I took advantage of having an arm underneath her, as I drew her into an embrace, and kissed her hair.

“I like your list much better,” I said softly.

We drew breaths in sync. After a few minutes, she turned away from my neck slightly to look up at the stars also.

“My dad told me once, when I’d told him that I’d developed this massive crush on this boy in school, that I’d felt so topsy-turvy that I felt almost bad about suffering this crazy feeling for someone who barely even looked my way when we crossed each other’s paths in the hallway,” she told me in the darkness.

“Ah, crushes!” I murmured.

“And then he told me something that quieted my anxieties,” Harley added. “When you do fall in love for real, he said, that would be the best thing that could happen to you in your life. Don’t let anything or anyone get in the middle of the truth of that feeling, or allow anyone to make it appear small or treat it lightly.”

I hugged her close again. She squeezed me against her also.

We fell quiet again.

“Even the stars look different tonight,” she murmured. “As many nights as I’ve spent here looking up at those same stars over the years, they’ve never shone as brightly, it seems like.”

I smiled. “I love looking up at the stars, also. Anywhere I find myself, if I can, I search for a place I can park myself in, even for just a few minutes, to look up, and commune with the stars.”

“But, it’s been something I’ve been doing alone.” I kissed her hair again. “So that’s one more thing we share – that we can do together, right?”

She nodded and then kissed my chest.

“When my Nana died, and I was inconsolable, my Mom and Dad told me things about love, also,” I started to share. “They told me that there were different kinds of love … one was self-centered, or a love that was only about oneself and one’s needs, or about one’s sense of self-importance. And the other kind of love was one that made you feel like pouring out all the goodness in you – to share all the kindness, respect, tenderness, and consideration that you felt yourself capable of, with the one you loved. They said that Nana’s love had helped me gain courage beyond my years, and would help me understand how to release my strength when I felt low.”