No More Secrets (Book 2)

20. Moving Forward

At some point, I pulled myself onto the couch, grabbing Dylan's sweatshirt that was hanging over the back of it. I breathed in his scent, burying my face into the soft fabric. I couldn't believe he was really gone.

I must have fallen asleep, because I heard his voice calling my name. It was soft at first. Distant. For a second, I could believe he was really here, but I knew it was just a dream.

"Travis." Closer this time. Louder. "Trav, please wake up."

I opened my eyes slowly. There, standing in front of me, was my beautiful boyfriend. Except I knew he was gone. He wasn't really here. He was just a ghost.

"Did it work?" I whispered, unable to raise my voice any higher.

He nodded his head slowly. "Listen, Trav-"

I sat up, raising my finger to get him to stop talking. I didn't want to hear his excuses. I didn't need to know why he came back here when he knew I'd be able to see him. Didn't he want me to move on? I couldn't do that if he was still hanging around.

"Don't say anything, okay?" I tossed his sweatshirt to the side. "How could you do this to me, Dyl? I didn't ask for you to save me. I would have rather lived with the possible ghost threat hanging over our heads if it meant living with you. How did you think I could possibly get on with my life if you showed up here?"

"What?" He shook his head, confusion written all over his face. "Trav, I'm not dead." He sat down next to me and grabbed my hand. "I'm not. I'm here. I'll always be here."

I threw my arms around him, letting myself sob into his shoulder. This time, the tears were of relief. He was here. He wasn't dead.

Backing away from him, I hit his arm. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have died, Dylan!"

He took a deep breath, dropping his gaze to our hands. "I did," he whispered. "The moment Jenny showed up to stop me." He shook his head. "I never talked to Death. Nina brought me back before I could. But uh... Jenny was already gone when I woke up. She did it."

I hugged him again. "Oh, Dyl, I'm sorry. I know you didn't want to lose her again."

Dylan suddenly pulled back from me. "I love you, you know that, right?"

"Of course. I love you, too." I was confused. I knew he loved me, and it wasn't the first time he's randomly said it like that, but something about the way he said it this time was different. "What are you thinking?"

He gave me a tiny smile. "Do you have work today?"

I shook my head. "No. Not until tomorrow afternoon. Why?"

"Come with me." He stood up, grabbing my hand to pull me up.

I stood, following him across the room. At first, I thought he was bringing us to our bedroom to have some amazing 'you're not dead' sex. But he had grabbed his keys off the table. "Okay, babe. Where are we going?"

Dylan turned to look at me. "Travis, I love you so much. And I know I haven't really been into the whole wedding planning thing like you have recently, and I'm sorry about that. I just didn't want to waste time going over details if one of us ended up too hurt or dead before we could ever have this wedding." He took a deep breath. "That's why I don't want to wait anymore. Let's get married. Right now. No fancy ceremony. No expensive suits. No big reception. Just you and me going to sign the papers that make it legal."

I sighed. "Dyl... You know how much I want to marry you-"

"There's a 'but' coming, isn't there?"

I took both of his hands in mine. "Yeah, um... I just really wanted to do the whole wedding thing with you because it is a big deal, us getting married. I love you and I want the world to know. Just showing up at town hall like this seems too... I don't know, not us." I also had a feeling that our parents would have some choice words about us not having a ceremony, especially my stepmom and Dylan's mom. They were already too excited about it all.

Dylan nodded slowly. "You're right. It was a stupid idea."

"No. It's not stupid. Stupid was you risking your life this morning."

He sighed, leaning his head on my shoulder. "I know. And I'm so sorry."

"Shush. The good thing is that you're still here." I kissed the top of his head. "Now, if I go get my laptop, are you going to run away again and make me plan this wedding by myself?"

Dylan laughed, taking a step back from me. "No, I won't do that anymore. Come on." He pulled on my hand that was still interlaced with his and led me to the couch. "We got a wedding to plan. Together."