Page 116 of Forever and Ever

My eyebrows pull tight as I scan the paper, looking for any hint. I shake my head. “No, sorry, but I love it.”

Noah crosses the room grinning. “Flip it over.”

I do, and on the back of the paper, he’s scribbled something.

Follow the yellow brick road

Even when the path gets dark and bleak

Follow the yellow brick road

No matter where it starts to lead

There are truths to find

Fears that thrive

Places deep you’ll hide behind

But if you

Follow the yellow brick road

In time, in time, in time

You’re home

It’s my song, The Road Home.

I turn the paper over again and look at the girl at the end of the path and see it now. My words brought to life in his drawing. The girl has made it past the thorns and through the forest, and she’s standing at the other side, with a heart in her hands.

She’s home.

“Noah,” I say, tears brimming in my eyes. “It’s a dick thing to do to make me cry when I just got here.”

I swat the paper at him playfully as he sinks down next to me on the bed, but he ignores it.

“Do you like it?”

Setting the paper back in the box, I put it on the bedside table. I turn to wrap my arms around his shoulders, and he quickly pulls me into his lap, so I’m straddling him.

“I love it.”

“You said you’ve been looking for the right fairytale to finish your right arm, I thought you should finish it with your own.” He smiles.

“That’s so cheesy. Did you practice that speech while I was gone?”

Noah shrugs.

“Well…” I lean in. “Cheesy or not, I love it.”

Noah wraps his arms tighter around my body and it feels like I’m home in this moment. His pale blue eyes are fixed on mine, and I lean in to press my lips to his. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been like this.

After surgery, there was a lot of healing. And even if he stayed at Monica’s house with me, it wasn’t a pretty recovery. I was in a lot of pain, and he was understanding through all of it.

I’ve missed being lost against his lips and in his arms. I open my mouth for him to slip his tongue in and I sink deeper into it, trying to make up for every moment we’ve missed.

Noah’s fingers clench on the back of my shirt, and I know he feels the tension like I do, thick enough we could cut through it.

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