Epilogue
Epilogue:
Vanessa was at work, clearing tables, when her shift manager came to tell her someone was asking for her. Something about an old boyfriend.
Vanessa’s breath caught in her throat. She went out to the alley on shaking legs, not saying a single word to the manager, not even bothering to finish cleaning up the table. She couldn’t bear to think of the name at the tip of her tongue but at the same time, she thought about it all the time.
There was a hooded figure in the shadows, staring at her. And Vanessa couldn’t help the surge of hope inside her, despite knowing that Wade had to be long dead by now.
“Wade? Is – is that you?”
The figure took a step closer, face obscured by the darkness and it only now occurred to Vanessa that something was fucky here. Wade had been dying, he’d been dying and it was years ago. By now there was no way he was still around, just coming to pick her up from work like nothing had ever happened.
Vanessa was so stupid. All it took was one word about an old boyfriend, not even about Wade specifically, and she was running down dark alleyways just to chase his shadow.
“Wade?” she asked again, quieter now, her heart breaking with the sinking feeling that this shadow wasn’t going to be him either. It was never going to be him ever again.
The figure stepped closer, into the light hanging above them and took off his hood. “Vanessa. It’s me.”
And the face under the hood wasn’t Wade’s, all red and scarred, like a face someone had peeled away and stuck back on. But that voice was familiar from her dreams. And those eyes could belong to no one else, big puppy dog eyes staring into her heart and ripping it open, pleading with her without a word.
“Wade,” she breathed out.
Wade took a step back and averted his eyes, suddenly scared. “Now I know, I look – I look –“
Vanessa didn’t need to hear what Wade looked like, as long as he was finally here, alive and breathing in front of her. She closed the distance between them and brought their lips together to that kiss she’d spent every night dreaming of ever since he’d left.
“The jagged pieces, like a puzzle. They all fit together,” Vanessa whispered, tears in her eyes. And he was here, Wade was finally here, alive and in her arms.
Wade closed his eyes and held her tight and neither of them wanted to ever let go again.
“I love you, Vanessa. I love you so much.” He said her name like a desperate prayer and she knew exactly how he felt.
“Me too, Wade. God, I love you.”
It felt like she’d woken up from a nightmare. Wade had finally, finally come home.