“I’ll remember the Sunday mornings we spend in bed with the dogs barking for us to get up and come feed them. I’ll remember the way you take your coffee, and the feel of our kisses, and the hugs we share before falling asleep, with our legs intertwined. I’ll remember how it felt when we jumped from that waterfall in Belize, you shrieking and me laughing. I’ll remember the moment we met in that preppy bar in Boston. I’ll remember our first kiss after a New Year’s Eve countdown, and our second kiss in the cabin, and all the ones that followed.”

I’m sobbing now. There’s no other way to put it. Tears are sliding down Aaron’s cheeks too, although much more elegantly.

“I’ll fill my mind to the brim with all the moments we have spent and will spend together, big or small. And when I become old and dusty one day and feel like they’re starting to slip away, then I’ll write them all down. I won’t let any moment go.”

Aaron’s hands cling to my face, soft yet reassuring.

“I know forgetting scares you, and I get it. I get it so much. But don’t worry about our memories, cariño. They’re safe with me.”

Leaning more deeply into his hand, I nod vigorously. He couldn’t have made me feel more seen or understood if he’d tried.

“I love you,” I murmur to him.

“And I love you.”

The officiant to my left sniffles, the sky now a burning red behind him. “By the power vested in me, I now declare you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” He clears his throat. “For real, this time.”

The man who owns my heart—my husband—beams grandly, then says, “With pleasure.”

And he does.

* * *

Many, many years later

It starts whisper-like, as the dusk settling in after a long and warm summer day.

I sit down on the steps of our porch one morning to tie my running shoes, and something happens. A blank, as I hold the ends of the two laces. In a blink, it’s gone.

But it still happened.

My heart starts racing, my thoughts blurring as I look around, forgetting all about the shoes or the run.

And then, I see him. He’s walking back from the mailbox, his hair streaked with gray, face just as lovely as the day we met. My body instantly relaxes.

And when our eyes meet and he smiles at me, I know that whatever happens, it will be all right.

Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS