him up. I mean, a couple times there, you can tell they still had a thing for each other.”
“Until he really messed up and hurt Eliza,” Greg said, “then I think all bets were off with Angelica.”
“True,” Nelson said. He looked at his watch and yawned. “Well, that’s it for me. I’m going to call it a night.” Standing, he stretched. “Good night.”
“’night,” Greg said in reply though he didn’t move even a muscle.
Taylor thought for a second that she, too, should be getting to bed, or at least letting Greg get some sleep.
“Have you ever wondered what it would be like?” Greg asked, putting his head back on the couch. He looked more relaxed than he had in a week.
“What?”
“Having that kind of relationship, like Alexander and Eliza had.”
Sighing, Taylor knew exactly what he meant. “She loved him so much.”
“It’s all she really wanted out of any of it,” Greg said, “just the chance to love him. He kept going off trying to prove himself to everyone. What was that one song about him being enough for her?”
“Oh, yeah.” A thought struck her, but she shook it back. “There’s this video of them at the orphanage fundraiser. Lin and Phillipa singing that one.”
“Lin and…?”
“Lin-Manuel Miranda and Phillipa Soo,” Taylor said, “they played Alexander and Eliza, and they do that scene—not in costumes, just singing it.” She put her hands to her heart. “It is so… it’s just heartbreaking because he’s almost broken by how much she loves him and how he knows he doesn’t deserve her, and that’s way before any of the rest of it even happens. In the movie that song comes and goes. It’s kind of swallowed up by all the show-stoppers around it, but that video… Ugh.” Another thought struck. “You want to see it?”
“Uh, sure.”
And thus began a whirlwind tour through some of the videos she had watched. Greg couldn’t say he wasn’t fascinated too—as much by her knowledge and understanding and what she could explain as by what she showed him. Yes, he understood with every new thing she showed him with so much passion around it how just being with the one you love would be enough. He knew to the core of him the truth of that now.
On Monday, however, he reminded himself again and again, the dream would come to an end, and he would be left with only the memory of tonight. The story of tonight… They had no idea.
“You’re tired,” Taylor finally said. “I should let you get some sleep.”
“One more,” Greg said, not willing to let the night slip into daylight just yet.
“You sure? You really need to get some sleep.”
“Just one.”
She smiled. “Okay, just one.”
When Taylor awoke the next morning, she let her mind finish singing the song Helpless. It had been playing through her dreams the entire night.
Sunday. Her last day here. Her last day to say thank you for all they had done for her.
She wanted to make it special.
Greg awoke to noises in the kitchen. Since neither of the guys cooked, he knew who it was. Taylor. She had been so beautiful the night before, and she wasn’t even trying. And not just physically either. She had always been that, but last night, she had positively glowed with enthusiasm. He loved seeing her like that, so full of life. She had finally found her old self back. The storm was past, and though his heart panged at the thought, he knew she was right. It was time.
But they had one more day, and he wasn’t going to waste a second of it.
They spent the entire day together, eating, studying, but mostly just talking. Taylor was surprised because every time she thought Greg would lose interest in her ramblings, he found a way to ask another question or make another statement that jumpstarted her thought processes once again.
In fact, she was surprised to find it was almost four when she checked the clock on her laptop. “Are you going to shower before we go?”
“I need to.”
“You care if I take one first? It takes me longer to get beautiful.”
“Not true,” he said. “But go ahead.”
When they got to the chapel later, Taylor was surprised to see Wes and Lauren already there. Surprised because she hadn’t seen him since Friday night.
“Hey,” Taylor said to Lauren who was sitting all alone in a pew. This whole trying to change the narrative of her life thing was sometimes far more difficult than it might have seemed. “You