Stratford, Everett, and I are all standing on the wraparound porch of the main house as the sun starts to set. He and Everett have been chatting casually about the weather and a few of the campers Stratford met during his time here, and I want to scream at both of them to stop talking so we can get on with this.

My palms are sweating and my foot hasn’t stopped tapping against the wood floor ever since Stratford met us here twenty minutes ago. He holds the fate of this camp and my future in his hands, and he won’t stop talking about the damn clouds in the sky.

Everett has been holding my hand through this entire conversation, giving it a squeeze every few minutes to try and calm me down since he knows I’m about ready to come out of my skin wanting to know what Stratford’s decision is. It works for a few seconds, feeling his warm, strong hand wrapped around mine as well as leaning against the side of his body. And then I start second-guessing everything we did while Stratford was here. Were we convincing enough as husband and wife? Does he think we’re madly in love? Have all of the confusing thoughts and emotions I’ve been having thrown a wrench into everything? Could he see that every time I looked at Everett, I was equal parts scared to death and excited about what might be happening between us?

“So I’m sure you’d like to know what my decision is since I know you have a million other things you need to do to get ready for the charity dinner tomorrow. I’m sorry to say something has come up and I won’t be able to attend,” Stratford says, finally looking away from Everett to give me a regretful smile.

“Oh, I’m so sorry you won’t be here,” I tell him, even though I want to let out a relieved breath that we’ll no longer be under a microscope.

Not to mention that my parents will be back from vacation and that will bring on a whole other list of problems I wouldn’t be able to deal with if Stratford were still around.

He reaches into the inside pocket of his bright orange suit coat and pulls out an envelope, handing it over to me.

With one hand still clinging tightly to Everett, the other one reaches out, shaking like a leaf as I take the envelope from him.

“No need to open that now. I had my accountant crunch some numbers after I went through your books, and that should be more than enough to keep you up and running for the next five years. We can meet again at that time to reevaluate things, but I’m sure I won’t have a problem writing another check for you.”

My eyes immediately fill with tears, and I can’t stop my chin and my lips from quivering with emotion as I stare down at my future, the future of this camp and everyone who works here and everyone who attends it, held in between my fingers. I want to thank him, but a simple thank-you just doesn’t seem like enough.

“I applaud what you’re doing here, Cameron. It’s selfless and it’s amazing, and like your husband said to me one day, this place has to continue existing,” Stratford tells me. “You two remind me so much of my wife and I, that some days, it was almost hard to watch the two of you together. But something tells me you’re holding back. Not giving each other everything you could. Don’t make that mistake because, one day, it might be too late. Love each other with everything you have. Trust each other with everything inside of you. And never, ever let the other one go. I wish every day that things were different. That my wife was still here by my side and I could tell her everything I should have said when she was still alive. Don’t leave things unsaid. Don’t waste one minute of the time you have together. I hope the two of you, as well as Camp Rylan, have a very long and happy life together.”

With that, Stratford tips his head to us and heads down the front steps to his waiting limo. We watch his driver open the back door, and he gives us a wave before he disappears inside. As soon as the limo starts to take off down the driveway, I finally look up at Everett as the tears I’ve been holding back fall down my cheeks.

“We did it,” I whisper, still unable to believe what just happened.

“No, you did it. I just showed up at the right time and made things interesting.” Everett smiles.

We stare at each other silently for a few seconds when Everett suddenly lets out a whoop, scoops me up into his arms, and spins me around. I cry, I laugh, and I cling to Everett, never wanting this feeling to end. I feel relief, I feel excitement, and I let every word Stratford said to us sink into my soul and take it to heart. I don’t want to leave things unsaid. I don’t want to waste another minute with Everett. I thought I could let him back into my life and be his friend again, while keeping the walls up around me and protecting my heart, but I was a fool. He tore through those walls the minute he walked back into my life and smiled at me.

A ding from Everett’s phone has him cutting our celebration short as he sets me back on my feet and pulls it out of his back pocket. The smile on his face quickly drops as he reads a text.

“What’s wrong?”

He shakes his head and, with a sigh, shoves his phone back in his pocket.

“It’s nothing. It’s fine. Just a friend who needs me. I don’t want to leave you right now…” He trails off, cupping my face in his hand as he stares down at me.

“Is it someone from your meetings?”

Everett told me that during his recovery, he still attended weekly meetings at the local hospital and he’s left camp a small handful of times since he’s been here to talk to a few people who needed his help when they were having a bad day. I’m so proud of him that he was able to get better, and doesn’t hesitate to drop everything to help someone else who struggled like he did.

“I swear I won’t be gone that long. This guy has been doing great lately so I’m sure he’ll only need me for a little bit,” Everett reassures me as he drops his hand from my face and starts backing away.

“It’s fine. Go work your magic and I’ll be here, waiting for you when you get back.”

As I say the words, Everett pauses on the top step, giving me a wistful smile, I suddenly remember everything he said to Stratford during our first dinner together. How he changed our past and made it into a fairytale of me sticking it out with him during his residency and all his time overseas, and how I forgave him for not being here and we fell in love. As he stands on that top step with his eyes staring into mine, my heart flutters in my chest wondering if everything he said that night wasn’t a fairytale, but was exactly the way he wished things would have gone between us.

“I’ll be back soon,” Everett says softly, hustling down the stairs as I watch him go, knowing that as soon as he comes back, we’re going to have a serious talk.

After Everett gets in the truck and takes off down the driveway, I start wandering around the camp, looking at it with new eyes. Everything makes me smile and everything makes me happy again, because of him. I’m finally excited again about what the future will hold, and it feels so good.

As I make my way along the trail that leads back to my parents’ house, I feel the vibration of my phone in my back pocket. Pulling it out, I groan when I see the name on the display.

“Grady, hi. I’ve been meaning to call you…” I trail off, wondering what the best way is to tell someone you are no longer in need of their services.

It sounds so cold, but that’s all he ever was. The way he behaved when he stopped by the camp a few weeks ago only proved that point. He provided a service. A quick, emotionless way for me to stop feeling so alone until the next time I was overwhelmed with misery and loneliness. His possessiveness that day made me realize that all I was doing was hurting him. He agreed to my demands in the beginning, but I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. There was never another man in my life that threatened what we had together, no matter how little that was. As soon as he heard about Everett, even though Amelia didn’t give him much information other than the fact we used to be friends and now we were playing husband and wife, it was enough for him to forget about our arrangement and turn into a jealous boyfriend.

Something I didn’t want or need, especially now.

Especially when everything I’ve ever wanted is right within my grasp, and all I have to do is reach out and take it.

“I stopped by the camp the other day,” Grady interrupts. “I saw you and your husband and decided it wasn’t the best time for us to talk.”

I’m shocked that no one noticed Grady had stopped by, or thought to tell me. But I’m more shocked by the way he says the word husband. Full of thinly veiled anger and a whole lot of that jealousy he has no right to feel.

“Grady, I’m sorry. This just…like I said before, now isn’t a good time. I think it’s best if we both just move on. You deserve so much better.”

“You’re right, I deserve better than a quick fuck every couple of months,” he barks through the phone.

I wince at the harshness of his words. I should feel badly that I’ve hurt him, but I don’t. He knew the score; he just chose not to believe it.

“I know you’re angry, and I’m sorry. I wish things could have been different. You are a wonderful man.”

“Save it. I didn’t stick around long the other day, but it was long enough to see the way you looked at that guy. Pretending, my ass. I actually thought if I called, if you heard my voice, you’d remember what we had together. You’d invite me to the charity dinner tomorrow night and prove you aren’t as cold as I thought you were. Thanks for ruining my life.”

He ends the call before I can get another word in. Before I can apologize again, even though he’s clearly delusional and only saw what he wanted to see between us. He saw a future, and all I saw was a way to bide my time until my future finally came home.

I don’t realize I continued walking during our short phone call, and before I know it, I find myself at the base of our treehouse. I look up at the ten-foot-in-diameter, hexagon-shaped wooden house with faded yellow curtains in the window and suddenly, every memory I’ve ever had in that thing flashes through my mind, as well as every moment I’ve spent with Everett since he came back. I can’t keep holding on to the past if I want to move forward with my future. It’s time for me to let go of Aiden, let go of the pain of losing him, and stop trying to hold on to him so tightly. I can’t pursue something real with Everett until I shed all of the things still holding me back, Aiden being the biggest thing of all right now.

With a deep breath and a pounding heart, I quickly climb the ladder.

Grabbing the star-shaped notepad and pen that Everett and I left in the middle of the floor the last time we were here, I sit down cross-legged and close my eyes. I sit in the middle of the small room high up in a tree and let the memories wash over me. I let them fill me with joy that I was able to experience such happiness in my life, instead of the usual heart-breaking feeling that I’ll never have moments with Aiden like that again, finally letting go of the pain of losing him. Opening my eyes, I quickly scribble down the four years of wishes I missed, and I let everything out. All of the tears, all of the sadness and all of the loneliness without him here. I let it all go and finally let myself feel hopeful that what I’ve always wanted might finally be coming true.

“I miss you so much, Aiden,” I whisper through my tears as I pull my box out of its hiding spot and put my wishes inside with all the others.

Nestling my box back down next to Aiden’s and Everett’s, I run my palm over the top of Aiden’s box. “I will always miss you, no matter how much time goes by.”

As I replace the wooden floorboard to hide our boxes, I hope that, wherever he is, he hears me, and he understands that it’s time for me to let him go.