The Lighthouse Between Us

The waves crashed gently against the rocks as Isla Mercer walked toward the old lighthouse that had watched over the coast for nearly a century. Fog hung low and thick over the sea giving everything a soft, dreamlike quality. She carried a notebook filled with sketches and words she never shared with anyone. The lighthouse had always been a place of solace for her a place where she could think and breathe without the world pressing in.

A figure appeared at the base of the lighthouse. Tall broad and familiar. Liam Carter. He had been the last person she expected to see here. The boy who had once held her hand through storms and laughter the boy who had promised to wait for her no matter the distance.

Isla froze. Liam noticed her immediately and smiled softly. You came. I did not know if you would.

I always come back when the lighthouse calls she said quietly. Her voice barely carried above the sound of the waves.

They walked together along the narrow stone path that led to the entrance. The door was weathered and chipped but sturdy. Isla pushed it open and a smell of salt and old wood greeted them. Inside the lighthouse spiraled a staircase that wound to the top where the light once swept across the horizon.

They climbed slowly. Each step echoing softly in the hollow tower. Liam looked at her. I never thought I would see you again.

Neither did I she admitted. The years in the city were long but they were also empty without this place without you.

They reached the top where the light room opened to the sea. Waves glimmered under the moonlight and clouds drifted like shadows across the sky. Liam moved closer. Isla I kept the lighthouse for us. I never let it fall even when you were gone.

Isla felt tears well. I kept it too. In my heart every day. Every memory every sketch every word was waiting for the chance to bring me back here.

Liam reached for her hand. It felt familiar and foreign at once. Do you remember the promises we made here

I do she said. Every one.

The lighthouse light had long stopped rotating but they both imagined it casting its beam across the water guiding lost travelers home. Tonight it guided them. Back to each other. Back to what they had once believed would last forever.

Isla pulled out her notebook and showed Liam the sketches she had made of the lighthouse over the years. Every drawing carried the quiet ache of longing and the soft bloom of hope. Liam traced the lines with his finger. You never stopped drawing. You never stopped thinking of me.

I never could he said softly. And I never stopped thinking of you.

They leaned against the railing looking out at the restless sea. The wind tugged at their hair and clothes but they did not move. They simply breathed together. In the lighthouse they had found their time frozen yet alive. A place where the past met the present and the future waited patiently.

Liam finally spoke. We cannot stay up here forever. But we can choose what comes next.

Isla nodded. The city may call. Life may continue. But here we know what is important what is worth holding on to.

They descended the spiral staircase hand in hand. The lighthouse no longer simply watched over the coast it watched over them. Every stone every creaking step every window whispered a story of waiting and return and quiet love that never truly ends.

Outside the fog began to lift revealing the moonlit waves. Isla and Liam stood at the edge of the cliff and looked at the horizon. They knew that no matter where life took them the lighthouse would always guide them. And that they would always find their way back to each other.

Isla pressed her hand to his. Whatever comes next Liam she whispered. Together.

Together he replied. Always together.

The waves rolled on. The lighthouse remained. And two hearts that had been lost for years finally found a home in the light that shone between them.