83. SARA

“Do you see what I see?” I whisper.

I subtly point to Tre and Grace, slow-dancing on the patio as Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams plays out of the DJ’s speakers. They sway like kids at the prom as the setting sun casts an orange glow around them.

“Well, they have been spending a lot of time together working on bringing your company into the fold,” Chance says.

I grin. “The feckless flake and the button-down business nerd.”

“Stranger things have happened. We’re living proof.”

“Amen to that,” I say, laying my head on his shoulder.

Agnes appears at the table with a half-full bottle of champagne. Judging by her grin, she’s feeling no pain.

“Aggie!” I say brightly. “Having fun?”

“A riot!” she giggles, taking a seat beside us. “We really needed this after all that nonsense with Quentin Pearce.”

“That we did,” says Chance. “Time to move on to the next chapter for the company.”

Agnes leans in and pats the back of my hand.

“We’re thrilled to have you on board with Atlas,” she says, her eyes misty. “And so happy that Chance found you. I sometimes wondered if we’d ever see the day when he found the one who made him whole.”

She turns to Chance. “And you, you big lug. Patrick would be so proud of you right now. He’s here with us right now, I can feel him.”

Her tears are flowing freely now; I’m fighting my own, too.

“I never doubted you, Chance,” Agnes says. “I told Quentin Pearce that I didn’t believe him. That you were as much a member of the Sullivan family as any of us. I just wish he’d never stepped foot into the Atlas boardroom.”

Chance smiles and shakes his head.

“Actually,” he says, “I owe him a debt I can never repay.”

Her eyes widen. “You’re joking. What could you possibly owe to that little cretin?”

He looks at me, and in that look I see the boy inside the man. The hero’s heart that captured me all those years ago. This brave, smart, incredible man who risked everything for love and won. My heart has never felt so full as it does right now.

“I wouldn’t have this lady back if it wasn’t for him,” he says. “And to me, that’s everything.”

“Hey!” says a voice from my right. I turn to see Mrs. C sitting down next to me. “No crying without me! What are we crying about, anyway?”

“Life,” I say, kissing her cheek.

“That’ll do it every time,” she says with a chuckle.

***

“I wonder if everyone is still there.”

Chance glances at his watch. “Probably. Chuck from next door sort of gave the party a second wind when he and Kathy showed up.”

I can’t help but giggle. “It’s hilarious that he thanked you for stealing the car.”

“Don’t tell his wife that. It was her car.”

He finally strips his tie off with a theatrical flourish.

“Free at last from the hangman’s noose,” he says, wasting no time stripping off his shirt as well.

His naked, rippling torso suddenly makes me feel seriously overdressed.

I raise my leg onto the bed. The hem of my dress falls to one side, giving him a glimpse of what’s underneath.

“You already have my garter,” I purr. “How about the rest?”

My heart skips a beat as he grins like a wolf and drops beside me on the bed. His hands are instantly behind my back, drawing my zipper down. As the shoulders drop, he grasps the wrists of both sleeves in his fingers and pulls.

He kisses each bare breast as they pop free of the falling dress, sending a thrill straight to the junction of my thighs. He strips off the rest of the dress with an unceremonious tug, leaving me naked except for my stockings and panties.

“Two can play at that game,” I say, grabbing his belt and yanking it down, along with his pants.

He’s already rock hard under his boxers, igniting my fire even more. His eyes beg me to finish the job, so I pull them down and free his throbbing cock.

As I do, I hear the old bed groan underneath our weight. Suddenly I feel even more heat between my legs. What is it about this place that just gets my motor revving so hard I can barely stand it?

Chance pulls back the electric blue coverlet and lies down, his throbbing shaft standing at full attention, waiting for me.

“This may be the Rest-All,” he says with a grin. “But you’re not getting any rest tonight, Mrs. Talbot.”

I glide down on top of him, keeping my stockings on, until my slick opening is aligned with the tip of his rod. My body trembles as I guide him all the way in.

“Neither are the neighbors,” I sigh.

***

Later, when I’m a puddle of jelly after countless orgasms, I lie in Chance’s arms on the old bed, listening to the whine and clank of the decrepit air conditioner. I suppose the sound would be annoying to pretty much everyone else, but to me it’s the soundtrack to our crazy, passion-filled days on the run. Before the bad stuff started.

I choose to remember just the good stuff. The excitement, and the love, and how good it felt just to be together, whether in the rec center storeroom or a tiki hut in Bora Bora or the Rest-All Motel.

The shadows of the past are just that: shadows. Yes, they’re dark, but they’re illusions. There’s nothing to them.

They can’t hurt us.

“Mrs. Talbot,” Chance says sleepily.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out. Seriously. Every other part of me is worn out; my name is all I have left.”

His chuckles are like music to me in the dark.

“I’m never going to let you go again,” he whispers sleepily. “You know that, don’t you?”

I snuggle in closer. “I know.”

“Good.”

As I fade into sleep, I see my mother’s face in my mind’s eye.

She’s smiling. Finally.