“Where are we going, exactly?”

Remy smiled at herself, surprised by how out of character the question was for her. It was the first time she could remember having bothered to ask a question without caring about the answer. It truly didn’t matter what Allison said in response; Remy just wanted to be wherever she was. She wasn’t sure if it was the emotional roller coaster that the last several hours had been or if all of the wine had more of an effect than she’d first thought, but she was oddly at peace with the world. The errant thoughts that threatened to drag her back to past trauma or attempted to inspire new fear could never be escaped, but she was far enough ahead of them to feel safe in turning her conscious thoughts elsewhere. As was most often the case, Allison became their focus, and the vague curiosity about her sudden change of plans was likely purely a result of the fact that Remy had no interest in anyone or anything beyond her.

Seemingly somewhat out of sorts herself, Allison turned back toward Remy with a nervous smile. She seemed to be excited about something suddenly, but visibly putting effort into containing it. “It’ll be easier to show you. Come on.”

Allison gave Remy’s hand a gentle squeeze before pulling her toward the sliding glass doors again, the sense of urgency unmistakable despite her equally clear attempt to remain calm and casual. Again, Remy smiled when she thought about it as she realized just how much she’d learned about Allison in such a short time. She took mental notes on Allison the same as she did any time she found herself in regular contact with someone, but there was a wealth of subtle nuances that she’d discovered throughout the evening that couldn’t be pulled from occasional casual conversation. It was one thing to come to the conclusion that Allison wasn’t the kind of person to hold back, but knowing her well enough to understand the significance behind the moments when she did was another matter altogether. Allison’s desire to close the distance between them by understanding Remy’s subtle changes of expression was quickly becoming easier for Remy to understand as, the more she came to understand the significance of the various facets of Allison’s personality, the more she cherished them. That want was quickly becoming a need, something that Remy understood instinctively.

As the door slid open, Allison again began impatiently pulling Remy along as she stepped through it and onto the balcony. As Remy stepped into the night air, she took a deep breath out of habit. Finally finding herself so far from everything she’d ever known, she was closer to peace than she could remember ever having been. She drank in every detail about the place that her senses could perceive like wine, appreciating them both for what they were and the fact that they were a world away from what she’d escaped. The first thing to catch her attention was the air, lighter and easier to breathe despite being even closer to the ocean than before. She often wondered if it was just that there wasn’t as much of a burden on her heart anymore, often feeling like a weight crushing the air from her lungs before she’d managed to escape Louisiana. Even still, that didn’t account for the fragrances in the air, salt water mingling with the perfume of the towering evergreen trees and the nectar of more violets than she’d ever seen in one place. She often spent her free time leaning against open windows and breathing deeply, appreciating the missing weight as her lungs filled with the reminder that she’d finally found a place to call home.

“W—well…this is it. My happiness.”

Remy began to wonder how much responsibility the wine had for her state after all when her mind sluggishly began to process what she was seeing. She looked to Allison at first, but gained no context as Allison was only looking back at her with the same barely contained excitement and pointing out into the night. Remy slowly started to turn toward where Allison was pointing, at a complete loss as to what she was missing.

“Your…happiness? What do you mean by—?”

Remy cut herself off as her mind finally slipped into gear and answered her question for her. She could only stand there in silence, her lips slightly parted as she found herself looking down a hill at nearly the entirety of Violet Meadows. The windows of the few in the sleepy town still awake in the distance glowed in the darkness like fireflies, and street lamps illuminated the paths through the town all the way to the black waves rolling in on the shore. From where she stood, Remy could take in every detail of her surroundings that she savored all at once. It was then that she understood in an instant why Allison called it her happiness. For all of their differences, it seemed that they tended to have the most important things in common.

As Remy struggled to find the right words for the situation, Allison wrapped her arms around her and rested her head on Remy’s shoulder. Still looking at the view below, she began to speak, suddenly sounding far less excited but far more nervous.

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“This…this is probably going to sound really dumb…”

Already having strong suspicions about where the conversation was going, Remy returned Allison’s hug and kissed the top of her head. “It won’t.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“If you were going to sound dumb, I’d think it would’ve happened by now.”

Even in the dim sepia glow of the street lamps, Remy could see the color coming to Allison’s cheeks. “Which brings me to why I wanted you to see this.”

“The fact that you’re definitely not dumb?”

Allison laughed softly as she held Remy closer. “More the fact that you’re always there when I need you…even the little things.” She began to smile widely as she pointed into the darkness toward something that Remy couldn’t quite make out. “There. That’s where I go to work every single morning. The one thing that I wanted for myself more than anything else is right there.”

Straining her eyes, Remy could just barely make out several landmarks that helped her get her bearings. “Oh…oh, yeah. There’s the boulevard, so…that’s the shore road. Huh.” She could tell that there was much deeper meaning to the moment than simply giving her a tour of the city, so she wanted to say more. Still, it was difficult to tear herself away from just how impressive the view was.

She moved her hand slightly, her finger pointing at another indistinguishable shape in the night. “And there…that’s the gas station where I stopped right after I came into town for the first time. I was exhausted and lost and…well, to be honest, scared out of my mind. I’d just left Vegas with everything I owned stuffed into my car and it was finally starting to sink in that I hadn’t just burned the bridge home. I’d nuked it from orbit.”

Remy smirked, the words coming out of her before she could even think to stop them. “It was the only way to be sure.”

With a giggle, Allison held Remy a little tighter. “I really can count on you for the little things. Anyway, I’m pretty sure I was on the verge of a panic attack, and…that’s when I met Ember. She was working there at the time and…well, I guess it wasn’t hard to tell that I needed a shoulder to cry on. I was a mess. She bought me a burrito and just sat there and listened to me for hours. She hasn’t worked there in over a year, but I still go there a few times a week for the burritos. They’re terrible.”

Even though Allison was smiling, Remy was pretty sure that it was more about the memory than anything else so she suppressed the urge to laugh. “That’s not the first time you’ve mentioned her. I’m starting to get curious.”

Allison continued to smile, though there was a note of sadness beginning to make itself apparent. “I’d say you should meet her, but she’s hard to track down. She doesn’t know how to sit still. More often than not, you’ve got a better chance of finding Bigfoot riding a unicorn.” Without warning, her excitement returned as she again pointed into the darkness. “Oh, and there! That’s…well…”

Remy didn’t have to try very hard to guess where she was pointing this time. Following the coastal road she took to work every day, it didn’t take much effort to know what Allison was thinking about. Rather than bothering to confirm her suspicion, she gave Allison’s cheek a quick kiss. “I wasn’t expecting to make such an important list.”

Reaching up to Remy’s cheek, Allison pulled her down to return the favor to her lips before continuing. “Twice, actually. Over there…”

Pointing down again, the clearest thing visible was the light coming from the park and the illuminated wisteria tree in the center. When she strained, Remy could just barely make out the bench where they’d met earlier in the evening. “I guess that’s what I’m getting at. From here, I can see all of the places and people that are…not just the most important things to me. This is my entire world…and that includes you now. To be honest, it’s included you for a while.”

There was a long moment where Remy desperately searched for the words to express what she was feeling as the significance of what Allison had been trying to tell her finally began to sink in. She hadn’t quite said it yet, which made sense for a number of reasons. Still, that made it just that much more difficult to know how to respond. Nothing she could say felt good enough, whether because it was inappropriate or because it just didn’t convey enough. Just as she was beginning to feel frustrated with herself, however, inspiration suddenly struck her like a lightning bolt. There wasn’t anything she could say, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t reciprocate. Again, Allison’s feelings began to make much more sense as Remy started feeling them herself, the sudden excitement that came with the inexplicable to take a bold leap forward gripping her and refusing to let go. Remy leaned forward, bringing her lips to Allison’s and holding her there as the night air swirled around them. When they finally parted, Remy’s determination had only grown.

“If it’s okay…I have something I want to show you, too.”