It’s peaceful and relaxing and exactly what I need.
“I had Gray help me put your journals in the attic next to the others today. It felt like that’s where they belonged. I don’t know if it’ll happen, but I like to think that whoever we are in the next life will find them. I like the thought of them reading about our beautiful life. And that’s what we had. Yours may have ended prematurely, but the time we did have together, it was beautiful and special.”
My gaze catches on a tiny flash of light floating in the air not far from me. Fireflies are only active in the summer months, but for some reason this guy is out late, as if he never found his mate and refuses to give up his search. The irony is uncanny. I’m that firefly. There’s not a thing on earth, even death, that will keep me from finding Molly again.
I watch as the firefly hovers around, his butt flashing every few seconds. Several feet away, out of the corner of my eye, I see another light flash from the grass. A smile touches my lips when the male firefly flies over to the new flash, before dipping down and disappearing into the blades of green. It looks like he found his mate after all.
I close my eyes when a wave of exhaustion hits me. A weird sort of weightlessness comes over me, and I slump more against the headstone.
I sense something warm lightly grazing my hand, but I’m too tired to open my eyes to look.
Images of my and Molly’s life together flash in my mind, like a wheel of short video clips.
The day Molly and I met and the overwhelming feeling I had when I first laid eyes on her.
The twinkling in Molly’s eyes when she laughed.
Me holding her in my arms and how perfect it felt.
Our first kiss.
The first time we said I love you.
Our wedding day.
When she told me she was pregnant with Gray.
The first time we held Gray and Gemma.
All of it. Every special moment we shared.
I smile, knowing that the next life we share together, will be just as magnificent as the one we lived as Molly and Lincoln.
Just as I drift off into an eternal sleep, a beautiful voice whispers in my ear.
“I’m waiting….”
Epilogue
Sometime Later
The cheery jingle has me rushing outside, the screen door slamming shut behind me. Mom yells my name from inside the house, probably going to scold me for making so much noise with my baby sister sleeping. I don’t care, though. I missed the ice cream truck last week, and I refuse to miss it again.
Running down the driveway, I look up the street one way, then down the other, finally spotting it at the corner of the block. There aren’t a lot of kids on this street, so the ice cream truck doesn’t come to this part of the neighborhood often.
Someone is standing at the window, so with my head bent down, I take off running, hoping they aren’t quick with their selection.
I look up when I’m only one house away and come to a screeching halt when I get a good look at the person at the window. It’s a girl with long red hair and pale white skin with little freckles peppering her arms. I can only see the side of her face, but I feel like I’m struck dumb or something. I can’t move, I can barely breathe. All I can do is stare at her.
She’s so pretty, even only seeing part of her face.
I don’t know if I make a noise or she just senses me standing there looking at her, but she suddenly turns her head my way. Our eyes meet, her bright green ones to my gray ones.
I’m only twelve years old, so I don’t know much about all the gushy love stuff I’ve heard adults talk about, but I swear my heart skips a beat and something weird happens to my stomach.
The guy in the ice cream truck must say something to her because she looks up at him and hands him some money. A second later, his hand appears with a snow cone. A moment after that, his head pops out of the small window.
“Hey, kid,” he hollers at me. “You gonna get something?”
I don’t answer. I barely register his words. My sole focus is on the girl now biting into the snow cone, her beautiful, curious green eyes on me.
It’s not until the truck pulls away and the girl approaches me that I snap out of whatever weird thing had a hold of me.
“Why didn’t you get an ice cream?”
At the sound of her voice, that feeling in my stomach doubles. It almost feels like I’m going to be sick but in a good way. Like when your parents tell you they are taking you to Disneyland or somewhere else really exciting.
She stops when she’s only a few feet away, which isn’t close enough for me, so I take a couple more steps. She’s even more pretty up close.
Remembering she asked me a question that I should probably answer, I shrug. “I guess I found something better than ice cream.”
She giggles and dips her head down to take another bite of her snow cone.
Man, her giggle sounds so magical.
“I’m not sure anything is better than a snow cone.”
“With almost everything else, I’d agree with you, but with this, I don’t.”
Her pale cheeks turn red with her shy smile.
“I’ve never seen you around before. Where did you come from?”
She turns to face the house in front of us, and it’s only then that I notice the huge truck in the driveway. The back door is slid up, revealing a bunch of boxes and furniture.
“We’re moving in today.”
I don’t understand why, but her words make me really happy.
Really, really happy.
She looks back at me and tilts her head, her red hair falling over her shoulder. “What’s your name?”
“Aiden.”
She smiles, making her eyes light up. “Hi, Aiden. I’m Clayr.”
Clayr. Such a pretty name. It fits her perfectly.
We stand there for several seconds, looking at each other. I have this strange feeling that I’ve seen her before, but I know it’s not possible. I would definitely remember her if I had.
“You wanna go sit with me on the swing?” She uses her snow cone to gesture to the two-seater swing her family must have just taken out of the truck. It’s sitting close to the sidewalk. “I don’t know anyone yet.” She shrugs, the blush back on her cheeks.
“Yeah, we can sit for a while.”
Mom will probably freak if I’m not back in a few minutes and will screech my name from the porch. But I can see our house from the swing, so I’ll keep an eye out in case she comes outside.
Clayr leads me to the swing. I hold it steady as she takes a seat before I sit beside her. She says she doesn’t know anyone. Well, she does now. I plan for us to get to know each other very well.
It’s weird, this feeling I have. Like somehow or another I’ve known her my whole life. As if she’s always been a part of it, and I just forgot about her. Which is stupid. There’s no way I could ever forget about her.
“Do you want some of my snow cone?”
She holds it out to me, and I grab it and take a big bite before handing it back. We pass it back and forth until it’s gone.
I don’t know who this girl is or where she came from.
I only know that now that I found her, I’m never letting her go.
I don’t fully understand the word that suddenly whispers in my head, but it’s clear as day.