“Not until four.”
“It’s three thirty.”
Shit.“So I’ll be a little late. I need to do this first.”
She searches my face. “Do what, Reeve?”
I take her gently by the elbow, and we move into the first room, which is empty, and sit down. Jade smooths her skirt over her thighs, then does it again. Finally, she looks up at me, her eyes round and vulnerable. “So tell me.” She offers me a tiny smile, and it’s all the encouragement I need.
“Ever since we broke up, I feel like I’ve been sleepwalking; going through the motions but just waiting to wake up and figure out how I got to this place where we don’t even talk anymore. And where I’m finally about to land the future I’ve been working half my life for, and it all feels meaningless because you’re not in it.”
Jade’s eyelashes flutter, and she looks down at her lap.
“And then I found out you were here and I finally woke up. I couldn’t wait another minute to try to get you back.”
“I’m not getting on a plane today. It’s just an interview.”
“It didn’t feel that way. It felt like now or never.”
She nods. “Yeah, it did.”
“I came here to stop you from walking into that interview.”
“You’re a little late,” she says with a wistful smile.
“No, I was here. I saw you sitting outside the door, waiting to be called in, and I realized stopping you would be the biggest mistake I could make. Because the only thing worse than not having you would be having you hate me because I asked you to give up your dreams and called it love.”
She takes a shaky breath. “Then why are you here?”
I swallow. “Because I’m in love with you, Jade. I figured that out a long time ago, but I was too scared to say it. Today I figured out I’m more scared of what’llhappen if I don’t.”
Jade looks back at me, her eyes full of emotion. Every movement she’s made since she walked out of the interview has been tiny and careful, like she’s afraid she’ll break something, but in one instant it all falls away. She smiles, and her smile quickly melts into tears. She puts her arms around my neck and leans into me like the weight of the world is falling off her. “I love you too,” she whispers into my ear, and lets out a soft sob. “I’ve owed you these words for a long time. I love you, Reeve.”
I swallow down the emotion that threatens to overtake me. Instead, I pull her closer and hold her tight. I bury my nose in her hair and breathe in her intoxicating scent, and I remember what it’s like to feel strong. To know that I’m going to be okay. To be wide awake. “I’m never going to let you go,” I tell her. “No matter where you go. We belong together.”
She sits up, wiping the tears off her cheeks. “Promise?”
“Promise.” I kiss her slowly, tasting the salt on her lips. The warmth of her mouth is everything. “We’ll do long distance, we’ll visit every chance we get, and when you’ve had enough of Spain, you’ll come home to me forever.”
She nods. “We’ll make it work.”
“And hey, maybe I won’t even get drafted, and then I can follow you around the world.”
“Don’t you dare speak those words into the universe, Reeve Dalton.”
“I would, though. If that’s what it took to keep you, I’d give it all up.”
She drops a soft kiss at the corner of my mouth. “Good. But you need to hurry up and leave. It’s Friday afternoon in Manhattan. There’s no way you’re not going to be late.”
“Would you leave me if I was?”
She sniffs. “What? No, of course not.”
“Then it’s all good. Can’t nothing wipe this smile off my face.”
She laughs but drags me to my feet. “Go. I mean it. And turn on your charm like you’ve never turned it on before, because I will not be the reason Reeve Dalton disgraces Shafer University and the entire Heisman ceremony.”
She’s right.I’m late. I’m in trouble—just a little. And none of it matters because I turn on the charm like she told me to, and while my co-finalists stumble their way through a series of media questions, I sit with my million-dollar smile and talk my way back into everyone’s good graces.
