For her to admit that she loves me but that it may not be enough.
And I wouldn’t blame her for any of it.
Instead, she lifts her head and looks at me with tender hazel eyes. “I’ll go with you.”
The words knock the air—no, thefear—right out of me.
I stare at her. “Wh-what?”
She smiles a little, a bit nervous around the edges, but more certain beneath. “I’ll go back with you.”
My chest tightens so hard it almost hurts.
“Finn.” I cup her cheek. “I don’t want you to give up your dreams, baby.”
She leans into my palm. “I’m not.”
“But—”
“I’ve had fun,” she says softly. “Ihave. But a lot of the time I’ve been pretending.”
“Pretending what?”
“That this is what I want, that this is what I dreamed of. And it is…kind of.”
“I’m not sure I understand, baby.”
“Something is missing.” She shakes her head. “No.You’remissing. Chloe’s missing. I keep doing all the things I’ve fantasized about, visiting all the places I’ve imagined—and I never stop looking around, hoping to find you both next to me.”
“You do that?”
She covers my hand with hers. “Yeah, honey, I do. Because I’ve realized my dreams are so much brighter with you and Chloe in them.”
Everything inside me goes still.
Then I’m rolling her over to her back and kissing her with every bit of love I have for her—and it’s a fuck-ton.
I didn’t know I’d find love a second time.
Didn’t know I’d be so damned lucky to find it in someone like Finn.
“I will never make you feel like that again,” I croak out, tears slipping from my eyes, sliding down my cheeks. “Never make you feel like less, like you’re not the woman I would pick over and over again. You’re the person I dream of, the future I’m never letting go. Youownme, Stitch, heart and soul and every piece in between.”
Her eyes are damp, but they don’t spill over as she leans up and kisses away my tears. “Now how am I supposed to follow that?”
I laugh and it’s wet.
But it makes her smile, so I can’t find a fuck to give.
“You don’t, baby. You just let me love you. Just let time sew us back together.”
“That sounds nice,” she whispers.
“It sounds perfect.”
“No,” she says again. “It soundsbrave.”
I rest my forehead against hers and let myself say what’s been living in me ever since she told it to Chloe all those months ago.
