Prologue
Charlie and I sat on the bed, the notebook I had written between us.
“This is-“
“Everything from the last seven and a half years, pretty much. A lot of the beginning is stuff you already know; how I met Clint, Colorado, that stuff. But the rest of it is what you missed during those five years.
“You kept asking me how we got here, what I did to get us here. This is it. I was going to give it to you last night when we were opening presents, but I completely forgot to wrap it.”
“You wrote this?” Charlie asked, taking the beaten-up notebook and flipping through the pages. I nodded.
“I started it about a year and a half after everything happened. I finally finished it last week.”
“Does anyone else know about this?” I shrugged.
“Clint and Steve know I was writing it, but they haven’t read it. No one else knows it exists. You don’t have to read it now if you don’t want to. I just thought you’d want a more complete explanation than what I’d ever be able to tell you.”
“Are you kidding? Of course I want to read this now.” I chuckled and nodded.
“Okay, then. Do you want me to be with you while you read or no?”
“You don’t have to. It’s going to take me a while to get through it. I know Nathaniel was excited to play games with you.”
“Alright, if you’re sure then.” I got up and walked to the door. Before I walked out of the room, I turned around to see Charlie leaning against the headboard, covered in a blanket, reading the first pages of my story.