Molly:

“I want to kiss you right now,” he says to me. He looks so pale, so weak, and seeing his leg casted up is really upsetting to me. I don’t know many details about his accident, just that he got shot by one of the Vagrants when he was trying to protect an elderly couple from being ambushed by them.

“I’m sure that’s just the morphine talking. Plus, you definitely don’t want to kiss me right now. Apparently I’m not a very good helicopter passenger and a stick of gum only gets you so far.”

He brushes his hand down my arm, just staring at me like the first time we met, when he scooped me up off that hill and carried me home to safety.

“I missed you, Molly.”

“I missed you, too. Jesse? Tucker? This is really confusing for me.” As happy as I am to see him, I know things are never going to be the same between us. We live in two different worlds, two vastly different worlds.

“You can call me whatever you want. As long as I can call you my girlfriend,” he says.

“You think that’s a good idea?” I ask him. “I mean, what about your life? You probably have a lot of catching up to do. I don’t expect you to let me hold you back.”

He grabs my hand and laces his fingers with mine, and instantly I feel like everything is going to be ok. No matter what the next thing that comes out of his mouth is, I know I’ll be alright.

“You could never hold me back. I’ve spent the last few months running. Running from Max and my business, running from my responsibilities, and running away from who I am. The only time I ever wanted to stop running was when I was with you. My life will never be complete again unless I can spend it with you, Molly. I know I’m asking a lot. I mean, I should’ve never run off before talking to you, but I can promise you that I am going to be immobile for at least a couple of weeks.” He tries to move his leg and he winces in pain.

“I thought you’d never forgive me,” I confess. “I pushed you too hard. I tried to make decisions for you that weren’t mine to make.”

“They WERE your decisions to make. You took me in. You took care of me. You did so much for me without asking for anything in return. Anything but for me to be a decent man. Until I faced the facts, I would never be worthy enough to have you.”

I rest my head on his shoulder and curl up next to him like I did for so many nights. I missed being right here, not a care in the world. Just him and I and everything is right and perfect.

“You were always worthy enough for me. No matter who you were. I silenced all the external noise. I knew you were the man for me. I just didn’t want to end up hurt if you had a wife and kids or something. I was being selfish.”

“Well you got your answers now, Molly. Would you still be cuddled up next to me if I was a garbage man, or a prostitute? Would you be able to silence the external noise?” he laughs, pulling me in tighter.

“Garbage man, yes. Prostitute, maybe, if you let me be your pimp, just so I made sure you weren’t sleeping with anyone who is prettier or younger than me.”

“I’m sorry I’m just a boring old architect. Lucky for you, though, most of my clients are dirty old men.”

It feels like we’re picking up right where we left off. It feels good, it feels natural. I don’t care who this man actually is, he is the person I fell in love with the first time. I know my life is about to radically change on the outside, but inside, it will always be just the two of us. I enjoy the long silence, laying here with him like it’s just another day.

“I’m probably going to get kicked out of here, soon. I’m sure visiting hours are about over.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” he says to me.

“Well if they tell me I have to leave, I’m going to.”

“They’re not going to tell you to leave, Molly. Don’t you know who I am?”

He starts laughing so hard that I can tell he’s in pain, but he just keeps on giggling like he just told the funniest joke in the world. It makes me laugh too.

I stay by his side all night long. The nurses come in to check his wound and make sure he’s comfortable, and by the time the sun comes up, his room is full of flowers, cards, balloons, and giant gift baskets. Every hour on the hour it seems like they keep bringing more and more stuff in.

I’m there next to him when he wakes up, and the smile on his face is worth the pain in my back from hanging halfway off of a hospital bed for the whole night.

“You’re a popular man, Jesse. Look how many people are happy to have you back.”

“The only one that matters is the girl who was willing to take me in when I had nothing. And now I get to take you in and give you everything you could ever want for.”

“I only want for one thing,” I say, smiling at him. “OK, two things.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Number one, a toothbrush. And number two, I want to find out who’s better in bed. Tucker or Jesse?”

He chuckles as he squeezes my boob. I just giggle.

“You’re probably going to have to wait awhile for the full Jesse experience,” he teases. “I’m sure my dick works just fine, but I’m gonna need more than one leg to do the things I want to do to you.”

“I love you, Jesse,” I say, and for some reason, it sounds a lot less strange than I thought it was going to. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh you are,” he says. “You’re going to go somewhere and brush your teeth. Even when I lived on the mountain my breath never smelled as bad as yours does right now.”

He grabs me by the back of the head and presses his lips to mine and I squeal in shock, but I don’t care. I’ve waited way too long for this, to have him back with me and feel his lips on mine.

“Totally worth it,” he smiles as I pull away, catching my breath. “You know I’d still make out with you even if you hadn’t brushed your teeth or showered in a month. There’s nothing you could do to repulse me enough to keep me away from you for another day.”