I nod. “She was worried about you.”
His gaze hardens, but he doesn’t say anything.
“And I was worried about you when I heard you were missing. I couldn’t get hold of Juniper.”
“I just wanted to get away,” he says. “To think.”
“Think?” I ask.
“About everything. About how I’m supposed to live the rest of my life miserable without you.”
“Maybe you aren’t,” I say on a whisper.
“I don’t want to live the life that my mother wants me to.”
“Whatdoyou want?” I ask.
He blinks and then his eyes meet mine, and they’re so sad. So hopeless. And the pull towards him is too strong. I can’t help hold him. I want to make this better for him, even if in the long term, it makes my pain last longer.
“I love you,” he chokes out.
The words chase my breath from my lungs. They’re the last thing I expected him to say. But they hit like the Colorado rain—making everything fresh and green and perfect.
His confession brings me to life. It makes me believe that life can be good. That life is just about perfect. Jack being here means everything is where it should be.
It’s like he’s placed a glass slipper on my foot. And it fits.
Perfectly.
My prince came back.
“I love you too.” I gaze up at him, not wanting the moment to end.
“I think I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you at the ballet.”
It’s like we’re encircled in a warm blanket and immune to the freezing November rain. With Jack here, nothing can be anything but perfect.
My lips curve into a smile. “How could you love me when we hadn’t even met?”
“I don’t know, but I did. And now that I’ve been lucky enough to know you, everything has changed.” He pauses. “Maybe it hasn’t changed, maybe I’ve just seen things differently. I can’t accept the things I thought I could. I don’t want the destiny mapped out for me…
“I want more.
“I want you. I want to move to Colorado and help you and Bray with the farm. I don’t want to have a life without you.”
I close my eyes, trying to commit what he’s saying to memory. Moments like these are the ones poets write about. The ones that live on forever when committed to paper and lovers read to each other for generations.
I open my eyes and smile. “Actually, I’m not going to be working on the farm for much longer. I’m showing Marnie my job, and she’s going to be taking over. Dad wants to start the frozen fruit brand, and I think he and Bray are going to be working on that together.”
His completely confused expression makes me laugh.
“You haven’t been gone long, but you’ve missed a lot.”
“So, what areyougoing to do?”
I shrug. “Dad wants me to figure out what I want to do.”
“American History?”
