I curl my hands around her arms, holding her as I wait for her to look at me.She doesn’t, though, and from the way her shoulders shake, I can tell she’s crying now.
“Babe,” I whisper, sliding my hands up to her jaw.“Look at me.Please.”My words are a plea, but she does what I ask, lifting her tear-streaked face to mine.“I wasn’t cheating on you.I never cheated on you.I don’t know what photos you saw, but I know what was taken, and I can promise you,promise you, they were all just for show.It was just bullshit parties and random fans and nothing more.Nothing.”
She nods, her mumbled, “I know,” barely audible.
Ducking down, I level my eyes with hers.“Yeah?”I prompt.
“Yes,” she replies with a sniff.
“I would never do that to you,” I whisper, kissing away her tears.“Will never do that to you.”
“I know,” she says again.“I’m sorry.I don’t know why I believed him...it was...it was a shit time, and I just missed you so much and?—”
“I know,” I say, crushing her against me as I wrap my arms around her in a tight embrace.“I know.”
She sniffs again, swiping at the tears on her cheeks as she rests her face against my chest.We stand together, neither of us saying anything now as the weight of everything we’ve said to each other sinks in.
I’ve always known that I wanted Daisy back, that no matter what happened between us, she was it for me.But even I can admit there is still shit we need to talk about, shit we probably should have talked about a lot sooner.
“Maybe we jumped back into this too fast,” Daisy eventually says, apparently reading my mind.
“Yeah, maybe,” I reply with a soft chuckle.
She lifts her head.“Do you think we should, I don’t know, take a step back?”
“No,” I immediately say, shaking my head.
“No?”
“No,” I confirm.“It might have happened fast, Daze, but this, right here, is exactly where I want to be.”I pause, kissing the top of her head.“I don’t care how hard it gets, babe, because I love you.I want to be with you, build this life with you.No matter how hard it gets,” I add, my words a whisper.
She blinks, another tear falling down her cheek.“Even after everything I did?”
I’m nodding, even as I ask, “You still want me after everything I did?”
“Yes,” she replies, offering me a tearful smile.
I close the distance, my lips brushing against hers in the softest of kisses.“Then this is exactly where we both should be,” I murmur.
Daisy wraps her arms around my neck as she deepens the kiss, pulling me close.And for the first time since I walked into the shop and saw her unleashing with the hammer, I feel myself start to relax, as a weight lifts from my shoulders.
But even as my hand presses between her shoulder blades, pulling her closer, I know it’s not that simple.Because even though I know moving forward, Daze and I have to be more open with each other, more willing to talk about all the shit that happened no matter how hard it gets, that isn’t the only thing that has to change.
And Isaac better pack his bags and get the hell off this island, because if he doesn’t, that dick is going to pay for what he’s done to Daisy.
I getwhy Miles kept what Isaac did from me, but I also hate that he felt the need to.We can’t lie to each other when everything is still so raw.It will only drive a wedge between us and create feelings of resentment.We’re in a good place now, but we could very easily slip back to where we were, and that’s the last thing either of us wants.
We’ve now started locking the door to our house given what happened.It’s not something either of us is used to because around here, we’ve always just left our doors unlocked.This side of the island is small and quiet, never needing to worry about someone breaking into a house or stealing.Who would have thought we’d need to worry about someone we once called a friend?
“Daze?”Miles calls out, finding me in the bakery, or what will one day be the bakery.
He comes through the back door, calling my name again as he moves to the front of the store where I’m cleaning the windows.They’re covered in years of dust and grime, and while it’s not going to make much of a difference, it’s the one thing I can work on until the contractors get started.They’ll be covered again once work starts, but I want to get some “coming soon” signs up, letting everyone know that this building will no longer be sitting empty.
“Up front!”I yell back, but he’s already standing next to me.
“Good morning,” he whispers, his mouth next to my ear as he presses a soft kiss to my neck.“We good, Daze?”
His question is asked with hesitation, a reluctance to know the answer dancing between us.He swallows hard, his throat bobbing as he waits, and I take in his dark eyes, patient but worried.The air around us fills with the scent of him—vanilla surf wax and cedar—and I want to tell him everything is perfect, but we both know it’s not.
