Page 152 of Never Started
Pfft! Barely! You’re pushing it, Big Guy.
Jett
I know giving up control is hard for you, Beauty. I know not having all the answers at the tips of your fingers isn’t easy. But I need you to do this. I need you to see...
Izzy
See what?
Jett
That it’s all been worth it.
How do I argue with that? Yet, he has high hopes because I’m mighty confused how everything I’ve been through has been ‘worth it,’ but I’ll roll with it. I guess.
Hesitantly, I approach the ginormous horse. He locks eyes with me, and I swear he’s sending warning glares my way.
“Look, fucker. I don’t like this any more than you do,” I mumble to the damn horse, and I climb up, trying to remind myself how to do this again.
It takes a moment, but Harry Trotter and I get in a groove, then begin following the pathway of candles out the back end of the barn.
I’m taken aback at the sight. Along with the candlelit mason jars,fairy lights are strung through the trees that line the path.
It’s breathtakingly beautiful.
Okay, maybe I’m a tad less annoyed now.
Harry Trotter and I are making slow progress, both unsure of one another. We round the first curve, and Polaroid pictures hanging in mason jars in the trees come into view.
Pulling the reins, Harry Trotter comes to a stop, giving me a moment to take it all in.
“Wow,” I gasp. They’re all pictures of Jett and me through the years when we were younger. How the hell does he still have these? There’s even one from the night we went skinny-dipping on the beach.
We move again, just as emotion overtakes me.
The next jar I come to has a note in it. I pull Harry Trotter to come to another stop, and reach for it, reading what it says aloud,“I want to remind you of why we never fell out of love.”
Tears threaten to build up while reading the note two more times. Although my instinct is to say,Fuck you, emotions,I let the joy wash over me. I let myselffeel.
I’m all too excited as we approach each jar toward what appears to be the end of the path. In the last jar is another note, again reading it aloud:“True love doesn’t simply end. Even if it sits dormant, it remains. Always evolving and forever changing over time. Through hardships, trials, and even distance, our spark still has the power to reignite into a flame.”
This man.
He’s literally forced me to take a stroll down memory lane, and I needed it. Seeing every picture, every memory, and every reminder of what startedushas me questioning why I ever ran to begin with.
A lone tear trickles down my cheek as the path gives way to a clearing.
It’sthespot.
The spot he tried to take me to all of those years ago.
I hop down off of Harry Trotter’s back just as Jett comes into view.
The entire scene takes my breath away—flowers in full bloom, the setting sun, and swarming butterflies. It’s exactly what I ran away from all those years ago and exactly what I’m running toward at this moment.
Literally, I’m running to him. Seeing him, I just... need to be near him.
“You actually showed up...” Jett says nervously, shifting on his feet as he shoves his hands into his pockets, as if to stop himself from reaching for me.I want him to.
