Chapter Thirty-Six

Jesse

I pulled up to the house, music was blasting inside. Worried, I turned off the car and dashed up the front walk. Throwing open the door, I was assaulted by upbeat music and Paige twirling around in the living room, screaming the lyrics at the top of her lungs.

Shutting the door quietly behind me, I leaned against the doorframe with my arms crossed watching her. She did a fairly good air guitar, her head shaking, her fiery red hair flowing all around her as she thrashed back and forth, breathlessly screaming the lyrics. The song ended and a Machine Gun Kelly song started, her jumping and yelling continued and I briefly wondered if I should let her know I was home, but she looked so happy, so lost in the moment that I didn't want to interrupt.

Nodding along as the next verse started, Paige really got into it, holding her own with the fast pace of the song, her fingers accenting her words as she shimmied along to the music. When the third song started, she danced into the kitchen, opening the fridge as she pulled out a bottle of water, using it as a microphone, whipping around, she saw me and let out a shriek.

"When did you get back?" she yelled over the music.

Pushing off the doorway, I picked up the remote and turned down the kid singing about cotton candy and said, "Oh, I've been here for a couple songs now."

Her cheeks flushed red as she fumbled with the cap of the bottle and took a long swallow. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was enjoying the show," I laughed. "You can really shake it when the mood strikes. What was this little number?" I asked throwing my head in circles.

"Stop it," she muttered, her face flushing an even deeper red.

"I liked it," I told her. "if this whole assistant thing doesn't work out I definitely think you have a future as a dancer."

"You're horrible." She threw the empty bottle at me and laughed when it bounced off my chest.

"Are you feeling a little better?" I asked softly.

Paige nodded, some life back in her eyes, color back in her cheeks and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. The last week had been hell for me, watching her suffer and not knowing how to reach her. Watching her sit in the pew at her father's funeral, a vacant look on her face had broken me. Seeing her now, laughing and dancing was like getting a glimpse of the old Paige. I wanted her to take all the time she needed to heal, but I was worried this was something she couldn't come back from. I worried that I'd lose her for good to her grief. I'd been in love with her for song that losing her was something I wouldn't come back from.

Cranking the music back up, she wandered out to the deck and leaned against the railing, the sun setting her hair on fire. Paige glanced over her shoulder at me and tilted her head, motioning for me to join her. I smiled at her and she turned back toward the lake.

I loved this woman more than I'd ever loved anything else in my life. As I walked toward her, I thanked God that she'd given me a chance, that she had chosen me, and kept choosing me. I sent up a silent thanks that we were able to be here, in this place where it had all started, as so much more than what we were a year ago.

Coming up beside her, I wrapped my arm around her. "I love you."

"I know," she replied. "I love you, too. We should get married."

"We are."

"Not when the tours over." She shook her head and looked up at me. "Now."