I melted where I was on the counter as our voices faded. I had never heard such emotion, such true feeling in a single song. He sang as if he spoke from the heart and something inside of me recognized that he sang not just to sing but to sing to me the words he couldn’t find to speak. He came to me with open arms, nothing to hide. I came to him the same way. A place deep within my heart, the place that was still biter about the hand that had been dealt to me, mumbled it was too little too late.
“You’re a Journey fan?” he asked.
“Isn’t everyone? One of my favorite groups, they have a really great sound,” I answered, sliding off the counter to walk over to him.
“You have a really great voice. Have you ever thought about making a career out of that talent?”
“My gift is for the world, not for the money. Besides, I’m not that good,” I answered, smiling at his compliment. “But thank you.
“You sound like an angel.”
“The influence of my company, sunshine.”
“I’m serious, Riley,” he continued.
“So am I, Nick. I don’t want to pursue it. It’s not in my heart and I’m not wasting time with something that isn’t my all-consuming passion. You on the other hand, you don’t just sing the words. You feel them inside,” I said, touching his chest above his heart. “Is it like that with every song you sing?”
“In the beginning it was. Sometimes it still is. Sometimes I feel like it’s something I have to do,” he answered, his hand covering mine.
“And then it loses its magic. Oh Nick, don’t let that happen. That moment just seconds ago when my voice met yours. It was filled with something that defies words. It was filled with passion and hope and longing and love. Every song you sing should have that in it. Every note you sing you should sing with open arms like it’s the last one you will sing. Make it perfect and beautiful and a note that will live on forever.”
I reached up to touch his face and smiled. He was so beautiful and his voice was magical. I hated to think that the beautiful songs he sang didn’t always come from his heart. He turned his face into my hand and kissed my palm.
“You must be an angel to be so perfect,” he said, smiling.
“Oh, Nick. I’m no angel.
“You have to be,” he argued.
“Maybe so, but even angels fall. Nothing and no one is perfect, sunshine,” I added.
“You are,” he insisted, his hands framing my face. “Perfection is defined by a single person, Riley. In my eyes you are perfection.”
“How is it you haven’t stolen someone else’s heart yet, sunshine?” I asked, smiling up into his beautiful blue eyes with my violet ones.
“Maybe I have stolen a thousand hearts, goldie locks, but I only know of one woman who has stolen mine,” he answered, kissing me softly.
“I knew you were perfect when you swept me off my feet,” I answered, grinning.
“Oh, is that how you remember it? Well I’m not going to argue,” he said, laughing.
“Now stop stealing kisses and feed me,” I demanded, smacking his butt as I turned around.
“Hey!”
“I couldn’t help myself. You just have such a cute ass,” I laughed, blowing him a kiss as I pulled myself back up to sit on the counter.
I fell silent again as I watched him finish dinner. Such comfort, such ease. I envied him that oblivion he lived in, that thought that life would never end.
I needed to tell him about my situation, the truth about how long I had left to love him.
I opened my mouth to speak when the blinding pain hit me and my word went dark as I fell off the counter.
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