house, getting ready to throw a ‘Kade Party’. From the way Logan said it, these types of parties were a big ‘fucking’ deal. I wasn’t sure what the night was going to be like, but I was ready for anything. I learned to adopt that mantra being Logan’s other half. I never knew what he was going to do, say, or when he’d suddenly sweep me up and carry me off to bed, but it was an adventure, like Logan himself.
I’d have it no other way. Where he was, so was I...except now. He was off getting booze, and I was waiting as his sister ordered food.
As if on cue, Sam hung up the phone and announced, “Our part is done. Twenty pizzas are on the way.”
“That’s all we have to do?”
“Nope. My friend is bringing the rest.” And right then, the doorbell rang. Sam pointed to the air. “That’d be her, right on time.”
We heard the door open, then shut, and rustling bags approached from the hallway. A moment later, a girl appeared with three grocery bags filled. She lifted them up, a bag strapped on her back. She grunted. “I’ve got the chips here, and the rest of the booze is in the bag.” She gestured behind her. “Back there.”
Sam took the bags while the girl took her backpack off, placing it on the table. She turned, saw me,