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everything, reminiscing about each object before packing it in the box. Those he hadn’t seen, he asked about. Needless to say, the packing part was slow going.
    The relocation package from Shake Design allowed for a moving company, but I opted to keep the money for an apartment deposit instead and move everything to Colorado myself. Mostly it was just a thinly veiled excuse to have Henry come with me. He had agreed to drive the truck while I followed in my Prius, and I’d purchased a walkie-talkie so we could talk nonstop during the drive.
    On Thursday, I picked up the moving truck and invited friends over for a moving party. They brought beer, pizza, paper plates and their muscles. Everyone helped load boxes and furniture into the truck and afterwards, we all went back inside the empty apartment and said our goodbyes.
    I stayed at Henry’s house that night, slept in the same bed nestled in his arms. He didn’t try anything sexual, didn’t even want to talk before we fell asleep. He simply kissed me, told me he loved me, and fell right to sleep.
     
    The next morning he was gone from the bed by the time I woke up. After I showered and dressed, I found him at the kitchen counter with breakfast already made. “I didn’t want to wake you,” he said, not meeting my eyes as he sipped his coffee.
    Swallowing down my disappointment, I sat with him and ate quietly, stealing glances at his face. He looked weary, with dark circles under his eyes, but he forced a tight smile when he caught me looking.
    “We don’t have to say goodbye yet, Henry,” I said. “We still have the long drive together.”
    “I’m not saying goodbye yet,” he said with a frown.
    “Then why does it feel like you are?”
    His blue eyes bore into mine. “My heart is breaking here, Elsie,” he said softly. “I’m doing everything I can to keep from begging you to stay.”
    I looked down at my plate, hiding the tears.
    “Helping you pack and letting you go is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I mean it when I said I wanted you to fulfill your dream.” He motioned to himself. “This, what I’m doing, is just my way of internalizing everything so you won’t have more sadness to bear.”
    I jumped to my feet and stumbled to him, burying my face in his neck and wetting the collar of his shirt with my tears. “I love you, Henry.”
    His arms were like bands of steel as they came around me, holding me tight.
    “You won the challenge,” I said. “You won me over.”
    He grasped the sides of my face and planted kisses all over my face before stopping at my mouth. “Thank you,” he said against my lips, “for trusting me again.”
     
    I followed the moving truck out of my neighborhood and onto the interstate with my heart lodged firmly in my throat. As we passed by landmarks, I silently said my goodbyes. I had experienced so much heartbreak while living here, yet Oklahoma was the place I had grown the most and become my own person. This place would always have a place in my heart.
    On the way out of the state, Henry’s voice suddenly crackled over the walkie-talkie. “There’s a rest stop coming up. Pull over,” he said in an urgent tone.
    “Why? Is something wrong with the truck?”
    “Quick, just pull over!”
    I followed him into the rest area with a pounding heart and parked my car beside the truck. He jumped out and rushed to the car. When I got out, he grabbed the sides of my head and kissed me so thoroughly it literally took the breath from my lungs. He pressed me against the car, the kiss going on and on.
    Five blissful minutes elapsed before he finally pulled away, my face still cradled in his hands. “No emergency,” he said, biting his lower lip as he smiled. “I just needed to do that,” he added before going back to the truck.
    According to Google Maps, the drive up to Denver was supposed to take nine hours and thirty-five minutes but we stopped at nearly every rest stop to make out, which added an extra two hours to