Page 97 of That First Flight
“I’m being serious here.” She contradicts herself with a laugh. “I don’t know if any of this would be possible without you.”
“You would have made it here. I believe it with everything inside of me,” I tell her the truth.
“You gave me the push. You gave me confidence.”
“Dragonfly,” I breathe out, reminding Macey of the tattoo on her forearm that she still hasn’t told me about. “You’ve always had the confidence inside of you. It was just masked by the armor you kept to protect yourself and your daughter.”
“I…” Her words fall short. She’s left stunned and speechless that I figured her all out.
Macey should know by now that she’s taken over my life enough that I’ve learned everything about her.
I’ve learned about her good days and her bad days.
I’ve learned what little things make her smile and the things that make her sad.
Dragonflies symbolize our ability to overcome hardships. They are a reminder to take time to connect with your own inner strength, courage and happiness.
Maybe she got the tattoo because it was pretty.
Or maybe she got it because it’s the reminder she always needed.
But I’ll call Macey dragonfly everyday if I need to, just to remind her.
“Listen,” I continue, attempting to change the subject. “Emiline texted me earlier today. She wants to take Mackenzie out to lunch and for a girls’ day tomorrow? They want to go pick out a birthday gift for James too.”
Macey’s mouth parts in shock. “She does?”
“Does that surprise you?”
“I… I mean. I don’t know,” she stutters her words. “I’m not used to that. She doesn’t have people like that in her life who want to do things with herjust because. Besides Samuel and Flora. Usually there’s always an ulterior motive.”
“You should probably get used to it. None of us are going anywhere.”
I rise from the table, grabbing both of our dishes and begin cleaning up.
“Also, are you off Sunday?”
“I am.”
“Good. You’re coming with me to the birthday party. Another thing you should probably get used to.” I wink.
Macey doesn’t reply to my comment. She doesn’t need to.
I know she’s going to be there Sunday.
“Are you going to be up for a bit?” she finally asks.
I try to fight back a yawn, because if Macey wants to stay up I willgladlystay up with her.
But she catches me and tries to backtrack. “Because I’m pretty tired,” she says.
That’s a lie.
She quickly turns to leave, taking four giant steps toward the hallway. It’s honestly really adorable how nervous she is around me. I get the feeling because everything with her makes me nervous. Especially these new feelings I have for her.
“Hey, Macey. Before you go to bed,” I call out.
“Yeah?” She turns around, her hair whipping around behind her at how quickly she turned to face me.