JUST BE
DAHLIA
I’m shaken from my dad’s visit.
After we get our showers, we pack up and drive to Windy Harbor.
“Are you okay?” Dylan asks.
“Sorry I’m so quiet. Just…my mind is going a hundred miles per hour.”
“I’m here. You don’t have to talk about it, but if you want to…I’m here.” He squeezes my thigh, and I smile over at him.
“What would I do without you?”
“Well, your life would be a lot simpler.” He makes a face. “Too soon?”
I snort and smack his arm. “Yes. Don’t be joking like that.”
“You’re not getting rid of me. We’re kind of living together now…” He lifts his eyebrows. “I mean, if we keep staying in the cabin together.”
“Is it weird that we haven’t really talked about that? It’s just sort of been happening now that we’re in the same state.”
“I want it to happen permanently,” he says.
He glances over and catches me staring at him. He reaches out and clamps my jaw shut, his lips tilting higher and higher until they’re in a big, cheesy smile.
“I don’t want to miss out on a single day with you,” he says. “I love going to sleep with you by my side and waking up with you in my arms. I’m so excited about you being in Windy Harbor full-time.”
“You’re not worried that you’ll get sick of me? That my father will pull another crazy stunt? That this is moving too fast?”
“It’s almost been eight months. We know what we want. I know that I’m in love with you. There’s no one else I want. Ever. You have my heart. I will not get sick of you, because you mean everything to me. As for your father…let him try. We’re unbreakable.”
I grin and lift my hand to my heart, tapping it. “You make my heart turn over…flip…pound…melt. I love you, Dylan.”
He lifts my hand and kisses the palm.
We’re quiet for a few minutes, our hands linked together. The radio plays, and I glance back at Chloe, who’s looking at one of her books.
“There are some things I wish I’d said to my dad.” I pull out my phone. “I think I’m going to text them to him.”
He releases my hand and rests his on my thigh.
I’m heartbroken by what you’ve done. Truly. I hope whatever you were trying to accomplish was worth it. I knew you were capable of horrible things, but I’m still shocked that you would go this far. You could’ve killed someone, Dad.
I’m not comfortable letting Chloe be around you. I want my daughter surrounded by love and kindness, not fear or manipulation…or danger. I’m choosing her. And I’m choosing peace.
Please don’t contact me. And leave Dylan alone. This vendetta you have against the Whitman family is ridiculous, but for you to go after Dylan specifically—someone who has never done anything to you—it’s just wrong, period.
You are in the wrong.
Leave the past in the past. I don’t know why you’re still fighting Granddad’s battles anyway. He’s been gone a long time.
Let it go.
Once I’ve sent the messages, I lean my head back and take a deep breath.
And then I remember something else, and I can’t even believe I’ve left him off the hook for this long. With everything else he’s done, this seems small now, but it’s not.
