Chris and Sara began a 13-year “on again, off again” relationship as teenagers. They’d break up, get back together, even date others in the down time.

“I was an asshole, basically,” said Sara. “He said, ‘There’s no reason I should take you back. I should be bitter and resentful and spend my life being pissed off at you.’ ”

Sara got back in touch with Chris in the late summer of 2010. She was asking for personal advice on a matter, but Chris wanted an explanation behind the email.

“I asked her what her intentions were. I told her, ‘I don’t hate you, I still love you. But, I don’t trust you.’ I didn’t have anything to lose, so I just laid it all on the table. I said it’s going to be all or none.”

This would be the fourth try for them, and Sara decided she was finally all in. For a year and a half, the two dated long distance—Chris had moved to Colorado after attempt number three, while Sara remained behind in Tulsa.

“I decided I could keep running around the same mountain or take a step and commit,” she said. “Chris was always in my heart. I always wondered, ‘What if?’ ”

Months into their fourth go, they began planning a wedding. Sitting across from each other at Taco Bueno, munching on bean burritos and nibbling on a veggie platter, they punched a prospective date into their phone calendars.

The couple hoped to avoid any hometown baggage and opted for a destination wedding in St. Lucia.

“Sure, we have to deal with issues from the past,” Chis said. “But I’m not wondering if there’s another woman for me. Sara has always been my soul mate.”

Sara and Chris were the only two in attendance at their wedding, save the minister. A reception followed a week and half later for family and friends at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

“Is this forever?” Sara emphatically asks of herself. “It better fuckin’ be.”