“I could easily lean toward fear if you don’t get on with it.”
“Mm. Right.” She said nothing for a five count and then, “I had what you would call an epiphany—well, I would call it an epiphany—this afternoon. I finished the call with Mr. Finch and I wanted to talk you. I scrolled through my phone for your number and saw Dudley and that made me remember how you laughed when I showed it to you and then I thought it was clearly one of the reasons I was falling in love with you and then on the heels of that came the realization—the epiphany—that I was thinking about it in the wrong tense because Iamin love with you.” She huffed a breath, impatient with herself. “I love you.”
Silence followed. She waited. The quiet was overwhelming. She made herself sit with it, sit with the discomfort, the doubt, and allowed him to have whatever time he needed to take it in.
When Sullivan finally spoke, it was because he’d managed to swallow the lump in his throat. He couldn’t do a damn thing about the catch in his voice. “Best. Declaration. Ever.”
A soft, vaguely uncertain laugh parted her lips. “Really?”
“Well, there was that ‘When in the Course of Human Events’ thing, but who really remembers that?”
“Youarea complete original, and Idolove you.”
“If I wasn’t such a coward, I would have told you first. I thought you’d run for the hills. That’s what people do here. Run for the hills.”
“Not running. I told you. I’m done with that. If I may raise a small point of order, you still haven’t actually said it.”
“Huh. I haven’t, have I? I don’t think I’ve made any secret of the fact that I like you, enjoy your company, appreciate your wit, admire your courage, but arriving at the absolute certainty that I loved you happened yesterday evening when I was working with Uncle Mark on his Mustang.”
“I was with Jay then.”
“Stay focused. I didn’t know that and your ex isn’t part of this equation.”
“Sorry.”
“I was under the car, fiddling with the transmission, when Uncle Mark asked if I was still seeing you. I said I was. He didn’t follow up right then, but a little later he asked if you’d ever told me about Aunt Kay. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he goes on to say that he knows you work at the Ridge and he also knows what you do there. There was no point trying to convince him he was wrong when he clearly wasn’t, so I asked him why he was only mentioning it now. Turns out, he hasn’t known about it all that long.”
“He didn’t know at the wedding, then.”
“No. Not a clue. Neither did Aunt Kay, although your presence must have fired some synapses for her, and she’s been trying to place you ever since. Do you remember running into her and Linda at the Ridge?”
“Yes, but that was a long time ago.”
“Doesn’t matter. That’s when the penny dropped. She didn’t say a word to Linda, and she never will, but eventually she confessed to Uncle Mark. It seems she’s had this sticky fingers problem for years. Comes and goes, and mainly comes when she’s feeling under a lot of pressure. I guess it was around Christmas time when you stopped her.”
“A couple days before.”
“You recognized her at the wedding.”
It wasn’t a question, but Ramsey confirmed it anyway. “Yes.”
“She told Uncle Mark she wasn’t certain you had. You impressed her as gracious.”
“I wanted to plant my fist in her face.”
“That’s my girl.” He gave her shoulders another squeeze and leaned in to place a kiss against her hair. “She confessed to swinging her tote at you to get away.”
“True.”
“She thinks she might have hurt you. Did she?”
In spite of the concussion she suffered, Ramsey had a vivid memory of that canary yellow Ridge tote flying at her head and the impact of that frozen turkey breast. The doctor in the ER was surprised she recalled anything and Paul certainly hadn’t trusted her memory. The poor quality of the surveillance cameras had not supported her, but she knew what she knew and time had not altered her recollection. Telling Sullivan, though, was another matter entirely.
“I don’t think that’s something you need to know.”
“And there it is,” he said with no little satisfaction. “When I heard what Uncle Mark had to say and realized you kept it to yourself, even though you knew there was no love lost between my aunt and me, well, that was when IknewI loved you.”
“Because I kept something from you?”
