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Back Pack Up the Moon
Chapters (46)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for Kristan Higgins
  3. BERKLEY BOOKS BY KRISTAN HIGGINS
  4. Dedication
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. EPILOGUE
  43. Readers Guide
  44. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  45. About the Author
  46. What’s next onyour reading list?

He proposed on the first of May, a day when the blossoms on the crab apple trees were so thick they looked like pink whipped cream. He’d picked her up from work, and they walked hand in hand along the Providence River, just past RISD. Josh said he’d had a meeting with a company that day, explaining why he wore a suit she had never seen. The light was soft and golden, the breeze causing pink petals to drift and float, and then he was down on one knee, holding up a small velvet box.

The ring was an emerald-cut diamond set on either side with smaller diamonds, stunning in its simple beauty.

“Will you marry me?” he asked, and she just looked at him, smiling with more love in her heart than she knew it could hold.

“Damn right I will,” she said. Of course she would. It was just a formality. She was meant to be his wife, and he was destined to be her husband.

As they kissed, she made a vow. She would do everything in her power to make a beautiful, happy, meaningful life. The last thing she would ever do was break this man’s heart.

30

Joshua

Month eleven

January

THE LETTER HAD sat there for a few days now, throbbing like a wound in his mind. He dreaded reading it. He was dying to read it. But after this, there would only be one more, and once these stopped, he didn’t know how he would face the future. Couldn’t she have done this for two years? Five? Ten?

Finally, with a sigh, he sat down, patted the couch so Pebbles would leap up next to him, then opened the letter.

Hello, honey.

If you’re still reading these, I guess you still want to hear from me. I’m glad, Josh. I know one thing. Even if I’m dead, I would never really leave you. I don’t know what or how that looks right now, but I remember feeling my dad around me. I hope you can feel me there with you sometimes, just enough to reassure you.

So it’s been a good long while since I died. I hope your new normal isn’t too isolated or sad. I hate the idea that I’ve made your life sad. We had shitty luck with the IPF, but God, we had the best luck with each other.

I’ve been thinking a lot here on Cape Cod, listening to the ocean, trying to imagine what your life will be like eleven months after I die. I hope you at least gave some thought to meeting your biological father. If you do decide to meet him, I hope and pray it goes well. I hope whatever you decided, you know that the last thing you could ever be is disposable.