I had been sitting in the park on a swing for twenty minutes, moving side to side as I kicked at the dark brown mulch underneath my feet. Swinging was one of my favorite things to do when I was little. I loved the feeling of soaring weightlessly as the sun shined down upon my face.  Being up or down didn't matter as the wind swirled my wild hair around my face. Nothing could touch me when my feet were flying through the air.

I was never me unless I was free. I never liked to be caged in.

I had called Cameron once we got into the limo and asked if he could meet me here. He didn't sound like he was surprised when I told him I wanted to talk to him.

I wasn't sure why I picked this place, except it was the one place I had a few scattered memories of with him. It was the playground we used to come play at when we were little before things got so complicated between us and we both were forced to grow up way too fast.

I heard little whispers rise up around me. Something had caught the interest of the moms sitting on the benches behind me.

They weren't watching their children any longer. Something much more swoon-worthy had their attention.

Or I should say, someone.

A small smile crept over my face. I knew Cameron had pulled up almost immediately. I could feel him all around me. I could smell him. I could hear his voice in my head. He was a part of me. He always had been even before I had ever realized it.

When I turned to look for him, he was just stepping out of one of the new SUV's the department just bought. His eyes were on me the second he shut his door. He didn't have to search at all; he knew right where I would be waiting for him.

He strolled down the sidewalk with his hand on his belt and had to stop a few times when some of the little kids came up to him excitedly.  He would bend down and greet them with that little dimple that brightened the whole world.

Life was limitless when Cameron Nash was around.

A few of the moms were bold enough to approach him under the ruse of trying to get their kids to talk to him. They stood there clutching their little ones while twirling their hair and batting their eyelashes in his direction.

I wasn't jealous or upset over it. Even while they tried everything they could to sway his attention, his eyes were always on me.

I didn't blame them for wanting him. My magnificent boy looked mouthwatering in a uniform.  He was meant to be right where he was, doing exactly what he was doing. This was the life he was supposed to be living.

I only wished I was meant to be here with him too.

My new contract was being written and would be in my hands first thing tomorrow to sign. The label had already booked me a flight to head back to LA this weekend.  It was time for me to go be the person I was supposed to be too.

It was time for me to leave this all behind. 

"Hey, Darling." Cameron walked up behind me and leaned around the swing chains to kiss me sweetly.

"Hey yourself," I said, slowly stealing one last kiss before letting him go. I let my lips linger on his until the hurt was too much to hold in.

I knew I was going to break this boy's heart today and I think he knew it too. Cameron sat down on the empty swing next to me and grabbed my hand. He held it for a long time while we sat in silence, watching the bundled-up little babes in bubble coats playing.

One of the little boys in a camouflage snowsuit was chasing a little dark-haired girl around the playground poles.  She was giggling uncontrollably as he called out that he was going to catch her. My eyes began to gloss over as I watched them play. I remembered a certain gray-eyed little boy chasing me around those same poles.

"Looks a little familiar." Cameron laughed. He was watching the same thing I was. 

How was it that we were both always so perfectly in sync, but yet so different?

"This place hasn't changed at all." He continued on. "You remember that spot over there?"

Cameron was pointing to a random spot off in the distance with his free hand. I shook my head no at him.

"We used to sit over in the spot for hours while you picked all the little white flowers from the ground. I bet you sang every nursery rhyme ever created to me right there. You might have made a few up too." He laughed.

I wished I could see those memories through his eyes or even remember them at all. But, unfortunately, those memories were the casualties of the hard life I had lived.

"How do you know they were made up?" I asked him.

"Most nursery rhymes don't include the f-word." Cam's little dimple popped out again as he smiled at me.

"There are some," I argued.

"Name one." He countered and raised a playful eyebrow at me.

"Mary had a little...." I began singing. "Oh, wait. never mind. You're right."

"Usually am."

I rolled my eyes at him and shook my head. There was no point in disagreeing with him. Not right now, not today.

"Over there." He pointed to another spot. "That is where the one kid with the big buck teeth stole my soccer ball.  I remember watching you stomp up to him from the opposite end of the playground with your hands on your hips. You didn't even say a word. You just pulled your fist back and punched him in the nose. You were all hair back then. Do you remember?"

I shook my head no again.  I couldn't remember any of it.

He got up off his swing and walked behind me. He grabbed the bottom where the seat was secured to the chains and used it to support his weight as he leaned down into me. 

His warm breath was on my neck, sending the fire across my body that only he could ignite.

"I know you remember that spot." He pointed to a grassy area and whispered in my ear softly.

That one I did remember.

"You kissed me there." I smiled with tears in my eyes.

"Yeah, but that's not why I remember it." He explained. "We kissed there, but something else more important happened that day, something that changed everything. Something big."

"Oh, the boner thing." I blushed as I remembered how excited I was to feel him and didn't even understand why at the time.

"Not that." He chuckled. "That was where I decided I was going to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Cam, I..." I started before he cut me off.

"You don't have to say it. I know you are going to sign the contract." He nodded and stepped around the swing to face me.

"I am." I mouthed, looking down at my feet and away from him.

Cameron stood in front of me silently for a long time, trying to get me to look at him. I couldn't do it. I was never going to get through this if I had to see the hurt on his face.

"Come on, Jess. Follow me."