It seems too good to be true. I’m still here. Reese is still here. We’re good. There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to quite trust it yet. That doesn’t want to get my hopes up that things will be okay.
But it’s hard not to feel hopeful after watching Reese handle business the way she just did. Anyone who ever doubted she has what it takes to run this place should be eating their words right about now.
“I thought I might find you here.”
Reese turns the corner, finding me sitting on the ledge above the bench behind the small partition, the same way I’ve found her here so many times before.
“I stole your spot.”
She tilts her head. “I thought we were sharing it?”
“Yeah. We are. Come here.”
Reaching out, I slip my hand around the side of her neck, pulling her mouth to meet mine. I kiss her. Firmly and with a mixture of desperation and relief to quiet that small part of me that thought I might never get the chance to kiss her again.
She sighs into me, kissing me back with the same eagerness.
“Are you okay?” I whisper against her mouth.
She nods, kissing me one more time before she pulls back so she can look at me, one perfectly shaped brow arched high. “You were going to quit your job?”
“Of course I was. I wasn’t willing to lose you.”
“Lose me?” Her head rears back, hands dropping to my thighs. “You could never lose me.”
“I don’t know. It felt like I was losing you yesterday. Things seemed oddly final when we left here.” I chuckle half-heartedly. “I thought you might break up with me.”
She’s so utterly confused in the way she’s looking at me.
“Why would I break up with you? Emmett, I’m in love with you.”
Oh. Wow. It’s surreal to hear those words come out of her mouth. They hit differently after not hearing them for so long. After believing I might never hear them again.
It also hits differently hearing it from the one woman you’ve been desperate to tell the same to.
“I was going to tell you first.”
A smile curves her lips. “Well, be quicker next time.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
Her head falls back in a laugh and it’s such a lovely sound to hear after a stressful day. I think I could live off that sound.
Pulling on her hips, I bring her in. “Come up here with me.”
Holding her steady, she steps onto the rickety wooden bench, before I settle her on one of my thighs while I sit on the ledge.
She wraps her arm around my neck, her other hand stroking gently along my jaw. “I’m sorry if I made myself seem distant yesterday. I was overwhelmed with how much I had to do. I was up all night, finalizing things with legal, making sure everything could be ready to go quicker than I had planned. I didn’t mean to make you doubt anything. I was just trying to protect you the way you do so often for me.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “When did you start all of this?”
“Right after we got back from Colorado.” Her smile is a bit sheepish. “I drove straight to my grandfather’s house from the airport to get his advice. I don’t know, Em. I’ve loved you for longer than that, but something about spending that day together made me realize it was time to stop hiding it.”
Ten days. She’s been working on this for ten days. She told her grandfather ten days ago, after our trip to Colorado. After spending the day with me in a place that holds so many special memories that I wanted to share with her.
It may not seem like a big deal to publicly declare our relationship, but for Reese, she’s risked everything to do just that. And more importantly, she made that decision for herself. Her hand wasn’t forced by some bullshit threat.
So yeah, it’s a big fucking deal to me.
