NB: After the disappointment that Chris died in the 47th chapter, this is an alternative ending that I have been requested to write. I hope you enjoy it.

Stephen King Owns

Chapter Forty Seven

"Did you ever play that game when you were a kid? Where you'd try and make out the shapes of the clouds?"

Jesus, I missed him.

Memories of Chris came flooding back without warning. It was as though I had supressed a million memories of he and I together since we'd been apart. But now we were back together, the floodgates were open again. They came back to me day and night; I could be walking to the store, reading a magazine, or brushing down my front steps when I would hear his voice in my ear as clearly as if he had showed up at my door from California. The cloud memory came when I was lying in the yard watching Mikey run through the grass in an attempt to catch crickets.

"Did you ever play that game when you were a kid? Where you'd try and make out the shapes of the clouds?"

I frowned.

"Nah."

"Sure, you did." He shifted slightly underneath me. We lay in the field next to Fran's house staring up at the summer's sky, my head on his chest. "Everybody played it."

"Not me. I was probably counting my ma's beer bottles."

He chuckled.

"Well, then you missed out on a rite of passage. Come on, let's play."

"Huh?"

"See that cloud up there? It looks like an elephant."

I looked in the direction he was pointing but I couldn't see anything except wispy clouds against a deep blue sky.

"Nope. Don't see it."

"Sure, you do. There's his trunk. And his back. And there's his tail."

"It's just clouds."

I could feel his frown without looking up.

"Why are you so grumpy?"

"I'm not grumpy. This is stupid."

"It's fun. Close your eyes. Close your eyes and dont think about anything. Then look again."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

So I closed my eyes. I breathed in the scent of the corn field, the touch of his hand against my warm skin. And then I looked.

"A heart."

"What?"

"I see a love heart. Right over there. But it's the gap in the clouds, not the actual clouds. You see?"

"Thinking outside the box already. I like it." His chuckle warmed my insides. "Of all things, huh? A heart."

I elbowed him.

"What's that mean?"

"It means that you love me. That you're crazy about me. That you could stay like this in this field forever."

I scoffed and slapped him idly with the back of my mind.

"What makes you think that, big shot?"

"Because." He caught my hand and linked his fingers through mine. "I was thinking the exact same thing."

888

"I need to stop watching movies I've read the book of."

I was waiting to cross the street when I saw a poster for the film True Grit- based on the novel by Charlie Portis. It had been some time since I'd been to a movie. Ace and I rarely went anywhere after Mikey was born. Chris and I had gone all the time though.

"I need to stop watching movies I've read the book of."

It was a warm summer's night and we were walking back from the drive in. Chris and Gordie were still working on getting the skylark finished so we'd walked in and sat down at the seats up front.

"What are you talking about? That movie was awesome!"

We didn't always agree on choice of movie but watching the Carpet Baggers had been an easy agreement. I liked the name of it and Chris said it was one of his favourite books. We had only made out a couple of times which wasn't like us at all since I was so engrossed in the screen.

Chris pulled a face.

"You haven't read the book. It kinda killed it for me."

"What are you talking about?"

"Think about it. Any movie you ever read the book of turns out to be a disappointment."

"That's not true!" I felt indignant. "Gone with the Wind was way better than the book."

"You read it?"

"Yes."

"All of it?"

"Well, no. But thats because it was so damn dull. I watched the entire movie though!"

"Not the same thing. The book is way darker than the glossy shit they put in the movie. Movies have to censor everything. It takes out essential messages, completely excludes the Ku Klux Klan from the running and-"

"The KKK is in Gone with the Wind?"

He looked at me and laughed.

"Glory, how much did you read before you fell asleep?"

"Hey!" I protested. "Okay. To Kill a Mocking Bird. That movie rocked."

"It was decent. But you lose Scout in the movie. It becomes all about Jem. I felt kinda disappointed at the limitations of her character. And again, all the dark stuff is excluded. No implications about incest, and all the racial challenges get rolled into a damn court room drama. It's bullshit."

I was stumped for a second.

"I never thought about it that way..."

"Well, you have now." He grinned at me. "Maybe we should both stop seeing movie versions of good books."

I stopped walking for a second, pulling him to a halt.

"Chris?"

He raised his head towards me and i leaned up and kissed him hard on the mouth. He kissed me back, smiling as we pulled apart.

"What was that for?"

"For being so damn smart. It's hell a hot."

"You're hell a hot." His fingers tightened around mine and he pulled me closer to him, planting a kiss on my cheek.

888

"Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

"You're insane!"

"No, I was insane for not asking you five years ago."

The phone started ringing while I was trying to go over my course work. My book keeping class was tough and I was always tired by the time Mikey was in bed. Tonight I was pretty sure I was adding it all up wrong. I sighed and got up to answer the phone.

It was probably for Gordie. Who was out with the new History teacher at the high school- showing her the town- which would have taken all of twenty minutes. He'd been gone three hours.

Probably Mrs Lachance, I thought. After all the years of neglect, Gordie finally moved out and suddenly she was almost an overbearing mother.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Beautiful."

I smiled into the phone.

"Hey."

There was something about his voice that just made me feel crazy happy.

"How you doing? You have a good day?" He was at a payphone, i could hear the noise and laughter of a crowd in the background.

"It was busy," I said, "Tiring. I'm remembering how much I hated math."

"Hey, you're good at math," he said. "You just need to remember that."

"I'll try. How was your day?"

He sighed a little.

"It got a whole lot better as soon as I heard your voice. I miss you, Nina."

"I miss you too," I said. "When are you coming home?"

"Tomorrow." I could hear he was grinning. "I was going to surprise you but I couldn't wait. I picked something up today and I kinda feel like I have to give it to you in person."

I clenched and unclenched my fist before looking down at my bare fingers.

"What time, tomorrow?"

"My bus gets in at six. Gordie'll pick me up."

"Mikey'll be asleep by the time you get here," I warned.

"So I'll see him the day after. All I wanna do is hold you in my arms and kiss you."

"You are so soft," I laughed.

"With you, I am," he agreed.

The two of us laughed intimately.

"Babe, I'm out of quarters," he said quickly as the phone began to beep. "I'll see you tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you," I called back but the phone died so I wasn't sure if he'd heard me or not.

I finished the math homework much more quickly after I went back to it. Chris made me feel smarter, and more confident. He always had.

888

It was past 7 o clock when I heard Gordie come into the house.

I practically ran into the hallway, nearly shoving Gordie aside as I threw myself into Chris' arms. He dropped his bag and hugged me tightly, swinging me off of the floor.

"Ah jeez, get a room," Gordie complained as I buried my face in Chris' neck and he squeezed me tightly to him, smoothing back my hair. He smelled so good. I buried my face in his neck feeling a sob rise in my throat.

"Hey." He was laughing as I squeezed him tighter and tighter, feeling a strange urge to cry as he held me. "You okay?"

"Yeah," My voice was kinda strangled. "I just had this strange feeling that I might not see you again."

"Don't talk crazy." Chris laughed some more and whispered in my ear that he'd missed me.

"Seriously, I'm going to puke," Gordie said, picking up Chris' fallen bag.

Chris pulled away and looked into my eyes, ignoring Gordie.

"Come for a walk with me?"

"Now?" I glanced up at the clock. Mikey had only just gone to bed.

"Yeah. I've cleared it with Gordo. Let's go."

Gordie made a gagging gesture and shooed us outside.

"Where are we going?" I slipped my hand into Chris' and he stopped to give me a long lingering kiss before grinning at me.

"It's a surprise."

Considering we hadn't seen each other in so long we were quiet. It wasn't uncomfortable, we had always been easy company but he was thoughtful and walking quickly. I was tired and doing my best to keep up with him.

Weirdly I started to get a sense of de ja vu as we cut into Folly's Field and as he led me to the wooden bench on the far side I suddenly realised why. We had come up here the night of Gordie's birthday party.

We had sat on this bench until the sun had come up.

"Here, sit down." Chris pulled me onto the bench beside him.

"Last time we were here, I remember feeling like my whole world was crashing down. I lost it before when you went back to Ace but I had always told myself you couldn't be happy with him and that maybe one day there'd be hope for us."

I opened my mouth to respond but he put a finger to my lips and shook his head.

"But that day up here, after I'd seen you with Mikey, I realised I couldn't have you back anymore. You had a husband and a beautiful son and a life that was happy. I sat here wishing on a star-" He pointed into the sky "that star- for a do over. Where I would refuse to leave you- that day in the bar- that day at Ace' s place-"

My stomach tightened.

"Chris, stop-" I didn't want to be reminded of our past, of how I had chosen Ace, of how I had hurt him.

"No, I'm not finished," he said earnestly. "Because I got my wish- I got my do over. And I'm not wasting anymore time." He slipped down beside the bench on one knee, producing a beautiful diamond engagement ring from his pocket.

"Christina Willis, will you marry me?"

I let him take my hand and slide it onto my ring finger before I nodded.

"Of course, I will."

And then he kissed me. And I felt sixteen again.

888