Chapter 14 - Learning Each Other Again
Freedom created a new problem.
They didn't know how to live normally.
Jackson remembered pieces of their old relationship, but not all of it.
Emily had changed.
So had he.
They decided not to recreate what had been stolen.
They would build something new.
Jackson took Emily to the coffee shop where they had first met.
It had become a bakery.
Emily laughed.
“Our romantic history is officially gone.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“I'd rather make new history.”
They traveled.
They argued.
They learned each other's habits again.
Emily hated Jackson leaving coffee cups everywhere.
Jackson discovered Emily still stole blankets.
They laughed more.
One evening, Emily removed the engagement ring from its chain.
Jackson noticed.
She placed it in his palm.
His expression fell.
Then she smiled.
“If you still want this, ask me again someday.”
Jackson closed his fingers around it.
May you like
Not because the old proposal didn't matter.
Because the next one should belong to the people they had become.
