Just then, Etta Jo and Giselle sit down beside me with the football players at our backs. Everyone looks up.
The dot gets closer. My hands tent over my mouth. “Is that?”
“A bird? A plane?” Etta Jo asks.
“Nope. I’d say it’s a man.”
A man descending in a parachute. We watch in stunned silence until at last, Declan lands in the courtyard. One of the guys whistles and everyone hoots and claps.
I scramble up from the couch, trying to make myself look less like a goblin, which is a foregone battle, and rush over to him. “What are you doing?—?”
“There was a problem with the airstrip and I couldn’t get clearance to land.” He unclips the harness and envelopes me in a hug.
I sink into him, never wanting to let go.
“I couldn’t let another day pass not seeing you. My only choice was to take the leap, the risk, and hope you welcomed me back into your life. I had the guys here, and with Giselle and Etta Jo’s help, get you outside on the fly.” Declan gestures.
“And you have to get to LA,” one of the other Boston Bruisers hollers.
“And that. Will you come with me?” Declan asks, windswept and out of breath.
“Go to Los Angeles?”
The air is still, but everything is happening so fast it’s like high-speed winds blew into town and turned my world upside down.
“Please. I won’t ever give up on myself or us again.” He tells me how he’d forgiven himself for the past and tried to make it right by talking to my parents so we’d have a shot at a future together.
A smile crests from my heart and reaches my eyes. “I won’t give up on us again either. Ride or die, but I refuse to jump out of a plane.”
Declan laughs, then angles my chin to face him and leans in. His gaze dips to my lips. The flurry of the last minutes slows, mysurroundings blur. The past dissolves. All that matters is right now.
Declan’s hand cups the back of my neck as he draws us together. Our lips meet.
I’ve never jumped out of an airplane, but imagine the swooping and diving from the bluebirds in my belly are a lot like the thrill of flying through the sky. I drop through fluffy, swoony, blissy clouds.
My heart rushes as his pounds against mine.
I melt inside as he deepens the kiss.
Our elbows bend and our fingers lace together. I squeeze tight.
I no longer feel alone, but connected. To Declan, to our future.
Another round of cheering comes from the guys and my friends, reminding me we have an audience. Not my favorite.
The next minutes are a matter of Etta Jo and Giselle getting me cleaned up, packed up, and ferried off to the airport where the private plane waits.
During the flight, Declan catches me up on everything that has happened since we parted in Ireland.
“Thank you for talking to my coach. He can be an intimidating guy.”
“Thank you for talking to my parents.”
“So you’re not mad?” he asks.
“I was hurt that you didn’t tell me about Keefe and Siobhan, but I also understand you were trying to protect yourself. Just like I’ve been doing since I distanced myself from my parents, never letting anyone get too close. It was almost like it was easier to be alone. But not really.”
He nods in understanding, then tells me about his ultimatum and the donation.
