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"How go the wedding plans?"

He s Britt’s handling stuff on this end and Ki the other stuff froift and a ring"

"Sounds like a great deal to ain "You doing okay?"

I put the beer down, resting s are delicate right noith you two Kim and I are a little worried"

I knehat that meant They were a lot worried In a lot of ways, their future happiness as a married couple was dependent upon hoell Eet et along, considering how close our family relationships were now

"That makes a lot of worried people, then," I said

"I’ve also been worried about you I know in cases like these, the person with the htly so But sometimes it’s hard to be the silent partner who has to keep it all together for the sick one"

I shrugged "I didn’t mind that It’s one of the rare few times she actually accepted any help from anyone" And I cutpull of beer because I hated the acid tone ofharder and harder to hide the bitterness

But he’d heard it and, like the sharp man that I kneas, zeroed in on it like I was a witness he was cross-exa in court "That’s the other difficulty…to deal with and stockpile the rightful resentment you’ve felt all these er when the person you are angry with is so sick"

I cleared ht ahead,on the table in front of me

He put a hand onthat way You’re huht to those feelings whether she’s sick or not"

"Hoere you and Kiure it all out so quickly?" I said finally, mostly to take the heat off of enuinely curious

He laughed "Quickly? She’s forty-three and I’m almost a decade older than her I wish I’d found her when I was your age But life doesn’t work that way I’ed "And when I knew she was the one foralone"

I nodded His words ran throughthe drive hoo in hts hen I see to think about

Instead, when I hit the top of the stairs, I went into her room--that private sanctuary that I’d hts on the dark water, hts Glancing over, I saorn blue bandana on the night table Picking it up and not knohy, I brought it toher

The scent washed over s that I’d been steadily atteainsther head under my chin The way I’d lie next to her,The shine in her beautiful golden-brown eyes when she was being particularly witty or funny The pout of her luscious lips right before I kissed them The sound of her heartbeat when I laid my head on her chest The taste of her tears when I coe in this one point in tied in to Dragon Epoch and first met her online as FallenOne to the last ti herself behind the wheel ofwith unshed tears and I actually wept into that damn bandana I missed her I needed her But I was still unsure of her

And I had no idea if I ever could be

The night before Peter and Ki, we met at a nearby restaurant to share a quiet dinner as a faht weeks and I was both excited and nervous to see her I had no idea what she had gone through during her time away I only kne difficult my own journey had been