you want to wait five more years, we can, and we will if that’s what you want because your happiness is all that matters to me. But if you’re on board, I’d like to do this. I’d like to buy this garage, open it with you, move in with you…marry you.”
Joy spreads through me, so quickly, so furiously, that I go weak in the knees. Isaiah wraps an arm around me, steadies me and keeps me close to him.
“I didn’t plan this right. I don’t have an engagement ring to give you. I don’t have flowers or dinner or anything fancy. If you want, I’ll go buy you a ring the moment a store opens and—”
“This is my ring,” I cut him off.
“What?”
I scan the garage. “This place is my engagement ring. In fact, I’m pretty sure other women are going to be jealous when they hear my fiancé didn’t buy me a frivolous piece of jewelry but instead invested with me in our business.”
Overcome with emotion, Isaiah closes his eyes and rests his forehead onto mine. “Is that a yes?”
I weave my arms around his neck. “It’s a yes.”
“I love you, Rachel.” His voice breaks with emotion.
“I love you more.” Forever.
A Moment Together:
An Only A Breath Apart Prequel Novella
The last evening Scarlett and Jesse spent together before everything changed. This moment is referenced several times in the novel.
This story starts three years before the start of Only a Breath Apart.
Chapter 44
Scarlett
It’s weird being at Glory’s place. Jesse and I used to hang out here all the time when we were little. From where I’m sitting on the front porch stairs of Glory’s tiny cabin, and even in the moonlight, I can see the oak tree Jesse and I would climb, the garden we used to swipe fresh strawberries and blueberries, and the poplar tree where Glory once hung an old tire for us to swing on. We repaid her by stealing cookies from her kitchen. Oddly enough, as I look back at seven through the eyes of fourteen, I think Glory left the cookies out for us—as if she knew we were coming.
Glory has always been cordial to me, but we’ve never been close. She might flash a quick smile and wave our way before calling Jesse over to say something to him. Beyond that, I haven’t had many interactions. To be honest, she scares me a little. She talks to dead people and spirits beyond the grave for a living. That is, sort of, creepy. Dad calls her a fraud, girls at school call her a witch, and Jesse calls her his distant cousin. I’ve said as little to her as possible.
But tonight, she invited me, Jesse, and Jesse’s grandmother, Suzanne, over for ice cream cake to celebrate Jesse’s and my eighth-grade graduation. My mother has taught me to always be polite, to accept invitations unless absolutely, completely unable to attend—as in the zombie apocalypse has happened—and how could I say no to ice cream cake?
The ironic part of it all is that my mother doesn’t even know I’m here. Nor does my dad. It’s after midnight, and about an hour ago, I snuck out from my bedroom window and climbed down the nearby tree so I could meet Jesse for the walk across his farm to here. While my mom and dad are sound asleep, Suzanne sits in a rocker on her porch and Glory sits on the porch swing. They’re debating their family tree and how they know everyone in association with either school or church—a tradition that almost all families in this tiny town partake in. It’s a confusing and senseless game that people over thirty entertain themselves with.
“Tink—” Jesse whispers his nickname for me “—if I start having serious conversations like that with you, I need you to shove me off a cliff.”
“I’d never shove you off a cliff,” I whisper back.
“Traitor.” He smiles—the pirate one. The smile that makes me smile in return.
“What are you two grinning about over there?” Suzanne clicks her tongue at us as if catching us doing something embarrassing. “You look as smug as someone about to start a revolution.”
“Nothing, Gran.” Jesse turns his smile in her direction. “I was asking Scarlett to push me off a cliff to keep me from getting old.”
Suzanne turns her playful gaze on me. “And you said?”
“I’m afraid Jesse is going to have to deal with growing up.”
She laughs, long and loud. Suzanne is one of the most amazing people I know. She