Maybe Someday(121)

Even after all my mind

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Put me through

So won’t you

Won’t you let it begin

So won’t you

Won’t you let it begin

You hold it out

You hold your heart out in your hand

I snatch it up

I snatch it up fast as I can

Even after all this time

I still want you

Even after all my mind

Put me through

I stand here at your door

Until you come and let me in

I want to be your end

But you gotta let it begin

So won’t you

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Won’t you let it begin

So won’t you

Won’t you just say when

Ridge

Our gazes never deviate from each other.

Throughout the song, her focus remains solely on

mine and mine on hers. When the song ends, I

don’t move. I wait for her mind and her life to

catch up to her heart, and I hope it happens soon.

Tonight. Right now.

She wipes tears from her eyes, then lifts her

hands. She holds up her left index finger, brings

her right index finger close to the left and circles

it around, and then the tips of her fingers touch.

I can’t move.

She just signed for me.

She just said “when.”

Seeing her sign is something I never expected.

It’s something I never would have even asked her

to do. Learning how to communicate with me the

whole time we’ve been apart is the most amazing

thing anyone has ever done for me.

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I’m shaking my head, unable to get it through

my mind that this girl is willingly mine and she’s

perfect and beautiful and good and, holy shit, I

love her so much.

She’s smiling, but I’m still frozen in shock.

She laughs at my response and signs the word

again, several times. “When, when, when.”

Brennan shoves my shoulder, and I look over

at him. He laughs. “Go,” he signs, nodding his

head in Sydney’s direction. “Go get your girl.”

I immediately drop my guitar to the floor and

rush off the stage. She pushes away from her

table as soon as she sees me making my way to-

ward her. She’s only a few feet away, but I can’t

get to her fast enough. I take in the dress she has

on and make a mental note to thank Warren later.

I have a feeling he had something to do with that.

I look into her tear-filled eyes when I finally

reach her. She’s smiling up at me, and for the

first time since the moment I met her, we’re look-

ing at each other without a trace of guilt or worry

or regret or shame.

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She throws her arms around my neck, and I

pull her to me and bury my face in her hair. I

hold her head firmly against me and close my

eyes. We hold on to each other as if we’re afraid

to let go.

I can feel her crying, so I put enough space

between us so I can look into her eyes. She lifts

her head, and I’ve never seen tears look more

beautiful.

“You signed,” I say out loud.

She smiles. “You spoke. A lot.”

“I’m not very good at it,” I admit. I know my

words are hard to understand, and I still feel un-

comfortable when I speak, but I love seeing her

eyes when she hears my voice. It makes me want

to speak every single word I possibly can right

here and now.

“I’m not good, either,” she says. She pulls

away from me and lifts her hands to sign. “War-

ren has been helping me. I only know about two

hundred words, but I’m learning.”

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It’s been several months since I last saw her,

and while I’ve been trying to believe she still

wanted to be with me, I did have my doubts. I

was starting to question our decision to wait be-

fore starting our relationship. What I never ex-

pected was for her to spend those months learn-

ing how to communicate with me in a way my

own parents didn’t even care enough to learn.

“I just fell completely in love with you,” I say

to her. I glance at Bridgette, who is still seated at the table. “Did you see it, Bridgette? Did you see

me just fall in love with her?”

Bridgette rolls her eyes, and I feel Sydney

laugh. I look back down at her. “I did. Like

twenty seconds ago. I fell completely in love

with you.”

She smiles and mouths her next words slowly

so I can understand her. “I fell first.”

When the last word passes her lips, I catch it

with my mouth. Since the second I walked away

from these lips, I’ve done nothing but think about

the moment I would get to taste them again. She

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pulls me tightly against her, and I kiss her hard,