Soap.
Him.
“Looks like I’ll be sticking around,” I murmured.
His hand slid up, brushing my hair back from my face.“You were sticking around no matter what,” he said.
I tipped my head back, looking up at him.“That so?”
He nodded with no doubt and zero hesitation.
Just… certainty.
Something in my chest shifted at that.
Because for years,years, I had wanted him to look at me like I mattered and I was something worth holding onto.
And now?
Now he was looking at me like I was the only thing in the room.
It made my head spin.
“Jude,” I said softly.
He tilted his head slightly, waiting.
“You really didn’t see it?”I asked.“All those years?”
A corner of his mouth lifted.“I told you,” he said.“I was an idiot.”
I snorted softly.“A blinking billboard wouldn’t have been more obvious.”
He huffed out a quiet laugh.“Yeah, well,” he said, dipping his head closer to mine, “I guess I needed it to hit me a little harder.”
My lips twitched.“You mean like getting shot at in an ice cream shop?”
“Something like that.”
I shook my head, smiling despite everything.
But the smile faded just a little because underneath all of this, everything that had just happened, and everything that was still coming, there was still that part of me that didn’t quite believe this was real.
The part that was waiting for it to disappear.
For him to disappear.
For this to all go back to the way it had been.
He must have seen it because his hand came up, cupping my cheek.
“Hey,” he said quietly.
My eyes met his.
“You’re thinking too much.”
“Story of my life,” I muttered.
