Call Me Babe

Fin (Chapter 23)

Taylor was insistent that Joe’s second trip to LA wasn’t allowed to just be about helping her pack up her things into a moving truck. After all, the man had never set foot in the ocean, and that was basically a crime if you asked her. So, the happy couple found themselves on the beach, waves gently breaking and turning into soft ripples, sand slipping between their toes as they walked along the shore. Eventually, their legs grew weary, and they decided to settle down in a nearby clearing. 

Joe and Taylor sat in silence for a while, each deep in contemplation of how they ended up so deliriously happy with someone they once thought they'd never see again. The motion of Joe's hand gliding over her back slowed as he prepared to break the peaceful silence they had fallen into. "Hey, Tay?"

"Yes, babe?" Her voice came out slow and smooth, as if they'd have a whole lifetime to finish the conversation.

"Remember that day in the coffee shop, how you told me you were thinking about all of your what ifs? I was just wondering if you still thought about them ever."

Taylor let the pause thicken in the air between them. She was always so careful to say precisely what she meant, one of the many things Joe found most endearing about her. However, it also meant that conversations like this often took much longer than necessary. 

"I think...for me...um...I'm always sorta thinking about the what ifs. What if we ran off and eloped? What if I accidentally got pregnant today?" Joe raised his eyebrow at that last comment, but Taylor shook her head slowly and continued regardless. "What if we rearranged the living room when we got home? What if the other shade of blue would have looked better on your brother's wall? I guess the what ifs are just part of who I am. But I don't think that's what you're really trying to ask, so I guess my answer is this. I assure you, my what ifs no longer revolve around the roads I could have traveled instead, but have more to do with how I know the only roads I want always lead to you, in my hometown."

Fin.