Me: Yeah, I am.
Even if I don’t see Lachlan, I have to try. If I didn’t get on the plane today I know I would’ve regretted it.
Putting my phone in my pocket, I dig my wallet out from my backpack, grabbing a twenty. It’s finally my turn and I order a cinnamon coffee and chocolate chip muffin. Chocolate makes everything better.
When my order is called out, I grab the coffee and paper bag. There are no empty tables in the café, so I head back across the street and manage to find a bench. Pulling the muffin out of the bag, I break a piece off and stick it in my mouth. It’s still warm, the chocolate melting on my tongue.
Somehow, I manage to eat the entire thing—the power of chocolate—then I get up with my coffee clasped in my hand, walking around.
Seattle is beautiful. This is the first time I’ve been since I was seven, so I don’t really remember it. The wind coming off the water whips my hair around my shoulders and I inhale the salty air.
Walking beneath the Space Needle, it looms above me like a behemoth.
Taking a sip of my coffee, I smile, thinking of all the places I’ve been in the last year.
It’s ironic that I end up here, where technically it all began for Lachlan and me. We didn’t know it at the time, but our paths crossed long before I stepped into his office. I was a seven-year-old little girl, tagging along with my mom and brother on his school’s travel field trip, and there was Lachlan visiting at the same time with his family.
Suddenly, my heart rate doubles in speed and my steps halt. My grip loosens around the coffee cup and I nearly drop it, but thankfully manage to keep a hold on it before hot coffee gets all over my shoes.
It’s like every cell in my body is waking up and they’re all screaming, he’s here.
I look around wildly, spinning in a circle.
Then, I see him.
My stomach flips. My breath falters. My heart … I think it stops completely.
He stands a distance away, beneath the shadow of the Space Needle. A red baseball cap sits on his head, shielding his eyes, and his hands are tucked into his jeans, pulling his long-sleeve Henley tighter across his broad chest. Even though I can’t see his eyes, and only half his face, I know it’s him.
Lachlan.
Lachlan.
LACHLAN.
This time the coffee cup does fall from my hands, landing on the ground with my faded lipstick stain on the rim. I thought I’d be more dignified when I saw him. Walk up and have a conversation. It’s been nearly a year since we’ve seen each other and I wanted to show him how much I’ve grown. I’m twenty today, I’m an adult, a woman. One who’s traveled the world, who has her own place, a cat, and finally decided to get the help she really needed.
But I can’t keep my wits about me. Not when the man I know I still love whole-heartedly, is finally in my line of sight.
He’s everything I’ve ever wanted.
All I’ll ever need.
My feet carry me across the space separating us. I run hard and fast, butterflies taking off in my stomach when I see the huge smile overcome
his face.
His arms open and I barrel into him. I accidentally knock his hat off and it falls to the ground somewhere behind him. Tears dampen my cheeks and I bury my face into his neck, inhaling his heavenly scent that’s uniquely him.
In that moment all my fears disappear about where we stand.
This is too perfect, too right, to ever be questioned.
We might have had to go our separate ways, but we are inevitable.
“Dani,” he murmurs, his hands rubbing my back. “You’re here.”
“Don’t ever let me go.” I grip the back of his shirt tightly in my fist, scared if I release him this will all end up being a dream.