Inside Out (40 page)

“Holy cow!” There was much hugging and kissing, much commiserating and talking of dates.

“How awesome is this? Look at all this happily ever after.” Adrian spoke from where he’d been perched on a couch arm.

Cope pulled her into his embrace, swaying to a tune only they could hear.

“I love you so much it’s not funny,” he murmured for her ears only. “Can’t wait to get you home to show you.”

He showed her every moment of every day, and she never quite got over the wonder of that. The beautiful normalcy of being loved so very fiercely by this man who wrote her poetry and brought her breakfast in bed after he’d kept her up all night making love.

“I do have a present for you now, though.”

She let go, clapping her hands excitedly. “You’re finally going to let me see?” Brody had given him a tattoo on his arm that Cope had been totally secretive about.

He’d kept it covered when she was around all during the time it had been healing.

Rolling up his shirtsleeve, she read the words scrolling down his right arm.

In your eyes of mourning, the land of dreams begin

“Oh.” Tears welled up. It was her favorite line from Neruda’s “In My Sky at Twilight.”

“That’s a good oh?”

She nodded, bending down to kiss his forearm. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“You’re my everything, Ella. Inside and out, the most beautiful creature to ever be. I adore you.”

Life was very, very good.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

In this book, Ella makes her own special “Cope Playlist” and sends it to him in her own version of a mixtape.

“Everlong”—Foo Fighters

“Head First”—The Babys

“Still Remains”—Stone Temple Pilots

“Lost Without U”—Robin Thicke

“The Wait”—The Pretenders

“When It Don’t Come Easy”—Patty Griffin

“Manhattan”—Kings of Leon

“Caligulove”—Them Crooked Vultures

“Birds”—Kate Nash

“Black Cherry”—Goldfrapp

“#1 Crush”—Garbage

“The First Taste”—Fiona Apple

“Mercy”—Duffy

“Ain’t Nobody”—Chaka Khan

“No One’s Gonna Love You”—Band of Horses

“Little Plastic Castle”—Ani DiFranco

“Gravel”—Ani DiFranco

“Fix You Up”—Tegan and Sara