I realize that this is my first time hugging him, but it won’t be the last, which only makes me cry harder.
He feels so good in my arms, like they were made to hold him, but I know I have to let him go.
I finally release him and he blinks up at me with wide eyes. “Why are you crying? Are you sad?”
“No.” I shake my head, wiping the wetness from my cheeks. “I’ve never been happier.”
“You cry when you’re happy? I didn’t know that.”
“Only if you’re really happy.”
He nods like this makes perfect sense.
Sarah takes my hand and squeezes it. She’s a pretty woman, in her forties with a few wrinkles from laughing, and soft brown hair.
“We’ll see you soon,” she tells me with a smile.
“Mhmm.” I nod, close to breaking out into hysterics again.
I watch them leave, and once they’re gone, a sob breaks free of my chest.
Jace gathers me into his arms, and I bury my face into his chest.
He rubs my back soothingly, humming softly—I think it’s a new song he’s been working on.
I rub my face against his shirt, probably leaving behind a streak of mascara tears.
When I finally have a hold on myself, I look up at him. “This was the best day of my life. Thank you—without you, this would’ve never happened.”
“I’d do anything for you, don’t you know that by now?”
He glides his fingers down my cheek and my stomach clenches. The amount of love he looks at me with is mind-blowing. I never in a million years thought we’d end up here—together. But somewhere along the way our paths crossed, and then they intersected. Some things are just meant to be, and I think that’s the case for us.
Jace
One Month Later
Death isn’t something that’s easy to accept, even when you know it’s coming.
I held my father’s hand as he passed away and Nova stood at my side while I cried. I didn’t even know why I cried, but I felt like someone should, and if I didn’t do it, who would?
My father’s last month wasn’t an easy one.
Every day he grew weaker until he couldn’t get out of the bed.
I went every day to see him, though. In the beginning, I didn’t want to, but by the end I was hoping they’d continue on forever.
I learned more about my father in that month than I did in all of my twenty-two years.
Some days, when the pain was too much, he’d revert to his old self, but most of the time he was kind. He asked me questions about myself that before he never cared to know and even asked me to sing for him.
I was singing to him as he took his last breath.
He died with a smile on his face so he either loved my singing or was glad he didn’t have to listen to it anymore.
I fix my tie into place and look in the mirror. My hair is slicked back, my face clean-shaven. My new suit fits me perfectly.
I have to give a eulogy at my father’s funeral today.