Chapter 44: Carter

Ahliyah came down the stairs in a red dress and black shoes, she smiled standing on the stairs. " I didn't know what I was supposed to wear. Sorry it took me so long." She said.

I grabbed her hand as we walked out the door. As I drove down the road looking for the building we were going to spend our night at. Ahliyah sat up looking at the lights lighting up the streets. " Where are we going? I know it's not the lake or cabin because we passed it already." She said.

I smirked trying not to tell her anything because this was our final date. We've been together for sometime now and we needed something different, something to remind us we made it together. We got this far together.

" It's a surprise." I laughed.

She huffed turning back to look at the window. I parked the car and looked back at the restaurant that had the lights on for us. " Close your eyes, I'm going to help you walk to the restaurant." She closed her eyes and she gave me her hand and we walked slowly to the restaurant.

We walked in and I smiled as I seen the flowers were on the table for her. The letters I spent months writing to her were wrapped together with a piece of thread. I counted to three before I moved her hand away from her eyes and I took a deep breath waiting to see what she thought.

She opened her eyes standing there in awe as she seen the way the table was set up. She looked at the table then at me and she cried. I held her close allowing her to cry into my chest, she wiped her tears and looked at me again.

" This is beautiful, Carter. Are those flowers for me? And, are those the letters you wrote for me?" She asked happily.

She walked to the table and sat down to look at the wrapped letters that was for her. We ate our sandwiches in silence, Ahliyah couldn't stop looking at her flowers or wondering what was in the letters.

" I can't believe you did all of this for me. You planned all of this without me knowing and this is really beautiful." She said.

Once we finished our dinner we ate dessert. Ahliyah talked about how she would remember this forever and she smiled. We walked out of the restaurant back to the car, the lights started to turn off for the night. We laid on the hood of the car looking at the stars as they covered the sky.

" Have I told you how much I love you?" She asked.

I looked at the sky hoping to see a shooting star. " You've told me many time how much you love me. And I love you too a lot. More than you know." I told her.

She turned on towards me raising her eyebrows. " I didn't think I was ever going to find love, or find someone to love because of everything I went through. I knew when I fell in love with you I didn't want you to fix me and I didn't want to depend on you to heal what has been broken," I closed my eyes and looked back at the stars.

" We might be broken but we're beautifully broken. We share these broken pieces now and no one else is going to take that away from us." She said.

We laid there looking at the stars shining bright and Ahliyah laid her head on my chest. I kissed her forehead and whispered I love you into her ear. As we drove home, a shooting star shot through the sky and I made my wish and I prayed that it would come true.

Ahliyah walked through the door dropping her purse on the couch and wrapped her arms around herself. She swayed side to side humming a tune she made up. " Tonight was amazing." She said.

I pulled her close and our noses touched. " I'm glad you loved it."

She moved away sighing softly looking around our home. " I'm glad we did it." She smiled.

" Did what?" I asked.

" Moved on and took the time we needed to heal. It feels good to breathe again. " She said taking a breath.

Truth was I was happy we took the time we needed to breathe again too. It was an amazing feeling seeing the sun shine again.

The next morning, we sat at the kitchen island eating chocolate pancakes and drinking hot cocoa. After we ate our breakfast, we walked in a trail. She held my hand swinging it back and forth. " Tell me something new about yourself." She said.

" Something new? You already know everything about me?"

" No I don't not everything. I'll go first and tell you something you don't know," she smiled. " I wasn't supposed to stay in Florida that long. I was supposed to be back with my mom to take care of her, but she told me to go live life and experience something new. Something worth living for." She chucked.

I thought about something she didn't know. " I refused to talk about what I'd been through. I slept in my neighbors back yard once and I tried to run away from home. I was a hopeless kid trying to look for something better for myself." I told her.

" Well it's nice that we found each other, isn't it?"

" Yeah, it is." I said.

It was funny how life and time showed us our improvements and darkest times. In order to be happy, you have to remember your dark times, the skeletons you had in your closet because those dark times are what made who you are. Without them we would be struggling and we would still be trying to find that happiness we were seeking.

Thank you, dark times for giving me this everlasting happiness and allowing me to keep this feeling for as long as I can.Without you I wouldn't have met Ahliyah and without you I would not have been able to stand and speak up for myself to the people I thought were supposed to take care of me.

Thank you, dark times. I'll miss you.