Two years later
The wind off the ocean carried the same restless sound Jason remembered from his dreams.
He stood near the blanket he had carefully spread across the sand, pretending to adjust the corner for the third time. The picnic basket sat open beside it. There were sandwiches, fruit, a bottle of lemonade, and a small velvet box tucked safely in the inside pocket of his jacket.
Jason glanced toward the water again.
Hannah stood a few yards away where the waves curled over the sand, the breeze tugging gently at her hair. She had slipped off her shoes and rolled the cuffs of her jeans, letting the cool water touch her feet.
The sight of her there made something warm settle in his chest.
Two years.
Two years since a quiet lunch and a strange conversation about a dream had changed everything.
They had spent those years slowly piecing together what they remembered. The fragments of a life that had ended with too many unanswered questions. The pain of that old story had faded with time, replaced by the quiet certainty that they had been given something rare.
A second chance.
Hannah turned and walked back toward him, brushing sand from her hands as she approached.
“You’re pacing,” she said, amused.
Jason looked down.
He had, in fact, worn a small trail in the sand around the blanket.
“I’m not pacing.”
“You absolutely are.”
She dropped down onto the blanket and tilted her head up at him, studying his face.
“You’re nervous.”
Jason tried for a casual shrug, which fooled neither of them.
Hannah’s eyes softened slightly as she glanced around at the beach.
Her smile turned teasing.
“Is it the beach?” she asked. “Did the beach make you nervous?”
Jason blinked at her.
“You planned a picnic at the beach,” she continued, gesturing toward the ocean. “If this place makes you anxious, that seems like poor planning.”
Jason let out a short laugh and shook his head.
“No,” he said softly.
He sat down beside her.
For a moment he simply looked at her. The woman he had once only been allowed to watch from across crowded rooms.
The woman he had lost.
The woman he had found again.
Jason reached over and took her hand.
The movement felt just as natural as it had the first time.
“Hannah,” he said quietly.
She watched him, curious now.
Jason felt the nervous energy he’d been carrying all afternoon settle into something steadier.
“I’m certain,” he said slowly, “that I’ve waited lifetimes for this moment.”
Hannah’s breath caught slightly.
Jason smiled faintly.
“I don’t know how many chances we get in this world,” he continued. “But I know I want to spend every single one I’m given with you.”
He tightened his fingers gently around hers.
“I want to be there for everything,” he said. “Every good day. Every bad one. Every ordinary Tuesday. I just want to be there. With you.”
Hannah’s eyes had already begun to shine.
Jason reached into his jacket.
His heart hammered in his chest as he pulled out the small velvet box.
He opened it carefully, revealing the ring inside.
“Hannah,” he said softly, “will you marry me?”
For a moment she didn’t say anything.
Then a wide smile spread across her face.
She nodded.
“Yes.”
Jason let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“Yes?” he repeated.
Hannah laughed through the happy tears forming in her eyes.
“Yes.”
Jason slipped the ring onto her finger.
The wind swept across the beach, lifting Hannah’s hair as she leaned toward him.
They kissed there on the blanket with the sound of the waves behind them, the same ocean that had once watched them say goodbye.
This time, there was no distance waiting.
No one standing between them.
Only the promise Jason had made long ago.
And the life they were finally beginning together.
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