“Please,” I whisper. He doesn’t hesitate to wrap me in his arms.
“I want you back, Josie,” he desperately voices. “Tell me what I need to do, what you need, and you’ve got it. Just think about us. Take as long as you need, as long as you want. I’ll wait, but think about us. Please.”
“There’s nothing I need to think about.” I cling to him, and I’m just as desperate as he sounds. “I want us, this, everything, all of it. I need you. I’m not perfect and I have issues, a lot of them—that I’m working on—but I want to be here for you, Daniel. I want you to let me in and share your pain with me. Share what you feel on the good, bad, and in-between days. I told you once and I’ll tell you again: Don’t hide from me, please. Let me in.”
“Even on the dark days?” His trembling voice drops an octave.
I tug back, leveling my gaze with his amber eyes that fuel my soul on fire. “I’ll love you even on the dark days.”
He gapes at me in disbelief, but his hands tighten around me. “I’m going to need you to say that again.”
My heart careens, and my lips crack into a shy smile. “I’ll love you even on the dark days. I-I know that’s hard to believe. I know I’ve never been the most uh, sentimental, sappy, or even loving person. I know I haven’t shown you enough how much I care about you. I know I’m shit at expressing myself and maybe you’ll find it hard to believe that I care this deeply for you…” I pause, wanting to gather my thoughts because I’m rambling, but the words continue to spill out like a broken dam. “That I feel this intense fire, consuming burn in my body for you. I know you don’t get that, maybe that didn’t make sense, fuck, I’m so nervous right now—” His lips stretch wide. The corners of his lips could practically be touching the corners of his eyes. “Stop looking at me like that.”
“Okay.” He flattens his lips, but they roll back up.
“I sound like an idiot, don’t I?”
“No, God, no.” He tucks my hair behind my ear. “You sound like the girl I love.”
My heart stops working. I almost heard him say it before, but I thought that was out of desperation to make up for what he said when he was drunk. At least that’s what I kept telling myself. My brain was stuck on sabotaging his words and any moment we had together.
But right now, I can’t find any reason to doubt he means it.
“Do you believe me?” He caresses my cheek.
“I do.” My eyes flutter. “Do you believe me?”
“I do, baby.”
I drop my head on his chest. “I missed hearing you say that.”
“I missed you.” He rubs my back and kisses the top of my head. “You know, you are loving. Don’t ever feel like you’re not. I don’t need you to be loud about loving me or do big gestures to show me that you do. I know that you do, in the way you holdme, how you see me, how you let me in, how you accept me for me. Youareloving, Josefine, and I’m privileged to be the one you choose to love.”
“Oh.” I exhale a quivering breath and then look down because I don’t want to cry again. How did I get so lucky?
He cups my jaw, tilting my head back to look at me. “I love you, Josefine.”
I melt into his hold, but he holds me steady and firmly. “I love you, Daniel.”
“Can I kiss you?” he achingly asks.
“Why are you asking? Please just do it.”
“Thank fucking God. Come here.” He crashes his lips to mine, and the entire world becomes clear and so fucking beautiful.
60
JOSEFINE
“You kept them.”Daniel peruses the box filled with every single Post-it note he’s given me, along with his cards.
Even though I was put off about his intentions at first, I never could get rid of that first one he gave me with his phone number and every other one after that.
They were papers with words on them, I thought at first, but then they became more. They weren’t just words he was saying for the hell of it or to placate me. They were little reminders every day that Daniel was—ishappy that I’m here. But sayinglittleis a huge understatement because those words saved my life.
“I sometimes thought about getting rid of them, but I could never bring myself to,” I mournfully admit, not looking up at him. “It was hard to believe that you cared about me and genuinely meant it. You didn’t know me and I thought?—”
“Hey.” Daniel turns, cupping my face to make me look at him. He sweetly smiles at me, warmth and love shining in his eyes. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I get it. You didn’t know me, and I was very insistent.”
