“Good.”
She brushed a loose strand of hair away from her face.
“Because I don’t need rescuing.”
“I know.”
“I’m choosing you because when I was at my lowest, you treated me like a person instead of a problem. And when I nearly made a decision out of pain, you gave me the freedom to wait.”
Her voice softened.
“That mattered more than you know.”
I stood up.
“Karen, I have been trying to find a way to say this for months.”“Then stop trying so hard.”
She smiled.
And I kissed her.
It wasn’t dramatic.
There was no music, no sudden change in the weather, no perfect line spoken at exactly the right moment.
There was simply Karen’s hand against my cheek, my arms around her waist, and the quiet realization that something I had wanted for months was finally happening because we had both chosen it.
When we pulled apart, she rested her forehead against mine.
