“I’d better get a mention in your wedding vows for this,” Allison said. “Love you, Ry. Take care of him, big guy.”
“I will,” I promised without looking away from Ryder for a second. “I always will.”
Allison blew a kiss and left without another word.
“Ry?” I asked as soon as she was gone, raising an eyebrow. All the other thoughts and feelings swirling around in my head, in my heart, they were too big to handle right now. This was what I could manage.
“That’s a brand new nickname,” Ryder said, pulling back to look at me again. “Can we leave it in LA?”
I snorted. “No promises.”
Ryder rolled his eyes.
“Changed your mind about wanting to come home with me?” I asked.
Ryder shook his head, biting his lip the way he had the three or four other times I’d seen him genuinely nervous in his life.
“You haven’t changed your mind about taking me home?” he asked.
“No,” I said, bumping our foreheads together. “Sounds like you just gave up your whole career for me.”
“Yeah, well.” Ryder sighed. “I hated it anyway. I love you more than anything. So I’m getting a good deal.”
I tilted my head, moving slow, and caught his lips. Only a little, just a brush to prove to myself that he was here, that he wouldn’t vanish if I let go of him for one minute.
It was Ryder who grabbed hold of me like a drowning man grabbing a life preserver and kissed me like we’d been apart for years instead of hours, sucking on my lip in a way that made my stomach hollow out.
He laughed as he pulled back for air, staying close, rubbing his nose against mine.
“Nine thousand, seven hundred eighty-two.”
29
Ryder
“Home soon,”Ward said, squeezing my hand. He’d been holding it non-stop since we took off from LA after a long nap and some food and arranging one overnight stop so neither of us passed out sharing the drive, all my worldly possessions stuffed into my suitcase and secured down in the back of his truck.
Home. Otter Bay.
For once in my life, the wordhomefelt like it really applied to my hometown. That sure was something.
“Hmm?” I glanced over at him, up from the black screen of my switched-off phone.
“You okay? No second thoughts?” Ward asked, gripping my hand a little tighter, like he was scared he might lose me.
“No second thoughts,” I said. “I was just thinking, I wanted to ask you to stop at the Welcome to Otter Bay sign so I could throw this into the ocean. But that would be littering and I didn’t think you’d approve.”
Ward chuckled. “I would not. I also don’t want you to feel like you actually have to throw your whole life away. You can still go to Latvia. I’ll drive you to the airport myself and be waiting when you come back,” he said. “I’ve waited ten years for you. Another few months here and there is manageable.”
He meant it, too. Ward would have done anything for me, and I’d always known it.
But I loved him, and I never wanted to take advantage.
“I don’t even know where Latvia is,” I said.
“It’s between Lithuania and Estonia,” Ward replied, which really, I should have expected.
“You really do know everything, huh?”
