In “If These Wings Could Fly,” Chap­ter Six­ty-Sev­en cap­tures a poignant moment as the pro­tag­o­nist requests Liam to take her home before the fire­works. Hol­i­days have tra­di­tion­al­ly been chal­leng­ing for her, prompt­ing her, Camp­bell, and Juniper to cre­ate their own mean­ing­ful tra­di­tions. Every New Year’s Eve, they rel­ish watch­ing fire­works from the roof, a cher­ished rit­u­al she is unwill­ing to for­go despite the evening’s dis­com­fort.

As they park near the mail­box­es at the end of her road, Liam steps out to open her door, warm­ly com­ment­ing on the beau­ty around them. This warmth con­trasts with the cold in the air, and a kiss shared between them high­lights their close­ness. The trees in Auburn, much like their sur­round­ings, are alive with the rest­less caw­ing of crows, cre­at­ing a charged atmos­phere that mir­rors her feel­ings. The clar­i­ty of the night sky, vast and filled with stars, gives a sense of inti­ma­cy that makes the moment feel both time­less and sig­nif­i­cant.

Caught in this tran­scen­dent expe­ri­ence, the pro­tag­o­nist feels a surge of emo­tions that com­pel her to con­fess, “I love you,” words that seem to escape with­out hes­i­ta­tion into the cold night. This rev­e­la­tion feels right and is met by Liam with an embrace, rein­forc­ing their bond. He play­ful­ly chal­lenges her to share some­thing new, and while she teas­es about mak­ing no promis­es, their con­nec­tion con­tin­ues to deep­en with each shared kiss.

Liam, embody­ing warmth and affec­tion, holds her close as the stars watch over them, their pres­ence a silent wit­ness to her hap­pi­ness. It is a moment defined by sim­plic­i­ty yet laden with meaning—a reminder of their love under the expan­sive, star­ry sky, where only they and the crows exist in a world revolv­ing around their feel­ings.

The chap­ter encap­su­lates inti­ma­cy, vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, and the sig­nif­i­cance of shared moments, high­light­ing the beau­ty woven into their bond amidst the back­drop of shift­ing tra­di­tions.