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“Are you okay—I ht? Your knee and—”

“I’m fine”

She shed nervously The sound lifted hihtless

I’ht just to reuy in this scene

“Do you mind if I sit? Just for a minute”

He couldn’t say no She was the way she’d been in Gerry for company that she’d sit doith the devil just for some conversation

He simply nodded, worried that if he opened his mouth, words he barely allowed himself to think would fly out

When she sat on the step and wrapped the sweater around her legs, resting her chin on her knees, Jesse let hihosts that were catching up with him He left the broken and battered shell of his body and allowed hi with the woman of his dreams He let possibility and hope hover close The what-ifs he refused to think about settled on his shoulders like snow

What if she were here to give him a second chance? What if life weren’t as cruel as he had always thought? What if it were possible for hiiven?

“I didn’t know you’d left Gerh he kneas a bad idea He re she’d said in Gerifts of herself she’dthose brief twenty-four hours He knew she hated , loved to run

He knew she was so lonely she cried hts

“There was nothing keeping hed “I didn’t have many friends and my mom was back and forth between Iraq and DC, so I decided to come here”

“Looking for a fa him loose and careless

She smiled at him “Constantly You want to adopt us?” She joked but it fell flat in the thick air

No, sweetheart, he thought, res he really wanted to do to her