“I must cry more than anyone you know,” I said. He brushed the hair back from my face and smiled. “You puke a lot, too.”

“[T.J.] I pulled my arms out from underneath her body and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I love you, Anna.”The surprised look on her face told me she hadn’t seen that coming.“You weren’t supposed to fall in love,” she whispered.“Well, I did,” I said, looking into her eyes. “I’ve been in love with you for months. I’m telling you now because I think you love me too, Anna. You just don’t think you’re supposed to. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I can wait.” I pulled her mouth down to mine and kissed her and when it ended, I smiled and said, “Happy birthday.”

“I never wanted anyone else, T.J. I just wanted what was best for you.""You are what's best for me," he said, cradling my head in his arms, his legs intertwined with mine. "I'm not going anywhere, Anna. This is right where I want to be.”

“[Anna] In February, I woke up from a nap. A bouquet of flowers gathered from the various bushes and shrubs scattered around the island lay on the blanket beside me, a small length of rope wound around their stems.I found T.J. down at the shore. “Someone’s been checking the calendar.”He grinned. “I didn’t want to miss Valentine’s Day.”I kissed him. “You’re sweet to me.”Pulling me closer, he said, “It’s not hard, Anna.”I stared into T.J.’s eyes, and he started to sway. My arms went around his neck and we danced, moving in a circle, the sand soft and warm under our feet.“You don’t need music, do you?”“No,” T.J. said. “But I do need you.”

“I want you to be my wife. There’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with. We can live out here, you, me, our kids, and Bo. But I get it now, Anna. My decisions affect you, too. So now you have one of your own to make. Will you marry me?”

“T.J. seemed older than seventeen. Reserved almost. Maybe facing serious health problems eliminated some of the immature behavior that presented itself when you had nothing more to worry about than getting your driver's license, cutting class, or breaking curfew.”

“We were eating lunch when a chicken walked out of the woods.“Anna, look behind you.”She turned around. “What the heck?”We watched as the chicken came closer. It pecked the ground, not in any kind of hurry.“There was one more after all,” I said.“Yeah, the stupid one,” Anna pointed out. “Although it’s the last one standing, so it’s done something right.”It came right up to Anna and she said, “Oh, hi. Do you not know what we did to the rest of your kind?”