Until Lexi

Adam rounds everyone up, insisting they get on the road soon to avoid major traffic. With a last round of hugs, tons of tears, and a promise to visit soon, we say our last goodbyes.

Then Lexi and I sit on the front porch, watching as they drive away.

We stay there long after they’re out of sight. I think we’re both content to let reality sink in and settle into our own new beginning. From here on out, it’s only the two of us in this big empty house.

“Any regrets about staying?” I ask when she lays her head on my shoulders.

“Surprisingly… no.”

“Good,” I tell her, kissing the top of her head. “When do you have to go back to work?

“I told Blossom I’d be back on Monday.”

“Oh…”

“Why?”

I take her hand, intertwining her fingers and mine. “Think she’d give you a few extra days?”

“Yeah. She told me to take as long as I needed, but I thought I’d go back since there’s not a good reason to sit at home. Why?”

“I was thinking we could take a little road trip of our own. Head down to Florida, hit the beach for a couple of days, and pack up my apartment. Then I could make the move to Tennessee official.”

“I think… that sounds like a really fucking good idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Hell yeah. But you know what we should do first?”

I raise a brow, waiting for the answer. She smiles and leans in like she’s got a secret.

“Get your headlight fixed.”

This fucking girl.

Looking at the happiness in her eyes, I see everything I never knew I wanted.

No one ever tells you that when someone you love dies, you lose a piece of yourself. Since I lost my parents when I was only eighteen years old, I’ve been walking through life feeling not quite whole, but never understanding what I was truly missing.

Instead of wallowing in my grief, I set a plan for myself and followed it. I threw myself into my business and built my life around it. Month after month, year after year, I devoted my time to helping other people solve their problems. Most of the cases I took weren’t like Adam’s. I wish I could say all my cases had happy conclusions, but it’d be a lie. But no matter what, I was helping people, and that’s what mattered to me.

Grief aside, I wouldn’t say I was ever really unhappy, but I spent too much time simply existing instead of living. Only, I didn’t realize it then.

I thought what I had was enough.

I thought I was happy.

I was blind to how truly disconnected I was from the rest of the world.

All that changed with one trip to Tennessee.

I drove here on a whim, chasing a lead to try to close yet another case. I was determined to find Adam’s sibling, determined to help him find a missing piece of himself.

What I found here was so much more.

A place where I belong.

My happiness.

My heart.

My home.

I have a family again.

And I finally feel whole.

I never thought it was possible.

Until her.

Until Lexi.