Learning to Remember

22. Looking to the Future

He chuckled. "Yeah, I'd say that I do.  It's still crazy to believe."

"I know.  I mean, I honestly had no idea that I wasn't Amelia Edwards.  Now that I have my memories it's crazy to think back on that. But now that it's all clear, there were signs. I just didn't know how to see them."

"I know what you mean.  The way you wear your hair and you hardly wear any makeup was one for me. And you were so open and carefree.  I thought it was just because you were unhindered by whatever baggage your memories held. But now I know it's just because that's who you are."

"Exactly.  My sister hasn't worn her hair or her face natural in public since we were in the 8th grade."  She laughed.

"It seems exhausting." He chuckled.

"Why do you think I don't do it? Way too much work."  She shook her head.

"You don't need it anyway."

"Thank you, John."  She smiled up at him as she led him down the stairs to the subway station.

"You know, I've never ridden on a subway before."

"Consider this the first of hopefully many new adventures I take you on, then."

"Gladly." He smiled.  As they waited for the train, he asked.  "So I know it wasn't what you had planned but you have spent some time in Patton, now.  What did you think? Is it somewhere you might want to live? When you're not traveling."

She looked up at him to see he was nervous. She remembered him saying he'd never want to live anywhere else and she imagined that would be a big deal when it came to him finding a life partner. 

She smiled.  "I need to be honest, John. I would need to spend more time there with my memories fully intact."

"Yeah." She could tell his smile didn't fully meet his eyes, as if he was a bit worried. "I can understand that."

"But I can also say that outside of worrying about my memories and how I was going to pay my bills, I did genuinely enjoy my time there.  You helped a lot with that." She chuckled and blushed as she bumped his arm with her elbow. "But the town itself seemed like a nice place, and the people were friendly.  And I really do hate living somewhere as big as New York City.  When I come back from my travels, I just want to be able to relax. It's hard to do that when you're constantly hearing traffic and everything else. Everything is just so... busy, here."

"Yeah. I can see that." He nodded as the train approached. 

After boarding, they found a place to stand beside each other.  They stood in silence for most of the ride, just enjoying each other's presence and processing everything that had happened.  Once they were off the train and back onto the street, he took her hand as they walked to the airport. Once they were inside and she checked in, they stood to the side before she went through security where he couldn't follow.

"I really wish I didn't have to leave right now." She said as she turned and faced him. "I shouldn't have rushed to take the job like I did.  I just..."

"I know." He reached forward and embraced her in a hug and kissed the top of her hair. "I felt the same way."

"I'm sorry for all of the confusion."

He smiled as he stroked her back.  "It's not your fault. Now that everything is sorted, it's almost funny."

"Yeah, I'm sure one day we'll really laugh about all this."

"Your sister thought it was hilarious.  You should have seen it. She was laughing so hard she was crying. I still didn't have a clue what was happening so it made me so angry.  I thought you were laughing in my face after I came out and confessed how I felt about you."

She pulled back to look at him and grimaced.  "I'm so sorry, I bet that was awful." Then she began to chuckle. "But you're right. It is pretty funny now, when we're able to look at it in hindsight."  They both laughed and he pulled her in for a hug again.

"It is really hard to let you go, but I know I have to. I guess it's something I better get used to. You'll be leaving me all the time for these trips."

She leaned back and looked him in the eyes.  "I don't want to make your life miserable, John."

He frowned. "I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that, Jovie. I want you to be happy and do what brings you joy."

She smiled.  "I do love to travel, John, and I love what I do. But I only ever traveled as much as I did because I had no real reason to stay anywhere for a long time. Jovie was married and I didn't have anyone to share life with. So why not go off and chase adventures?" 

He nodded in understanding and she felt like melting with the way he looked at her and how patient he was and seemed to really listen to anything she had to say. She placed her hands on his chest and slightly moved her hands over his muscles before she continued.

"But that turned out to be pretty lonely, if I'm honest." She looked back up at him and smiled. "We'll have to see how things go between us, but if things keep going as well as they have so far...  when the time comes then I'm happy to make changes to my career so we can find the right balance for us."

He smiled and bent down to peck her lips with his. "Have I told you how incredible you are?" He whispered as he leaned in for another kiss.

She shook her head as she smiled against his lips. "Feel free to always remind me."

He chuckled as he pulled her tighter against him and smiled down at her, speaking in a soft and deep voice. "You're incredible." He smirked as he leaned down and kissed her again. But instead of the light pecks they had done so far, this one lingered.  He moved one hand up to the back of her head and deepened the kiss while she responded by reaching up and pulling down at his neck and returning his passion full force.

When he pulled away and sucked in a deep breath, she blinked her eyes as she tried to catch her breath.  "You better go." He said in a rough voice as he held her by the waist.

"You say that, but you don't seem to be letting me." She chuckled.

He released his arms and took a step back, holding her hands in his. "See you in a couple weeks?"

"It's a date."

"Oh I plan on taking you on several." He smirked.

"Planning on trying to make me fall in love with Patton?" She smirked back at him.

"Among other things." He winked.

She laughed and lunged forward to give him a peck on the lips before walking backwards toward the security line.  "See you in two weeks, John Grainger."

"Enjoy your trip, Jovie Stephens."

~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note:

Short Chapter but I wanted to give them time for a sweet ending and to give some details of what their future might look like.

Please give me feedback! Any plot holes? Anything you feel was missing?

I hope you'll read the sequel, which follows Amelia's story of healing while also giving insight as to what happens with Jovie and John.