Part of Your World

“Have you ever seen anything so perfectly beautiful?” I breathed.

I turned to Daniel. But he wasn’t watching the petals anymore. He was looking at me. “Yes…” he said quietly, holding my eyes. “You.

It’s amazing how someone can touch you, even if you only know them for a moment in time. How they can change you, alter you indelibly.

“Ali, men are two things. Disappointing and consistent. I believe you.”

“Doug is trying to seduce me with a poorly sung version of ‘More Than Words’ when he has an entire baby goat? If you have a baby goat, you always lead with ‘I have a baby goat.’”

I’d been with Neil seven years. I thought Neil would be the last man I’d ever be with. Then I’d broken up with him and I told myself that I was done. No more men. I didn’t need one. I didn’t need the hassle. I completely rejected the idea of dating ever again. I’d bought a very nice vibrator and I’d retired myself from the pool at thirty-seven. Zero interest.

The trees rustled in the wind, and petals floated down around us. They hovered in slow motion for a second time. The universe had dipped its snow globe again, just for us.

And we stood there in the magic, knowing full well what it was

“Are you telling me that you, a woman of science, believes that God had nothing better to do than trap you in Wakan?”

She shrugged. “Maybe she didn’t. And the town gets what it needs, doesn’t it?”

“I can’t really think of a better way to spend the next fifty years. And anyway, we sort of have to. Doug bet me a hundred bucks that we wouldn’t live happily ever after.”

I peered up at him with tears in my eyes. “I love you so much. I made the biggest mistake—”

I knew from experience that sometimes when the wake-up call is big enough, you do, in fact, wake up.