Page 50 of Breathing Wisteria
She tilts her head up until her lips find mine, and she presses a dozen small kisses along them.
“You didn’t let me down that night.”
“If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t have been there. You didn’t want to go, I’m the one that forced the issue.” My hands grip her hips, trying to center myself as memories of that night rush me. The fear when I saw the flames curling around the stage curtain, already out of control by the time they were noticed. The chaos of the audience all scrambling for the exits and the terrified screams that fixed themselves into my consciousness where they remain to this day.
The immeasurable terror when I couldn’t find Wyatt, that never fully subsided because by the time I found her at the hospital, our lives were forever changed.
Wyatt grabs my face and turns it toward her, a determined look on her face.
“You listen to me. I was there that night because I wanted to be. That’s the only reason. We’ve spent the last ten years rewriting our story and painting ourselves as the villains.” She sighs deeply. “Nothing that happened that night was your fault. You’re not the bad guy. I was horrible to you, and I hope you really have forgiven me for that, because I am so fucking sorry. But getting lost in my grief and lashing out doesn’t make me a bad guy either.” She slides across my lap until she is straddling me. “How about we just say that we’re human and we fucked up. But there’s still plenty of time for us to turn this around and become the heroes we need to be.” Her arms wrap around my neck and she pulls me close until we’re nose to nose. “I promise to save you if you save me.”
I smile against her lips. “Always.”
“More popcorn?” Brax yells from the kitchen.
“Braxton Havenworth, inside voice!” Mel whisper-yells back. “You’ll wake up Billy.”
“Wait, Havenworth?”
Mel turns to Wyatt. “I know, he doesn’t look like a trust fund baby, does he? Until you live with him, that is. Then you find out exactly how spoiled his gigantic ass is.” She rolls her eyes and I fight back a laugh.
“What’s going on?” Brax looks at us all suspiciously when he re-enters the living room.
“You! Serenity byHavenworth!” Wyatt points an accusing finger at him. “You were the one responsible for the spa setup!”
“Ah, that.” Brax flops down onto the sofa beside his giggling wife. “I was playing cupid and doing it pretty fucking spectacularly. You can thank me anytime.”
“He was so damn proud of himself.” Mel laughs.
“I don’t know why,” I huff. “It was all my idea, he was just the connection. Everyone knows I’m the romantic one.”
“What!” Brax bolts upright, a look of outraged indignation on his face. “I am absolutely the more romantic one. Babe.” He taps Mel’s leg in the exact same way Billy does when he’s trying to get his mom’s attention. “Babe, tell them how I proposed.”
“Baby, that story isnotgoing to win you any points, try again.”
“It was romantic as fuck, what are you talking about?” Brax’s eyebrows are furrowed, his mouth turned down and his eyes are screaming confusion. It’s almost enough to make you pity the guy.
“Right after we had sex you told me you wanted to make me come every day for the rest of my life, so we should probably get married.”
Wyatt and I look at each other, both trying to stifle a laugh. Although, honestly? She is trying a little harder than me.
“Notromantic andnota story I could tell anyone.” Mel pouts before patting his arm. “It’s okay, babe, you have other qualities. It doesn’t matter if you’re not romantic.” She offers him a consolatory smile which causes me to lose my last little bit of self-control and a loud laugh rolls through me.
“Shut up, asswipe,” he grumbles. “Didn’t you propose at the age of ten or something. I highly doubt your story is more romantic than mine.” He turns to Mel with a ridiculous pout. “Which I still say wastotallyromantic bee tee dubs.”
Mel and I groan in unison, used to Brax’s theatrics, but we are cut off by Wyatt.
“Well, actually,” she begins, her face lit up teasingly. “Flynn’s proposal was pretty freaking romantic.”
“Oh my God, tell us! I bet he was all sullen and moody as a teenager, but with the heart of a poet.” Mel kneels up, her body leaning toward Wyatt expectantly while Brax scowls at me across the room.
“You’re about to show me up, aren’t you?”
“Yup.” I smirk at him unapologetically.
“Okay, so there were a few swamps near where we lived and one of them had this rickety-assed wooden pergola alongside it. It was so old and practically falling down, but it was covered in wisteria and every year, without fail, it bloomed these beautiful flowers.” She closes her eyes and inhales as though she can smell the scent that used to permeate the air on the nights we lay under it. “It was my favorite spot in the entire world. We would take a blanket and just talk for hours. I fell in love with him under that pergola, breathing in those flowers. It felt…” Her voice trails off and she blushes. “Magical. It sounds corny, but that’s the only way I can describe it. Anyway.” She shakes her head, a small smile playing on her lips. “One day we were there, it was just an ordinary day. I was sketching, and he was on his guitar, writing lyrics and playing around with a melody.” Her eyes meet mine and I know that we’re both back in the moment, remembering the moment I made the smartest decision of my life.
“The sun started to set so I began to pack away my stuff when he hands me the piece of paper he had been writing on all afternoon. When I read it, it was a song about us. About us getting married and taking on the world together. It was called ‘Partner in Crime’ and down the bottom of the page he had written,I love you. Marry me. Today, tomorrow, or five years from now, I don’t care. But say yes.” She looks at me and smiles so big, she reminds me of that girl beside the swamp, under the wisteria, who hadn’t tasted the bitterness of tragedy yet.
