Uncharted Territory

Grace

It’d been a week since John and I had called off our engagement and I’d barely left the house. I wasn’t depressed – I mean, sure, I was a little sad and nostalgic – but mainly I just didn’t want to see people and hear them whisper about me. First, I run off and marry someone else while leaving John in Tempe brokenhearted and then when I get the chance to mend things, I break off the engagement. I wasn’t even 23 years old yet and already had a divorce and broken engagement under my belt.

I was also avoiding leaving the house because I knew I needed to talk to Kennedy. Kennedy’s reaction to what I needed to tell him had the power to hurt me more than the whispers and gossips from everyone else. I’d found a tiny bit of confidence earlier though and had texted him asking him to meet me at the park at 2 pm. I hadn’t heard back from him but decided to go anyway. I got up and threw on my shoes before walking to the park.

As soon as I got to the park I sat down on a swing and nervously waited, and hoped, for Kennedy to show.

I let out a sigh of relief as I saw Kennedy walking towards me at 2:05. He sat down on the swing next to me but didn’t say anything, waiting for me to talk.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to come,” I started.

“I wasn’t sure either,” Kennedy said never looking over at me, instead just staring straight ahead.

His honesty felt like a punch in the stomach but I knew I deserved it.

“I’m sure you’ve heard about mine and John’s engagement.”

Kennedy nodded. “John flew out to Cambridge to try and fix things with Reagan.”

“Good. They both deserve happiness.”

“They do,” Kennedy agreed and then turned to look at me for the first time. “Why did you text me and ask me to come here? I’m sure it wasn’t to make small talk about John and Reagan.”

I sighed. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. Breaking John’s heart, running away from Arizona to marry some guy I barely knew, divorcing him once I finally did get to know him, becoming engaged to John just so I could try and fix what I’d done earlier…honestly, the list could go on and on. I think the biggest mistake I’ve made though is not being honest about my feelings for you.”

I paused and glanced up at Kennedy who was staring at me intently. He didn’t say anything though, instead just waited for me to go on.

“There’s always been an undeniable chemistry between us; even in high school I knew this. I was comfortable with John though so I was too scared to do anything about it. When you finally told me how you felt that last time we talked I knew I could no longer hide from it. It was time for me to finally admit my feelings. I’m just worried that I’m too late.”

Kennedy sighed. “I’ve waited so long and have put myself through so much pain to hear those words. And now…I…I just don’t know.”

“I figured it was too late,” I softly said.

“I never said it was too late. I’m just trying to convince myself this isn’t a dream,” Kennedy smiled.

Relief washed over me. “So what do you say? Want to start over?”

“No,” Kennedy shook his head. “Yeah, this has been a long journey for us but everything that happened was supposed to. If we start over we lose all of that. I say we remember everything and learn from it. We’ll just start from where we are and take things slow.”

“So what does that mean?”

“It means, would you like to go out on a date with me?”

“Of course,” I smiled and hugged Kennedy.

For the first time since I’d married Evan, I finally felt as if I wasn’t making a mistake when it came to love.