Page 102 of A Wish for Us

I listened as the words washed over me. The lyrics that were me and him. That were us. I listened as Cromwell never played a note wrong, his voice expressing more in my lyrics than I could have done.

And I listened as Cromwell Dean, the boy I had seen on a grainy video all those years ago, reached my soul with his voice. As the music stopped and the moment came to its natural close, I waited until Cromwell looked at me and said, “You’ve given me my dream again.” I smiled and replayed his performance in my mind. “I’ve heard my words played back to me. The most perfect of songs.”

Cromwell put my guitar down and crawled into bed beside me. He wrapped his arms around me as though he could protect me. As though his hold could fend off the inevitable. I wanted to stay this way forever. “There’s not a part that I regret.” I felt Cromwell still. His body was tense as his lips brushed over my head. “You…Cromwell…there’s not a part of us that I regret. Not the beginning…not the middle…and certainly not the end…”

I fell asleep like that, waking in his arms too. And I decided it was how I wanted to say goodbye, how I wanted it to be when the day finally came.

Because it was perfect.

Hewas perfect.

Like this, life was perfect.

And it was how heaven would finally greet me.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cromwell

I walked down the corridor, each step heavier than the one before. And with every breath I took, the more my heart shattered apart. I saw the door closed and heard the low murmur of voices beyond it.

The call had come twenty minutes ago. I had left the hospital to grab a shower. The doctor had been coming to see her, so I’d said I’d be back soon.

The call told me that the moment I’d been dreading had arrived.

“Son…” Mr. Farraday had said on the other end of the phone. “The doctor has just been in… It’s time.”

I’d known it was soon. Bonnie was weaker than I’d ever seen anyone in my life. The color had disappeared from her face, but for her deep-purple lips.

I knew I was losing her…but I just couldn’t bring myself to let go.

My hair was wet and I had a lump in my throat that wouldn’t go. My feet led me to the room, but I didn’t want to arrive. Because if I arrived, it meant this was the end. And I refused to believe it was the end.

My hand hovered over the doorknob. My fingers shook as the knob turned. The room was quiet as I entered, Mr. and Mrs. Farraday sitting beside Bonnie, her hands in theirs. She was asleep, her pretty face perfect in slumber. I swallowed, my vision blurring with tears as I stared at her.

I couldn’t picture her gone.

I didn’t know what my life looked like without her, now that she was in it.

I couldn’t… I couldn’t…

Mrs. Farraday held out her hand. I wasn’t sure if my legs would move, butthey did. I slipped my hand in hers. She didn’t say anything. Tears streamed down her face as her daughter slept peacefully.

As her daughter lay dying.

As the love of my life slipped further from my grasp.

She already looked like an angel.

Mr. Farraday was on his cell. He shook his head, worry etched across his features. “He’s not answering. I can’t get hold of him.”

“Easton?” I asked.

“I told him to come back immediately. He said he was on his way. But he hasn’t come and I can’t get through to him.” Mr. Farraday ran his hand over his face, panic and stress evident in his eyes. “He went home for a shower. I should have gone with him. I—”

“I’ll go find him,” I offered. Then I looked back at Bonnie. “Is there enough time?” I rasped.

Mrs. Farraday’s hand clasped mine tighter. “There’s time.”