Memories

Memories
by sammo_00

“The stars are beautiful tonight,” she said, tilting her neck back to look up at the twinkling night sky.

“You and those stupid stars,” he laughed, wrapping an arm loosely around her waist as she stared up in silent wonder. Stars have always been so calming for her, which was disappointing because it was so difficult to see them in the bright city setting. This night was different, however. Her boyfriend had ‘kidnapped’ her and taken her to a park on the outskirts of town to surprise her for their anniversary.

With a smile on her face, she turned to her boyfriend. “I’ll have you know mister, that those stars have been whispering to me since I was a baby,” she teased, laying her head against his shoulder.

“And what do they say?” he whispered against her soft hair. “Do they whisper to you of the love I have for you? How I cannot bear to be apart from you? How I ache when we’re not together?”

“Nope,” she answered, pulling back to look at his face. “They tell me I’m the most awesome chick in the world and how lucky you are that I allow you to be in my presence.”

“Shut up,” Lee laughed, pulling her into a hug. “Smart ass.”

“Let go of me!” Mandy shrieked against his chest. “You jerk!” She pushed against his chest playfully and he fell back a step, looking down at her with a smile on his face. Mandy pouted, sticking out her bottom lip and Lee laughed.

“Do you know how cute you are when you pretend to be angry?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I’m not pretending,” Mandy huffed. “I really am mad. I’m angry and I demand that you take me home this instance. Call me smart ass. What’s wrong with you?” She turned her back to him and leaned against the fence, allowing the light breeze to lift the hair from her neck.

“What’s wrong with me?” Lee repeated, raising his eyebrow. He took a step forward and, wrapping his arms around Mandy’s waist, laid his chin on her shoulder. “I’m with a beautiful girl who smells like angels under a mass of twinkling stars. There’s nothing wrong with me.”

Mandy huffed again, but Lee could almost hear the smile on her face. God he loved that about her. She was so dramatic but it always kept things alive.

Their relationship had gotten off to an incredibly rocky start. Mandy had been hurt by a few guys and had some difficulty trusting guys. She’d been struggling with depression for almost eight years and had even once been hospitalized for attempted suicide. That was when Lee met her.

Walking through the hospital to check on a co-worker who had the smart idea to get his dive gear stuck in some underwater pilings, he caught a glimpse of her in her hospital bed, staring out the window, gauze wrapped around her wrist, and silent tears streaming down her face. He stood out in the hallway for what seemed an eternity, just staring at her and feeling his heart break for someone he didn’t know. He came back the next day with a small daisy in a pot and left it just inside the door while she had her back turned. Lee was scared to death and had no idea what he was doing. Leaving flowers for girl who was stupid enough to attempt suicide that he didn’t even know? The third day he came back, there was an envelope stuck to the door that said “To the person who left the flower” on the outside. He plucked it from the doorframe and as he did that, the door opened wide and the girl stood there, her chin sticking out and fire in her eyes.

“Who the fuck are you?” she demanded. Right then and there Lee decided he was going to marry her. Who tries to commit suicide and then has such a fire lighting up their soul?

But for that moment, Lee could just stare at her, completely blank. His jaw hung open and he registered how stupid he looked, but it didn’t seem as though he could do anything about it.

The girl huffed (a sound he would come to love) and stepped back. “Get in here before I cause a scene screaming at you in the middle of the hospital,” she ordered, shutting the door behind him as he crawled in like a dog with its tail between its legs.

She sat down primly on the bed, or as primly as one can when wearing the hospital gown. Lee remained standing, the envelope still in his hand, staring down at the floor, feeling like a complete idiot.

“Are you incapable of speech?” she asked, and Lee looked up at her, noticing how the sun streaming in through the window seemed to light up her hair so it looked like a halo.

“No,” he murmured, shaking his head. “Just a little caught off-guard.”

“Wow, that’s hard to imagine. A guy like you who leaves flowers in random girls hospital rooms. Caught off-guard. Huh, what a shocker,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Are you supposed to be a guardian angel?”

Lee fought the urge to laugh. This girl was being so defensive it was almost bordering on ridiculous. She was almost acting as though he had climbed in the bed and tried to forcibly rape her or something!

“Not a guardian angel,” he answered slowly. “Just a guy.”

“Oh. Does this guy have a name?” she asked, leaning back on her hands, shaking her hair off her face.

“Lee,” he replied, finally looking her in the face. Good God her eyes were beautiful. A dark velvet brown, but she looked so tormented, as though all hell on earth were trapped behind her irises.

“Oh hello Lee, I’m Mandy, the girl you’ve been pseudo-stalking. Wanna tell me why you left a flower in a pot in my room yesterday? Or is this just normal practice for you?” she responded, tilting her head to the side.

Lee smiled and shook his head. “I’ve never actually done it before. Well, stuck a flower in a girl’s room I didn’t know. And I don’t know why I did it. I saw you in your room two days ago, looking out the window and you were crying. I guess I wanted you to feel better,” he shrugged. He didn’t really know why he had done it. He just kind of did it.

“What?” she said sharply, sitting upright. “You saw me crying?” Her eyes widened and she almost seemed to diminish, shrinking until she was practically hiding inside the hospital gown. Scared, Lee took a step forward, but Mandy held up one shaking hand. “Don’t… just don’t. Go away,” she whispered, and Lee realized with a start that she was holding out the hand with the gauze wrapped around it. Without thinking, he reached forward and gently grasped her hand, stepping forward until he was standing right next to the bed. Leaning down, he placed a finger under her chin and gently tilted her head back. Two tears slid down her cheeks from her closed lids and he sighed.

“Mandy, it’s ok. Really,” he murmured. “You’re fine. Everything is ok.” Her fingers tightly grasped the front of his shirt and he could feel the warmth of her tears as she cried against his body. As soon as it started though, she was done, and leaning away from him.

“Please leave,” she said as stiffly as possible. Lee took one look at her red eyes and nodded, stepping towards the door.

As he opened it though, he looked back at the tortured girl sitting on the bed. “I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said. “That daisy needs a friend.” Before she could reply, the door closed and he was gone.

And he went for the next three days, until she was released from the hospital. He brought back a tulip, a rose and another daisy, this one pink after Mandy let slip that pink was her favorite color. The day that Mandy was released, Lee asked her for her number, and asked if it was alright if he called her sometime. With a faint blush, she wrote her number down with a shaky hand. Two weeks later, they went out on their first official date.

“Do you know I still have those daisies?” Mandy asked, leaning her head against his.

“Really?” he asked, tightening his grip around her waist. “And how did you know that’s what I was thinking about?”

“It’s not difficult sweetie,” she teased. “You’re as easy to read as a book, and just so you know, I am capable of looking at a calendar. I know what today is.”

Lee sighed. Despite the time that had passed and the therapy, it was still such a touchy subject for the two of them to discuss. She sometimes refused to acknowledge how close she’d come to dying and Lee couldn’t bear it when she made light of the situation. It was a thin line they both walked, especially on days that were rough for Mandy. Fortunately, Lee had something that would hopefully make the majority of Mandy’s problems a thing of the past.

“Baby, let’s not argue, please?” he pleaded against her hair, his fingers gripping her waist just a bit tighter.

Mandy turned around in his arms and gave him a searching look. “Argue?” she echoed. “What are we arguing about? I just said I know what today is.”

“And every time this subject comes up, we end up fighting,” he replied, looking down at her. She turned her head to the side, the moonlight glinting off the vertical industrial in her ear. Lee hadn’t wanted her to get such an ugly piercing, but Mandy had insisted and finally Lee had accompanied her to a piercing parlor. He hadn’t been able to stay in the room with her, and the sound of her cry of pain made his heart clench, just as he knew it would. The thought of Mandy enduring any more unnecessary pain made Lee’s heart skip a beat.

He had heard stories from some of his co-workers about the all-encompassing feeling when you’re in love. He had just laughed. He was never going to fall in love; it just wasn’t for him. Girls were great for a fun time, but then they got all clingy and annoying and that just wasn’t for him. Besides, you can’t party if you’ve got kids hanging around and all life is a party.

But then he saw that girl crying in that hospital room and suddenly, screwing around didn’t seem so…fun anymore. In fact, the whole idea of being with someone else just to fuck didn’t appeal to him at all. In any way. And all he wanted to do was be with this beautiful sad girl. Hear her laugh. See her smile. Touch her. Love her.

Yes, he loved her. But he couldn’t tell her. After everything she’d been through, Mandy didn’t believe in love. She’d once told him that she could never believe anyone who said they loved her because she knew it was just a ploy to get something out of her. And Lee knew that if he said that to her, she’d leave him, and he didn’t think he could let her go.

“We don’t fight,” Mandy asserted, sticking her bottom lip out the way Lee loved so much. “We have an animated discussion.”

“Last time, you threw a pillow at me and told me to take a long walk off a short pier with sharp rocks at the end,” he reminded her, letting go of her waist and crossing his arms across his chest.

Mandy bit her lip and looked up at him through her lashes. “Well, so? It was a soft pillow and I didn’t mean it. You didn’t do it anyway, so what’s it matter?” She turned her back and started walking away. Lee just looked after her, loving the way her hair moved in the breeze. God, he loved her so much. Why couldn’t he tell her and damn the consequences?

Mandy could feel his eyes on her as she walked away. She knew she sometimes overreacted, but Lee always threw it out of proportion. She didn’t die. She wanted to. Sometimes, she still did. Sometimes the urge to go in the kitchen and get a knife was almost overpowering and she almost succumbed, but then she would remember the look on Lee’s face when he showed up at the door for their first date. She had been so nervous. He was taking her to some fancy steak house in Virginia Beach and she had to get dressed up real fancy. She was so self-conscious about the outfit she was wearing, but when she walked in the room and Lee saw her, the look on his face almost blew her away. The look of awe in his eyes and the way he just stared straight at her. It was an expression she had never seen again, but one she would never forget. That entire night had been magical. He brought her more flowers, still in pots, held the car door for her, and when the night was over, had kissed her softly on the cheek before whispering good night and walking into the night. It took her all night to convince herself it wasn’t just a dream and when he had texted her the next morning, she almost fell out of her chair.

Of course, things weren’t always so perfect. He got so serious about what put her in the hospital and while Mandy agreed that it was something serious, it wasn’t THAT serious. Sometimes, he just needed to cool out. But what scared Mandy lately was the look that Lee got in his eyes every time they looked at each other. His eyes somehow seemed deeper and darker, and he always seemed on the verge of saying something but could never get it out.

Mandy knew what he wanted to say. She’d known for a while. Ever since they had laid in his bed together, fully clothed, and held hands until she fell asleep, she had known that he loved her. But knowing and hearing him saying it were two different things. Especially considering she didn’t know what her response would be. She always thought love was the most fabulous thing in the world. It was like a high, floating on a cloud for days on end, and nothing and no one could bring you down. At least, that’s what she thought. Then guys started lying to her. And trying to get in her pants.

After the fourth guy, and the subsequent break-up, she found herself in front of her bedroom mirror one night, eyes red and hair wild. She had somehow managed to grab a knife from the kitchen set and brought it upstairs with her. Mandy had sat in front of the mirror for almost an hour, trying to figure out what made her such a loser. When she couldn’t bear to look at herself any longer, she picked up the knife and ran a fingertip down the blade, then tried an experimental cut on her inner thigh. The crushing weight on her chest seemed to be relieved for just a moment and in that moment, Mandy found a new way to deal with her pain.

When things got too bad, she’d pull out anything with a blade on it, a knife, a razor, a straight razor, even scissors (though they didn’t accomplish much), and make a small mark on her skin in a place that was easily covered by clothes.

But it wasn’t enough. Instead of dealing with the pain, Mandy just hid it deep inside her. One night, she couldn’t bear it any longer and escaped into the bathroom, where she pulled out a long knife. Fortunately, her younger sister was home and heard the thud when Mandy passed out on the bathroom floor and managed to stem the flow of blood while the ambulance was on the way.

When Mandy woke up in the hospital with searing pain in her left arm, she was confused. She didn’t think there would be any pain after death. Then she thought maybe she was in Hell, which was why she still hurt. It wasn’t until she heard the soft beeping of the machine next to hear ear that she realized where she was. The anger flared up in her, red hot, and she leaped out the bed, almost tearing the IV from her arm. She pulled against the cord almost half-heartedly, then sank against the bed with her head in her arms. She had failed. She was just as worthless at killing herself as she was at everything else in life. That whole day, she spent staring out the window, crying silently, not responding to anyone, not even the doctor.

At the end of her second day in the hospital, on her way to the bathroom, she noticed a small pot sitting on the floor next to her door. Mandy opened the door and looked up and down the hallway but didn’t see anyone. She closed the door and stared at the small flower for almost a minute, trying to figure out if she had finally lost her mind. When she picked it up and it didn’t disintegrate, she carried it across the room and put it on the nightstand. She took a piece of paper and folded it over, writing “To the person who left the flower” on the outside. After waking up the next morning, Mandy stuck the piece of paper in the door, and, pulling the chair close to the door, she waited.

She didn’t know what she was going to say if anyone grabbed it. She didn’t even know if anyone was going to grab it. All she wanted to know was if she was losing her mind or not. Maybe losing all that blood had knocked a few more screws loose. Just what she needed.

Just when she was getting ready to call it quits, she heard a soft scraping at the door. She counted to three and stood up, throwing the door open.

Before thinking about it, she ground out, “Who the fuck are you?” and almost immediately wanted to apologize for it, but the guy standing at the door took her breath away for a moment. He was only about 5’9, not much taller than her, with tanned skin and buzzed hair. But it wasn’t his looks that took her breath away. It was the look that he was giving her. Like he was looking into her soul. Mandy wanted to break eye contact, but she somehow knew that it wasn’t going to be possible. Looking into this guy’s eyes was almost intoxicating. His dark eyes smoldered with curiosity, surprise, and something else that Mandy couldn’t quite pinpoint.

Taking a deep breath, Mandy realized she couldn’t show weakness. If this was the jerk who thought he could enter her room and leave things without her knowing, he had another thing coming. She let out her breath rather sharply and, opening the door wider, said, “Get in here before I cause a scene screaming at you in the middle of the hospital.” The guy looked at her a little bewildered, but stepped through. Mandy shut the door behind him and then, turning gracefully, sat down on the edge of the bed, trying to prevent the hospital gown from showing the guy anything more than was necessary.

The guy just stood there with the piece of paper in his hand, staring at the ground. Mandy cocked her head and waited for him to say something, anything, but when almost a minute passed, she decided enough was enough.

“Are you incapable of speech?” she asked, a little too harshly, but what did it matter in the long run? She would probably never see him again.

He finally looked in her direction, but couldn’t quite meet her eyes, before he shook his head and said, “No, just a little caught off-guard.”

Mandy scoffed. What an idiot. Really? “Wow, that’s hard to imagine. A guy like you who leaves flowers in random girls hospital rooms. Caught off-guard. Huh, what a shocker,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Some guys were idiots! “Are you supposed to be a guardian angel?” she asked, leaning forward, trying to give this idiot an opening. No wonder she tried to kill herself. With all these stupid people in the world, she just didn’t want to deal with it anymore. Didn’t he even have an excuse? Or is he just going to stand there like a lump with no IQ?

“Not a guardian angel. Just a guy,” he replied.

This guy was so thick! Mandy could have strangled him. “Oh. Does this guy have a name?” she asked nastily. She knew she was being rude, but she couldn’t help it. He was being irritatingly slow. Did she have to spoon-feed him everything?

“Lee,” he responded slowly. His eyes finally met hers and for a wild moment, she felt a shock run up her spine and her scalp tingled. His eyes had that look in them again, and Mandy felt momentarily uncomfortable.

She tried to shake it off and, tilting her head, put a playful expression on her face. “Oh hello Lee, I’m Mandy, the girl you’ve been pseudo-stalking. Wanna tell me why you left a flower in a pot in my room yesterday? Or is this just normal practice for you?” She leaned forward, acting as though she couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say next.

“I’ve never actually done it before. Well, stuck a flower in a girl’s room I didn’t know. And I don’t know why I did it. I saw you in your room two days ago, looking out the window and you were crying. I guess I wanted you to feel better,” he replied, twisting the piece of paper in her hand.

“What?” she replied, her eyes widening. “You saw me crying?” Mandy’s heart plummeted. He saw her crying? Why the hell wasn’t that damn door closed? He saw her? Two days ago? The first day she was…still here? For a moment, Mandy couldn’t breathe. The thought of someone she didn’t know almost sharing that moment with her scared her and left her almost faint. It had been fine when it was just her dealing with it because it was her problem. But now this guy, this weird random guy, felt some stupid connection with her because he felt sorry for her?

Her mind started screaming that he needed to leave but Mandy wasn’t able to fully articulate it. Her body curled up on itself and when the guy, Lee, took a step forward, Mandy held up her left hand. It was taking all she had not to break down in tears in front of this guy and she did NOT need him to see her crying again.

“Don’t…just don’t,” she whispered brokenly. “Go away.” Her eyes slid closed and while waiting for the sound of the door opening and closing, it suddenly occurred to her that the guy was touching her hand. The hand with the bandages on it. The…oh God, it hurts so badly.

Almost unwillingly, she grabbed onto his shirt with a death grip and just broke down on his chest. She heard him whispering something, but couldn’t hear it over the pounding in her head. As soon as the tears started though, her sanity returned and she leaned back, refusing to look the man in the eyes. “Please leave,” she said as stiffly as possible. The guy gave her a once over and nodded, stepping towards the door.

As he opened it, however, he turned back. “I’ll be back tomorrow. That daisy needs a friend.” The door shut and he was gone.

Mandy collapsed on the bed, the tears flowing hot and heavy as her body shook with her sobs. She cried herself to sleep and spent the night dreaming of talking daisies who chased after her with knives made of flower petals.

The next day, Lee showed up again. And the next day. And the next day after that. He was even there when she got discharged from the hospital. Their conversations were never meaningful, and the time mostly consisted of him giving her the flower and smiling while she stared out the window, wishing she were a bird so she could go far away from all the problems in her life. After the doctor left with the discharge papers, Lee handed her a small slip of paper and asked, very quietly, if he could have her number to call her sometime. For a moment, Mandy debated against giving it to him. But the look in his eyes that she saw every time he looked at her convinced her to give it to him.

Two weeks later, he had turned her world upside down. And he still managed to do so.

She closed her eyes against the cool breeze and smiled slightly. Mandy loved being outside. It was the freest time of the day. And Lee knew that. In fact, he knew most everything about her, aside from maybe two things. And one of those things he was not going to know for a very long time. But maybe it was time tonight to let him know…that she loved him. With all her heart.

Mandy had known she loved him almost four months ago. When a day went by without a text or a call and she had gotten frantic, concerned that something had happened and Lee was in the hospital lying dead or something. Of course, her imagination tended to run wild and it turned out that he had dropped his phone in a sink full of water and wasn’t able to turn it on to retrieve her number. But when she realized that her day didn’t feel complete and that she didn’t feel complete without having talked to him, she knew. And it scared the crap out of her. She didn’t want to love him. She didn’t want that feeling of dependency. She didn’t want to give him heart and then lose him. That’s why she hadn’t told him yet. But maybe tonight was the night. That would make sense. This night was important.

She heard his footfalls in the grass behind her and turned around, looking up into his eyes. Before she could open her mouth though, his lips were on hers.

He couldn’t help it. The look on her face, the soft moonlight casting a silvery glow on her hair, her eyes shining with happiness. He couldn’t continue resisting her when she just looked so damn beautiful, and didn’t even know it.

Her lips were soft under his and he gently nipped at her bottom lip, eagerly awaiting the soft sigh she always graced him with when they were kissing. Before the kiss could deepen though, he pulled away, his body immediately craving the return of her warm embrace. He reached behind his neck and grabbed her hands, lowering them to waist level before locking eyes with her.

“Mandy?” he said quietly.

“Mmm?” she murmured, her eyes drifting closed. But a sudden shift in balance made her open them again and she gasped, one hand going to her throat.

No. No this cannot be happening. This can NOT be happening right now, she thought wildly, trying to calm her racing heart. Lee was on one knee in front of her, one hand holding hers and the other holding a small black box.

Lee looked up at her and smiled. That look was back in his eyes and suddenly, Mandy recognized it for what it was. Love. Her breath hitched in her throat and she just stared at Lee, speechless.

Lee cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Ok, so this isn’t exactly how I was planning on doing this, but I figure now’s as good a time as any,” he said quickly, trying to get it over with before Mandy passed out. She was breathing really shallowly and her face had gotten rather pale. “This past year has been…well it’s been indescribable. We’ve had our ups and downs and things have been hard, but we’ve gotten through it all and now we’re here. One year after your suicide attempt. 363 days since we first met. 359 days since I got your number. 302 days since our first kiss. And this is something I’ve been wanting to ask you for a few months, not only because it’s something I want, but because it’s something I think you need.”

With each word, Mandy got a little fainter until his last sentence. Wait. He thought she NEEDED to get married? Why on earth does she NEED to get married? What will that accomplish? She looked at him questioningly, tightening her grip on his hand.

“Mandy,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Will you move in with me?”

For a moment, the entire world seemed to freeze. Mandy just stared at him, her mouth partly open, barely breathing. Then, the world came crashing down and Mandy’s eyes got wide, then narrowed, then she started laughing, then crying and before Lee knew what was happening, she was on the ground curled up in a ball. He gasped and lunged forward, leaning down next to her. The next thing he knew, she was in his lap with both arms wrapped around his neck and his shirt was warm with her tears.

“You goofball,” she hiccupped against his neck. “You already know the answer to that question.”

“I do?” Lee asked, trying to pry her away from his body so he could look at her, but she was holding on to him so tightly he thought he would lose circulation.

“Yes, of course I will,” she cried, hiccupping again. “Now what’s in the box?”

He laughed and held it up so she could see it. When she turned her head, he flipped it open to reveal a small silver key on a chain. “It’s a key to my place. If you move in, you’ll need one,” he explained.

Mandy leaned back so she could look him in the eyes. “Are you sure this is what you want?” she asked. “Having to deal with me 24/7? You know if you live with me, there’s no escape. And my pets come too. You know that, right? You’ll have to share a bed with a cat. Are you ok with that?”

Lee laughed and leaned forward, rubbing noses with the girl he loved. “Yes baby, I know that and I’m perfectly ok with that. In fact, I’d prefer sleeping with the cat over you. You tend to hog the blankets and you have cold feet.” He felt her jaw drop and pulled back, mirth dancing in his eyes.

Suddenly though, he could feel the mood shift, just as though someone had thrown a blanket over the moon.

“I have to tell you something,” Mandy whispered, looking down at the ground and playing with the sleeve of his shirt. Lee put the box down in the grass and, reaching forward, gently grasped her chin and turned her face towards him.

“You can tell me anything,” he said softly and she looked him in the eyes. For a moment, the love he saw shining there almost blew him over and then, just as suddenly, she was looking away again. He must have imagined it. She murmured something against his hand and he leaned closer. “What babe?” he asked.

“This is really hard for me to say, so don’t ask me to repeat it, ok?” she pleaded, still not looking him in the eyes. Lee nodded, his entire body as tight as a guitar string. “Lee, this past year has been unbelievable. I spent so long in the darkness that I never thought I would see the light and then suddenly, there you were, with your stupid daisies and your silly stories and your ridiculous fashion sense and suddenly, life didn’t seem so bad anymore. And every time it got bad, you were there to make it better. And you never once complained. Never. And for the longest time I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, because that’s what I do. I wait for the bad thing to happen because that’s what I’m conditioned to believe. I don’t…nothing good ever happened to me until you randomly decided to become a voyeur and trespass into my life. And for that, every single day, I am grateful.” She paused and reached up, gently tracing the side of his face. His eyes slid shut and he could feel her breathing next to him. “Lee,” she whispered, “I love you with all my heart and I don’t ever want to stop loving you.”

Lee opened his eyes and looked right at Mandy. Her eyes were bright with tears and her lip was trembling. “Why are you crying?” he asked softly, cupping her cheek with one hand. She shook her head and bit her bottom lip.

“I’m a girl. I get emotional,” she choked out, smiling tremulously through the tears.

“Then I’ll give you a reason to get emotional,” Lee whispered as he leaned close to her. “Cuz the feeling is mutual. I didn’t believe in love until I met you and now I can’t imagine my life without you and all your problems. Even your strange fascination with peanut butter is something that makes my life worth everything now and I can’t…I can’t imagine spending one day without talking to you.” She laughed through her tears and looked at him.

“Really?” she asked.

“Really really,” he replied. “I love you Mandy. With every fiber of my being. And good God I have wanted to say that for almost five months. Why do you have to be so difficult?”

Mandy laughed again and grinned. “If I wasn’t difficult, then there would be no reason to keep you around.”

“Oh trust me,” Lee said as he tightened his arms around her waist, “there’s plenty keeping me around.”

THE END