mine {h.s.} | {b3}

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

— CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE —

may, year two.

"Let's go to Hawai'i." The words were spoken late-April in the middle of the night. My head was on my naked husband's chest, our skin slick together after the extracurricular activities we'd just indulged in. I pressed a kiss there, my fingers tracing blindly over the tattoo that I've memorized.

"Hawai'i?"

"You said you wanted to go," he reminded me.

It took me a minute to gather my thoughts. I'd traced over the conversations we'd had over the past few days, trying to remember when I'd dropped the supposed hint that I'd wanted to go on a trip at all, let alone one to Hawai'i. But then, suddenly and all at once, the memory surfaced like a blinding light, refusing to be ignored.

We'd been sitting on the roof his car then. I'd been emotional, fretting all of the things that were going to be left behind once we progressed from interns to residents. I was nervous about changing. For the first time in my life, I had what I thought was the perfect life. I was scared to challenge that, terrified that the rug would be swept from under me if I tried to better myself. Added on top of the stress of taking one of the biggest exams of my life, I'd been a mess that night. To help me calm down, Harry sat on the roof of his car with me, the both of us looking up at the stars.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you?

Here.

No.

Well, it's true.

Fine. If you could live anywhere in the world except for Seattle, where would you?

I don't know. I've never really had the chance to.

Have you ever played a game like this before?

Um, no?

That's because you never had little sisters.

That is true, yes.

It's not a practical thing. You don't have to give the most honest well-thought out or practical answers. It's just meant to be a fun thing. You know? So, don't think, just say.

Turkey.

Why?

Didn't think, just said. It looks beautiful. I think I'm just ambitious. You know, I've never left the States and it just felt like... I don't know.

Dream vacation?

Hawai'i.

Nice.

Thank you.

"You remembered," I say, breathless as the adoration hits me right in the chest. All of this time I'd convinced myself that he would have forgotten about the smaller parts of the conversation. In the time since, perhaps some of the details have faded around the edges for me. After all, it took me a moment to remember what it was that he was talking about.

"Of course I did," his answer was instant, with hardly a moment of hesitation and I there was a moment in which I thought that I might cry as a result of it. "I would have taken us to Turkey, but I figured that would be a more ambitious vacation to take. I wanted to take you somewhere that you could relax. God knows you need it."

"God know we need it," I corrected, giving him a pointed look. "You do just as much around here as I do."

He didn't answer me, just shook his head. The ends of his hair—growing longer now—tickled against my cheek. "We never took a honeymoon. I want to take you somewhere nice." At the time, no honeymoon hadn't bothered me. Harry and I got married the first time on a whim, and counted our destination wedding as something of a honeymoon in itself. The second time, we had the baby on the way and we weren't up for moving around and planning a whole new trip while we were trying to account for so many life changes. Everything about our relationship has been a whirlwind; it hardly feels like three years have gone by since that first kiss. Next month will be the third anniversary of our first official date.