Page 148 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

“I lost it,” she admits, the smallest of smiles pulling at her lips. “I lost it . . . the night we met.”

“You—wait, what?”

“Yeah,” she says, smiling. “I figured it just fell off my keys somewhere at the bar, so I knew there was no way I would ever find it. I can’t believe . . . You’re the one who picked it up?”

I blink several times then shake my head. “I just—everything was kind of in limbo. We had been picked up by Al in Iowa but we were having a hard time finding gigs and making a name for ourselves. The night I met you, our equipment was failing and I couldn’t find a replacement cable. I was sure we were going to have to cancel the show, then I found this and all of a sudden there was a perfectly good cable right there. Then your article came out and things started to take off. Everything just started going right.”

Then it hits me like a bolt of lightning.

“It’s been you this whole time,” I whisper.

She raises her eyebrows. “What?”

“It was never the keychain,” I say, my voice growing louder. “It was you. Everything good started happeningbecause of you.”

“Dave—”

“No, don’t you see?” I say, backing up a bit to take a better look at her. “The publicity, the recording studio, the tour, seeing our names lit up, the album going gold . . .”

Her bright eyes dart over my face.

“Everything is— It was always you. Maybe it was never really luck. Maybe it was . . . love.”

“That’s the corniest thing you’ve ever said.”

“Corny or not. You loved me. You helped make my dreams come true. You made that list a reality, and I would be the luckiest man on earth if you let me prove to you every day that I love you more than anything in this world.”

She looks at the keychain for a long moment, then tucks it into the front pocket of her jeans. “That’s the dream, then?”

I grin. “That’s the ultimate dream.”

“It’s a good one.”

Winding my arms around her waist, I pull her against me again. Her gorgeous smile lights up her face as the sun peeks out from behind the clouds, just like her keychain. “You were my dream forged out of darkness,” I whisper against her lips.

“And you were mine.”

Our lips meet and my heart floats. “Too corny?” I ask.

“Exactly corny enough,” she whispers before kissing me again. A fluttery feeling swells in my chest and belly at having this amazing woman by my side. My thirst for her will never be satisfied. When we finally pull away, there’s a peace that’s settled in my heart.

“Take me home,” she says. “I miss my family.”

“You got it, Disco Girl,” I say as our entwined hands swing between us. “Any thoughts on a title for the book?”

She stops and looks up at me with a bold smirk. “I know exactly what to call it.”

With the smell of the sea in the air and the warmth of the sun on our faces, we head back to my car. I can’t help but think that after so much darkness, she’s been the brightest light. She fell in love with my dreams, and I fell in love with hers.

Epilogue

DAVE

How the fuck do you tie a tie? I’ve been staring at myself in the mirror for twenty minutes trying to get this damned thing to loop the right way, and everytime it looks like a strange little noose at the end. I huff with frustration and, after pulling the tie from my throat, toss it to the floor at my feet in front of the mirror.

“Problem?”

I turn to find Key standing in the doorway with an amused smirk on his lips.

---