Molecules must have exploded all around us, breaking into a billion unseen pieces, leaving nothing but light in their wake as the decades-old hatred died on the spot. It was the only explanation for the way the air had instantly changed. I sucked in a long, deep breath, questioning if I’d ever breathed so easily in my entire life.

“I feel different,” I said in a whisper, but everyone heard me, so it must have been louder than I’d realized.

“In a good way?” James asked, his eyes solely focused on mine.

I nodded. “Lighter. Looser. Freer?” I said it like a question, wondering if it was only me who was reacting this way to our newly found truce.

James smiled, a devilish grin that made me want to press my mouth against his, but I refrained. “I feel the same way. I feel relieved, and I never knew that I hadn’t. Does that make any sense?”

“Completely,” I reassured him, realizing that I didn’t want him to feel alone or isolated in his feelings. How he felt mattered to me.

“It’s a wonder the vines produced any grapes at all, what with all that negative energy we carried around.” It was James’s mom who said it, and the sentiment hit me square in the chest with all its rightness.

“Maybe, now, they’ll be even better,” I said with a smile as a world of possibilities felt like it had just opened up and was shining down on me.

Now that James and I were allowed to be together, I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things we could do and try. I knew I was getting ahead of myself, but I didn’t care. I’d work out the details later. Maybe while James was inside me.

He wouldn’t be able to argue then, I thought to myself as a giggle escaped.

“What are you laughing at?” James asked and I felt my cheeks heat.

I knew I was blushing. “Nothing. Tell you later,” I lied because I had absolutely no intention on telling James my dirty little secret.

James’s mom yawned, which forced me to follow suit, and before I knew it, every one of us was doing it, our hands placed over our mouths as we giggled, and my ears popped.

“I think we should call it a night. I don’t know about the rest of you, but forgiving you all is hard work. I’m exhausted,” my dad said with a genuine smile as he made his way over toward Mr. Russo, and they shook hands.

It was the first time I’d ever seen them do that.