Page 150 of Eleanor & Grey

“Karla…” My voice dropped, and I grimaced. “You know why we can’t—”

“Yeah, Dad, I get it. You’re fucked up, I’m fucked up, Eleanor’s fucked up—we’re all fucked up! But we might as well be fucked up together.”

“Language,” Eleanor and I said in unison.

I smiled, she smiled, and damn, I loved it.

More of that, Ellie…

I missed those smiles.

“See? You both are even corny together. So, you have to be together.” Karla shrugged. “Look, I get it. I sometimes fall apart and make things hard, but I just want you to know that I want Eleanor here. So does Lorelai. We don’t need to wait until we are perfectly healed, Dad. We can be a team with a few cracks still left to fix. Through the good and the bad. Besides…” She gave Eleanor a hesitant grin. “We made a pinky promise.”

She turned and headed back to her bedroom.

I parted my mouth to speak, but no words came to mind. Because this was what I wanted, Eleanor was who I craved.

I locked eyes with Eleanor and brushed my thumb against my chin. Nerves filled me up as she kept smiling my way.

“Grey, if you’re not ready for this, I—”

“Ellie?”

“Yes?”

I stuffed my hands into my pockets. “You’ve been my true north since the day I met you. You’ve healed my family in more ways than I could count. You brought me back to life after my soul had died. You save my life each and every time you cross my mind. Just the thought of you heals me. I know we have things to figure out. I know there are hurdles that we have to jump, but if you’re willing, I am willing to take the leap. I want to leap and fly with you and only you for the rest of my life. So, what do you say?”

She moved in closer and wrapped her arms around me. I placed my hands against her lower back and pulled her to me. Our lips brushed, and I swore my whole life lit up with our possibilities.

“Okay,” she whispered against my skin. “Let’s fly.”

My mouth crashed against hers as I pulled her to me. We kissed for our past, we kissed for our present, and we kissed for our future.

Her lips took mine as if they were promising me forever.

Forever.

This kiss meant forever.

And I was okay with that fact.

We made it. After all these years, we began to descend on to our beautiful chapters. The chapters where pain became beauty. Where heartaches began to heal. Where always met forever.

She was she, I was me, and we were us.

This was our story.

This was our always and forever.

And it was going to be beautiful.

58

Greyson

Eleanor didn’t talk about her father as much as she used to, but I could tell that it still ate at her soul. Whenever I brought it up to her, she’d smile and tell me, “He is what he is, and there’s not really a place for me in his life.”

That broke my heart, because I knew it broke hers. And if her heart was breaking, mine cracked, too.

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