It was different than I remembered it. But maybe, that's because I was different. Three years had passed after all.

It was brighter, but the last time I had been here, it was cloudy. Now the sun shone bright as a freshly minted coin in a cloudless sky. Spray thrown upwards by a river engorged with spring melt cast rainbows in the air, arcing over like trout over the water.

More moss had grown over the unused tracks, giving it a soft feeling underfoot, and there were more pockmarks in the old wood. Layers of rust turned the bridge almost completely red. I looked across to the far side, where the tracks disappeared into the folds of the hills and I wondered where they led. Maybe, one day, I could find out.

I walked out onto the tracks, heading for the spot I had sat all those years ago, casting pebbles into the abyss and wishing I could cast away my problems just as easily. How long ago all of that seemed.

"Dash?" said a voice behind me.

I froze. No way, I thought, positive the environment and my memories were playing tricks on me.

I recognized that voice. Would have recognized it anywhere, even though I hadn't heard it in three years. It washed over me like an ocean wave, refreshing in the summer heat and salty in all of my senses.

Turning slowly on my heel, I braced myself for the next wave, unsure of how strong the undertow would be.

There, at the far end of the tracks, in shorts and an athletic t-shirt, stood Tyler.

My heart leapt into my throat.

The years had been kind to him. Though his hair was a little shorter and he now wore a closely trimmed beard that accentuated his jawline, he looked nearly the same. From my distance, I could just make out the dark lines of the butterfly tattoo.

Something primal tensed in me as I tried to anticipate his reaction. Would he be angry for the way I left him?

He smiled broadly when he recognized me and strode quickly to where I stood.

"Tyler?" I asked, still unsure if I was imagining it all. His answer was to envelope me in a massive hug and lift me up. My legs sailed out behind me as he spun us around.

I laughed, inhaling the day's heat and feeling it warm me from the inside. It was definitely him. As he set me down, I looked up to find my smile reflected in his gray eyes.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I went to school to get a recommendation letter from a professor and decided to stop by here on my way home," I said in a sort of daze. My body couldn't seem to figure out what to feel or how to feel it. Adrenaline spiked in my blood in a way it hadn't in a long time and my heart was stuttering in a way that didn't know if I was about to experience the best moment of my life, or the worst. "What are you doing here?" I added, as if I had any right to claim this place as my own.

"Needed a break from studying," he said, still grinning. "My boards are coming up soon."

"Haven't given up on the doctor dream?" I asked.

He shook his head. "And you? What has your dream become?"

"I'm applying to grad school to get my master's in social work so I can work with kids who have traumatic pasts."

Tyler laughed. "What is it about misery that loves company?" And though I knew as well as he did the unhappy meaning behind the idiom, it somehow felt right.

"Those who understand misery are stronger together," I replied, catching his eye. His gaze warmed, gray eyes soft as down, eyes that I had missed glancing in my direction and so easily reading my soul. I could see in his face the desire to ask the question I too wanted to voice. "What have you been up to these past three years? Who have you become? But part of me didn't want to know.

I had created a life for Tyler in my head as the days and months and years went by, a happy life, a fulfilling life. His picture was framed on a shelf in my mind; one I took down occasionally to dust and look back fondly on. I wasn't sure I wanted that picture changed.

But what were the chances of us happening across each other, at this place of all places, after so long?

What's meant to be Tyler be echoed a voice in my head. One I hadn't let speak for a very long time.

"Have you grown out the hair dye or out grown it?" he asked, placing a lock that had been displaced by the breeze safely behind my ear. My cheek warmed at the slight graze of his rough fingertips.

"Grown out," I said sheepishly. "My mom thought it wouldn't be a good look for school interviews."

"Shame," he said. "I've always liked it on you. Besides, I think it'd make you more relatable with the kids."

I laughed. "Maybe once I get a job, I'll go back to my natural colors."

An easy silence fell between us for a moment, filled with bird song and the sound of the rushing river. "How's your family?" I asked.

Tyler grimaced and let out a long breath, rubbing the back of his neck. "Paul is still out in California. I see him a couple times a year. We alternate trips. My parents are...divorced. They finalized it last year."

I bit my lip. "Tyler, I...crap. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," he said, easy smile returning. "You couldn't have known."

I bit my lip harder at the next thought to cross my mind. I would have if I had stayed in touch.

"And your parents?" he asked.

"The same," I said, trying to mirror his nonchalance with a shrug. "Mom worries too much. Dad tells her not too." I paused, trying to collect my thoughts and watching a bird wing through the mist and disappear into the trees before speaking again. "It's funny. My mom's worry always used to annoy me. It was grating, you know? I was the one who went through something traumatic. It took me a while to realize that she did too. Checking in on me all the time is just how she copes with it."

I took a deep breath, the words I needed to say welling in my throat. But I held them in for a moment until I could sort them out and place them correctly. Letting go of my breath, I caught Tyler's gaze. "I'm sorry for what I did and how I left. It wasn't fair to you after everything you had done for me. It was what I needed, to—"

"Cope," he finished for me. "I understand. I was never mad at you for leaving."

I raised an eyebrow, not quite believing him. He laughed at the look and placed his hands on the rusted railing, stretching backward so the muscles in his arms and back pulled taut. "Okay, later on there may have been one or two days I was angry. But it was never at you. Feelings don't always go hand in hand with reason."

"Tell me about it," I chuckled. A weight lifted from my chest at his easy acceptance of my lackluster apology. But that's how it had always been with Tyler. Easy.

"So," he said. "Where to next?" And I knew that I was forgiven.

"Boston," I replied. "Hopefully. If I get into school."

"Boston?" he repeated, his eyes dancing.

"Yeah, why?"

"That's where I'm applying for residency programs."

"No way!" I exclaimed.

"Way," he said.

We laughed in tandem. A sudden image of me and Tyler walking through the city streets filled my head and I had to blink it away. I went to lean against the rail next to him so our shoulders brushed, tapping his foot playfully with my boot.

"I guess we'll run into each other like this more often?" I said, phrasing it like a question. It was only fair to place the ball in his court.

He smirked, seeing through my guise. "I would say the chances are higher there than the odds of running into each other here."

I glanced down at the dark shape of the butterfly tattoo peeking from under his shirt sleeve. Odds and chances, I thought. How could we know what brought us to this moment? We can't. Just like we couldn't know the future. Couldn't know if it would work. But I wasn't afraid of the future or the past anymore.

"Do you believe things happen for a reason?" I asked, thinking of that sunny fall day in the apple orchard where he had kissed me for the first time.

He leaned toward me so his head blocked the sun and the light broke in rays around his face. "I don't know," he said. He smiled and my heart skipped a beat at the gentle curve of his lips. "I'm waiting to see what happens."

____________________________________________________________

Hello again, readers! Fancy seeing you around this story again! Glad to have you back :)

The first thing I must do is profusely apologize to you guys for how very delayed this epilogue was. It was supposed to be written/posted when DMTL hit 1K votes (roughly 2K votes ago now, yeesh), but when it hit that milestone I just wasn't happy with it. Then I started pitching the story to agents and received some rejection letters and realized the whole story needed more editing and my heart just wasn't in it at the time. I needed to take break, let it breathe so I could come back to it with fresh eyes and new energy. And then life got in the way and I started working on new projects and here we are over 3 years later haha. But I found some inspiration recently that made me want to return to this story and these characters and finally write the damn epilogue to really "finish" it. And here it is!

I hope you guys enjoy returning as much as I did :) 

Lots of love,

E