Page 67 of The Strawberry Field

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“For loving me. For believing this life was still possible.”

He smiles.“Thank you,” he says, brushing my cheek.“For trusting me. For believing in me.”

We roll onto our backs and float, the sun warm on our faces, the lake wrapping around us like a promise.

It’s not a perfect world.

Far from it.

There’s sorrow. There’s loss. Unimaginable pain at times.

But there’s also love.

And for me, for us, that’s reason enough.

To stay.

To hope.

To begin again. Renewed. Like Jake’s strawberry field.

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