“You never told me what you wished for,” she whispered into my ear moments later.

I turned on my side and faced her.

“Well, since it came true, I guess I can tell you. That is how it goes, right?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said, confidently nodding her head.

“Well then, I wished for my first kiss — but only if it could be with you,” I said.

I watched her lips break into a smile again. Then, she brought our locked hands close to her mouth and kissed the back of my hand before returning her attention to the heavens.

I couldn’t help but smile as I followed with my eyes a firefly making its path across the front of the truck. The firefly eventually disappeared behind a tree, leaving me to my thoughts and to my ultimate conclusion, which was that someone could surely try, but I was pretty sure that he couldn’t convince me that life could get any better than it was right now.

“What did you wish for?” I asked, eventually breaking the silence.

Her eyes brightened.

“I can’t tell you,” she said. “Mine hasn’t come true yet.”

I held my stare on her for a second longer. Then, I chuckled and kissed her soft lips again. They were still perfect.

“Will you tell me what it is when it does?” I whispered near her ear, after I had withdrawn my lips from hers.

I watched her as she seemed to toss the idea around in her head for a moment.

“Yes,” she eventually said.

“You promise?” I asked.

“I promise,” she said.

I nodded in satisfaction, smiled and then returned my head to the windshield.

“Jules,” I said then.

She turned her face toward mine, and I locked my eyes in hers.

“I’m glad you said yes,” I said.

She was quiet for a moment.

“Me too,” she said.

Jules tugged at my hand and pulled me forward. I hesitated for a moment to let a little kid with a stick of ice cream in his hand run in between us. There were people all around us and little booths lined the narrow street, selling everything from balloon animals to bratwursts.

“Look, Will,” Jules exclaimed, scooping up a cat from a big pile of stuffed animals.

“I want him,” she said, sending me her best pleading face — batting eyelashes, pouty lips and all.

“You want that?” I asked, eyeing the stuffed cat.

It looked pretty ugly to me.

“Aren’t its eyes a little big for its head?” I asked.

Her own eyes turned down toward the cat clutched within her small hands, and I watched as her fingers carefully traced over the cat’s big, glass eyes.

“They’re perfect,” she said, looking back up at me. “They remind me of this cat, Furballs, I had when I was little.”

I couldn’t help but cringe a little at the thought of a real cat looking that ugly. Then, I looked back at Jules’s unwavering eyes and felt a smile breaking across my face.

“We’ll take Furballs,” I said into the booth.

The old man in the booth gave me a bewildered look.

“The cat,” I said, pointing to the stuffed animal.

“Aah,” he said, nodding his head. “Good choice.”

I held a suspicious stare on the man in the booth, until I felt Julia’s arms around my neck.

“Thank you,” she said, into my chest. “I loved Furballs.”

I laughed. I loved her — and that’s the only reason why ugly Furballs had a home now.

I handed the man in the booth a bill.

“Thanks,” I said and then turned back toward Jules.

“Now, come on,” I said, squeezing her body tightly against mine before reaching for her hand. “You ready for our hike?”

I watched her turn and set her sights on the towering bluff above us. Then, she took a big, exaggerated breath and then slowly let it out.

“Come on,” I said. “I’ll give you a piggyback ride.”

Her eyes immediately grew wide.

“All the way up?” she asked.

“Sure,” I said.

She was grinning and shaking her head by the time I met her eyes again.

“You would never make it all the way up that bluff with me on your back,” she said.

“Is that a bet, Miss Lang?” I asked her.

She smiled wide.

“That’s definitely a bet,” she said.

“Okay,” I said. “You and Mr. Furballs, hop on.”

I clutched the quilt I had been carrying since the car in one arm and hunched over. Then, I felt her weight on my back seconds later.

“Is Mr. Furballs on too?” I asked, cocking my head to the side and trying my best to look behind me.

All of sudden, an unattractive cat came flying into my line of vision.

“All right,” I said. “We’ve got Mr. Furballs. Let’s go.”

I made my first hundred feet up the path without much trouble, even though every once in a while I had to maneuver over a fallen tree limb or carve my on trail through some overgrown weeds.

“You still okay?” I heard her ask after I had just successfully scaled a pile of brush.

“Oh,” I said, stopping for a second. “You’re still there?”

She laughed and tightened her arms around my neck. I felt Furballs press up against my ear as I started up the path again. The truth was my feet were starting to feel heavy and my quads burned like hell, but this was a bet I wasn’t going to lose.

Finally, I could see the clearing at the top of the bluff. And there were only about a hundred feet to go, but each step was beginning to take everything in me.

I heard Julia’s soft laughter behind me again.

“Will,” she said. “I’ll just walk. It’s okay.”

“No,” I said. “I’m fine. We do hills like this all the time in basketball conditioning.”

She laughed again.

“You run up bluffs, Will,” she sarcastically said, “with people on your back?”

I stopped for a second.

“Well, we might as well,” I said, trying my best to laugh through the pain.

I took another labored step. I was only about ten feet away now and feeling every foot. But just then, my shoe caught a root or something, and I tried to catch myself but didn’t have the energy. I stumbled and realized I was heading right for the ground. Seconds later, I heard her scream or laugh or something, and the next thing I knew, we were in a pile in the dirt.

“Aah,” I sighed, exhaustedly thrusting my head back against the ground. “I almost made it.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked. “You did make it.”

I could barely move, but I forced my head out of the dirt and grass and looked up. We were in a clearing, and I could see downtown below us and all its people walking every which way. I must have fallen the rest of the way.

I met her eyes, and she kissed my lips.

“Thanks, sweetie,” she said, giving me the most perfect smile.

I squeezed my arms around her with the little strength I had left, and then I kissed her forehead.

“Told ya I’d make it,” I proudly said.

She smiled and playfully rolled her eyes.

“Did Furballs make it?” I asked.

I watched as her eyes made a circle around us. Then, eventually, they stopped. And within the next second, she was out of my arms and moving toward the edge of the bluff.

I slowly pushed myself up from the ground and watched her secure her ugly cat again. She had dirt on the side of her little jean shorts, and I think there was a twig in her hair, but she still looked beautiful. I sat there for another second watching her dust off Furballs. Then, I got up and grabbed the quilt from the ground and made my way back from the edge a little.

I tossed some twigs and some little rocks out of the way. Then, I stretched the blanket out over the grass and dirt, sat down and caught Jules peering out over the edge.

This bluff was probably the highest point in town. Down by the river and on this side of the levee, people danced around little, brick buildings and short, narrow streets. The Fourth of July had always brought people downtown. Otherwise, this part of town was pretty quiet, except for maybe when there was a state game playing at the little theater or when the river was extra high and people couldn’t stand not to come out and stare at it.