Whispers of Lavender

lds. Lila sat beneath the old oak tree at the rear of the farmhouse, the one she and Elias had initials carved into during their te

ing a letter

d handed it to her with a modest smile and no comment after they'd returned from their walk in the rain. He hadn't to

she

l morning, each page a window into his hea

vender there is taller than I remember, but I swear it stil

ded me of you. I was in the bakery, half

ear, the same as you used to love.

nging, a message from a life t

against her chest. A soft sorrow and warmth bloomed in her like petals unfolding

th

shed the gras

nd you here,"

nded to her. She took it with a smile, fingertips brushing aga

old him, cradling th

r, back to the tree. "I

red. "Like sitting beside you in

ey were never meant to be

that," she said. "T

where the fields shimmered in morning dew. "I wrote the

t last. "I told myself I was chasing my dream

m wh

g. From how muc

n them like dandelion se

, his face unreadab

"I think I

not suffocating but charged, like

maybe it's time we stopped writing thing

her cheek. "That's what scared me the mos

always

e swayed over them, its shadow brushing the grass like a lullaby. Lila r

for you too," she s

his hand trem

o me?" he as

read yours. I wanted you to kno

d the pape

r E

se the person I was meant to be. But what I didn't know until years

you held silence as if it were a sacrame

the way I felt when you lo

t with emotion. "You have no

," she said,

, as if it were fragile glass,

nd reaching out for her

then glanc

or the first time in a long t

"I want mor

Let's build something substantial, something

ly. "Then let'

lavender

d. "Wher

ngers intertwining effortlessly, like vines

d beneath the old oak tree where their story had started to take root, Lila and