42 | The Green Door

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Jess bolted around the corner, sending the gravel of that now-familiar path flying

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Jess bolted around the corner, sending the gravel of that now-familiar path flying. She ran around a bend, then another right, down along the stream toward the place they had agreed to meet. 

As she approached it, the anxiety to get there faster fell away, and fear of a different kind gripped her. For a moment she wanted to stop, to not take those last make-or-break steps into such a surely hopeless future. But she did not allow herself to stop running.

Her heart, pounding in her ears, under the stress of so many more things than it should have had to handle, drowned out every other noise. There was no splashing of the stream, no voices, no birdsong. All she knew was the desperation she clung to, to take her each further step, as anticipation began to creep into her pace.

One step.

Another.

Around the tall bush at the bend. 

"Oh- !" She halted just beyond the corner and the force almost threw her off her feet. 

Almost, because an arm caught her as she fell, helped her right herself, and held her steady. But Jess needed more than a helping hand. 

She collapsed into the safety of James's arms, laying her head against his chest. Obi's leash fell to the ground. Jess was still breathing heavily, her lungs trying to make up for the many breaths of air they had forgotten to take while she was running. But the panic was dwindling rapidly.

"I'm so so so sorry James I didn't realise it was so late-"

But James was shaking his head, murmuring into her hair, almost laughingly telling her that it was okay. The relief he felt, to see her there, washed away everything else. 

Jess pulled away, and stooped quickly to pick up Obi's leash, afraid for a moment that he had wandered off.

Then they simply stood in front of each other, and in those seconds time froze and burned into countless, weightless fragments; and disappeared. It was as though it was answering to their will - to be still, to allow them this moment. 

Neither spoke. Neither moved. It was late but today, Jess did not care. Well, she did care about her mother, and the trust she knew she had to rebuild, but this was something she knew she needed, and something she would simply have to help her mother understand. For now this eternal moment, was all that mattered.

The Sun had nearly set, and they were surrounded by the same kind of twilight of that fateful day when all barriers of misunderstanding had fallen, and they had sealed their fate in the golden ink of hope and promise. The day they had decided that this was what they wanted. 

"It's been the best adventure." 

James managed a grin. "Better than all the-"

"Lakes and walks and mountains?" Jess cut in, breathless. "Yes."

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