My Butterfly

left. Dreams would always end with you, and then mornings would steal you away with a cruelty that haunted my days. The start of each new morning, Jules, pained me as I opened my eyes only to face my merciless reality. No matter how hard I tried to push you to the back of my mind, you always found a way back to the forefront. You always won,” I added, gently nudging her arm.
    She lowered her head and smiled, as my eyes found the tops of my boots and locked onto them.
    “I eventually learned to live as normally as possible again,” I went on. “I learned to get out of bed and to put on a smile everyday, though even in my laughter, my heart ached. And I learned to hide my hurt when someone asked about you or mentioned your name, which they often did and still do. I mean, Jules, even hearing your name in the grocery store would send me into a crazy, downward spiral that usually ended with Jeff acting as my badly equipped therapist.”
    She cocked her head to the side and caught my eyes, but I only nodded my head and sucked in another deep breath, as I tried to smile.
    “But I slowly learned to live a quiet existence without you by my side, carrying the heavy burden that was my secret,” I said.
    I stopped then for a moment before I continued.
    “Then one day, I received an answer to my prayers—in the form of a business card,” I said, starting to laugh. “It sounds crazy, I know, but it was almost as if fate had conspired for us, Jules. It took me a little while to realize it, but once I had, I was on a mission. Jules, I took the offer for you. All of this—the performing, the tours, the songs—is for you. I did it all to bring you back to me.”
    “What?” I heard her softly ask. “How could you have done this all…?”
    I listened to her words trail off.
    “I had just finished recording your song, and I knew that it would only be a matter of time before you’d come back,” I said. “After all, you promised.”
    A happy smile finally broke free from my face.
    “Jules, I’ve already waited too long to tell you this…,” I said and then stopped.
    I reached behind me, grabbed the butterfly weed and placed it in between us.
    “Julia, when I said that I would love you until the last petal falls, I meant it,” I said. “You’re the answer to my every prayer.”
    She took the stem into her hands and gently caressed its silk flowers.
    “Will, where did you find these?” she asked.
    I smiled wider.
    “Under that raggedy, old teddy bear of yours and some track medals,” I said. “I had some help.”
    I watched her lips turn up into a smile, as she stared into the flowers for a long moment.
    “Will,” she eventually said. “I’m not the same person I was when we were in high school.”
    Her confession took me aback.
    “Well, Jules, if you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly the same person that I was ten years ago either,” I said, with a half-smile. “I’m here fighting for you, aren’t I?”
    A coy expression shot to her face.
    “I’m just trying to tell you that you might not be saying all these things if you really knew me now,” she said. “You might not even want a girl like me anymore.”
    She peeked at me from behind her big eyelashes.
    “Hmm,” I said, nodding my head in a pretend, reflective thought. “Then, just who is the new Miss Julia Lang?”
    I watched her eyes quickly travel back to mine. She looked a little surprised.
    “Well, okay,” she eventually said.
    She took a second, and I watched as she inhaled a healthy dose of the night’s cool air before letting the breath pass through her lips again.
    “Well,” she said, meeting my eyes, “for starters, I make a living arguing. Not many people understand why I do it, and it’s tough sometimes, but I love it.”
    I kept wearing my smile as she continued.
    “And I don’t wish on stars anymore or entertain fairytales, and I can’t remember the last time that I climbed out of a window in the middle of the night,” she said. “Oh, and I’m a vegetarian now.”
    She lowered her eyes.
    “And I don’t believe that there is a perfect someone for anyone,” she softly said.
    I sat back against the windshield again and let my eyes stare off into the black distance. She had changed a little, that’s for sure. No meat? No meat at all? No cheeseburgers?
    “A vegetarian? Really?” I asked.
    Her eyes searched mine. I could tell that she was trying to judge my reaction.
    “That is a big change all right—but