- Until my hands were locked around his neck.
- He scooped me up and carried me to the bed.
- My wrists pinned above my head.
- His kisses trailed down my throat, to my
- collarbone, lower.
- His breath was hot against my skin, his
- moans a low rumble in my ear.
- <
- My body melted against his.
- I fumbled with my hearing aid, pulling it out.
- My last vestige of control.
- He chuckled, his breath warm against my ear,
- as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.
- Then his moans grew louder, more
- unrestrained.
- Even with only one ear, the sounds filled the
- room.
- The night was still young.
- 26.
- After college, Ethan and I got married.
- When we came back from our honeymoon.
- Mom and Dad had bought a small house in
- the suburbs for their retirement.
- Worried about their old belongings getting
- damaged by movers, they insisted on packing
- and moving everything themselves.
- Ethan and I went to help.
- L
- The bottom of a box Mom was carrying
- ripped open, spilling the contents across the
- floor.
- I went to help her gather the scattered items, recognizing my old high school textbooks. My fingers brushed against a leather–bound
- yearbook.
- On a whim, I opened it.
- Each page was filled with messages from my
- Northwood classmates, wishing me luck on
- the SATS, hoping I’d get into an Ivy League,
- and wishing me happiness.
- Below were their own dreams for the future.
- Half hoping for wealth and beauty, the other
- half to become famous musicians or actors.
- My finger traced the last entry.
- Ethan’s.
- Back then, everyone had been passing the
- yearbook around, scribbling messages.
- The classroom was chaos.
- く
- I’d been too busy writing my own messages
- to read every entry.
- This was the first time I was seeing Ethan’s.
- His handwriting was bold and messy, just like
- him.
- Name: Ethan Wilde
- Height: 6’2”
- Address: Unknown.
- His message to me was a simple “Hope you
- get into Harvard.”
- But at the bottom, under “Aspirations,” he’d
- written two words:
- “Marry you.”
- Bonus Chapter (Ethan’s Perspective):
- 1.
- Ethan never told Sarah.
- The moment she walked onto the stage and
- introduced herself, he knew.
- Those familiar eves
- <
- That soft, clear voice.
- “Hi everyone, my name is Sarah. Sarah with
- an ‘h‘.”
- He remembered a little girl in blue overalls,
- tagging along behind him.
- “My name is Sarah. Sarah with an ‘h‘.”
- He’d become friends with Sarah.
- He’d spend all his allowance on candy for her.
- “My candy is only for my wife,” he’d say.
- He’d known, with a child’s certainty, that a
- wife was someone you spent your whole life
- with.
- Sarah would say, “Then I’ll be your wife.”
- Thanks to him, six–year–old Sarah got her
- first cavity right before losing her baby teeth.
- Seeing her standing there on the stage, in the
- maroon plaid skirt and white blouse of the
- Northwood uniform.
- His heart had skipped a beat.
- く
- His wife was back.
- Someone noticed his stunned expression.
- He glared at them and pretended to be asleep
- on his desk.
