Izzy
The subway rocks gently.
I reach over and take Nate’s hand. When I do, I feel like I’m holding all the happiness in the world.
It took two years, but I’m here. And it all started when I thought there was no reason to go on anymore—and then fate gave me Nathaniel.
But while I was trying to let go I realized I couldn’t move forward if I was still hanging on to the past. And I really wanted to move forward—to this.
Nate looks down at our linked hands and smiles.
I scoot closer to him on the plastic subway bench seat.
“Where are we going again?” I ask.
“Home,” he says.
I rest my head on his chest. “Where’s that?”
He wraps his arm around me, pulls me close, then says, “Wherever you want it to be.”
I settle against him. It feels like we were just sitting like this yesterday.
The subway glides through a tunnel and the lights flicker around us. We’re moving forward. Together this time.
I think of something. “Did you ever go to Cinque Terre?”
Nathaniel’s eyes crinkle at the corners. “Not yet.”
Hmmm. I picture the Italian countryside, the towering cliffs, the sea, and the quaint towns, bakeries, coffee…and Nathaniel.
“What’re you doing tomorrow?” I ask.
His grins and his eyes go all dark, showing me exactly what he’ll be doing.
Ooookay.
“Or next week?” I amend.
He smiles approvingly.
Then he says, “Next week, I think I’ll be having an adventure. In Italy. With my wife.”
Oh, yes. I love him. I love him so much.
I stare at his happy expression, the line of his jaw, the turned-up corners of his lips.
“Izzy?”
“Hmmm?”
He grins. “This is where you say yes.”
I laugh at the happiness bubbling inside me. He gives me that smile, the one that looks like the noonday sun, but this time it doesn’t hurt, it feels a whole lot like love.
The subway slows and then the doors slide open. Nate stands and holds out his hand. This is his stop. The way home.
I smile up at him, and I put the sun in my smile too. “Yes. Absolutely yes.”
Nate grabs my hand and pulls me from the train in a joyous whirl.
It seems to me that when you ask the universe for a sign, it sure does know how to answer. It may take longer than you want, but eventually you’ll get to your destination.
And then, another adventure can begin.
The train starts to pull away but Nathaniel and I are already running up the steps, to happiness, to our future, to adventure and to love.
THE END