Barefoot

Epilogue Pt 1

He smiles as he waits for her, sitting beneath the maple tree. It's been three years that they've known each other now, and today is her birthday. His leather jacket it thrown over a low-hanging branch of the tree and he's wearing his swimsuit and a pair of sunglasses. It's nearly a hundred degrees today and he's glad they decided to come here.

He hears her before he sees her, her melodic voice floating out from the trees. She's taken to singing in the past year, and she's wonderful at it. She doesn't sing about anything in particular, just humming and singing notes to songs that play in her mind.

She emerges from the trees, barefoot as always, and he feels his heart speed up. She's the same as she was the day he met her; yet she's so different. She's wearing a white dress once again, but this one has a single strap that goes around her neck and is lower in the back than the other. It still reaches mid-thick and flows down, accentuating the curves of her body. Her hair is still long and thigh and fawn-colored, only it's longer now. It was to her shoulders then, but now it's all the way to her waist, swinging around her and framing her face. She must have picked flowers on her walk here, because she has multiple scattered throughout her hair and he can't help but think of how beautiful she is. Can't help but think about how lucky he is to call her his.

She smiles at him when her eyes land on him and his world brightens. "Flower," he calls, watching the way her green eyes light up as he says her favorite nickname. She leaps across the stream and the sharp rocks, now an expert on navigating it. He stands up and she runs to him, leaping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist as she hugs him tightly. "I missed you so much," she tells him.

"I missed you too, my love," he says into her hair, breathing her in. He has been gone for the last month, visiting his mother. She had moved, having gotten a new job at a new hospital. He had helped her move and then had ended up staying longer than he planned because his mother had insisted upon him looking at some of the local colleges. He had looked to make her happy, but he already had a job he loved. His mother kept coming up with excuses for him to stay, and she had missed him so much while he was gone, but she couldn't blame his mother. His mother had only gotten her son back a couple years ago after having lost him, and she didn't want him to leave.

She understood. She wanted him to herself too, but she let him go anyway. He wanted her to come, but she had declined to stay home and attend school. She had gone during summers and winter break and she had enough credits to graduate in a couple months, and then they had plans to travel.

And now here he was, back on her birthday. She couldn't think of a more perfect birthday gift. "Are you staying now?" She asks.

"Yes." He kisses her forehead. "I'm home."