I nodded, jaw tight. “They’re… potentially devastating.”
Chase took a breath so deep I could see it tremble through his shoulders. “I spent that first entire night going over every scenario—trying to find a way to keep the scope of the renovation without gutting what matters or burying the resort in more debt. Or me.”
He rubbed a hand over his jaw, then slid it into his pocket, as though if he didn’t anchor himself, he mightdrift right out the door. “But it wasn’t adding up. Not unless… not unless something gave.”
I braced. My mind scrambled. What could we sell, what could we delay, what could I offer? The resort was already running on fumes and legacy. The only thing left to cut felt like blood.
Chase looked straight at me. “I called an old client of mine, Arthur Albright. About my house.”
The words hit out of order. The Albright name was attached to an ungodly number of Dove Key properties and half the boats at the marina. What did he have to do with Chase’s?—
But the rest registered a half-beat later. “You… your house?” My stomach dropped.
“Albright has been pestering me for years to sell. He still wants it. Apparently, the timing’s right—my asking price was the highest I could ask for and still sleep at night. He said yes on the spot, and we signed the contract an hour ago. Closing is in two weeks.”
Shock rooted me in place. “What? Chase, no! You can’t. Your house is gorgeous. There has to be another way… something we can do?—”
He held up a hand, gentle but unmovable. “It’s just a piece of property. That house… it’s what I thought I was supposed to want. Ordered, perfect, detached from everything real so nothing could go wrong. But it was never my home.” His eyes were unwavering as they held mine. “Home is right here in front of me, Harper. With you. With Finn. With this chaos we’re all fighting for.”
He was steady now—voice strong but not defensive. Like he’d rehearsed these words in his head a hundred times and finally meant them.
“You’re sure?” Even as I said it, some primal, frightenedpart of me wanted to pull him close and demand he reconsider.
Chase’s expression softened. “Very.” He gestured, encompassing the cottage, the resort by extension, the future where we might all belong to each other. “This is what matters. The rest is just walls and rooflines. I design spaces for connection. It’s time I stopped hiding from my own.”
A laugh snuck out of my mouth, wet and embarrassed. I swiped at my eyes and tried to pull myself back together, but he wasn’t finished. Instead, Chase bent and reached into the bag I hadn’t noticed he’d brought from the kitchen. He pulled out a small tool belt with the tag dangling—child-sized, red canvas, the kind a kid would wear forfixingthings. It still had the tag on, a screwdriver and a blunt hammer tucked in the loops.
“I bought this right before the termite disaster.” His voice was lower and rougher than before. “Saw it at the hardware store and picked it up without thinking twice. Then I got in the car and almost had a panic attack. Because I pictured Finn with it. And you there, laughing, or telling him to use a level. And it scared the hell out of me.”
I swallowed hard, my heart thumping against my ribs as he turned the belt over in his strong, assured hands.
“It showed me how much I wanted this. You. The resort. The family dinners. Even tripping over LEGOs in the dark. It also made me realize I was terrified I couldn’t handle it. That I’d screw it all up, let you down, let Finn down.”
He squeezed the tool belt in one fist, like it held more than just tools. Then he lifted his eyes and met mine. “But running from that fear would be the real failure.” He tookanother breath, the sound shaky but resolute. “Harper, I’m not the guy who has it all figured out. Not when it comes to this… us. I look at you, at Finn, at the idea of building a real life, and half the time I’mscared to death. Scared I’ll screw it up, scared I won’t be enough, scared I’ll repeat the mistakes I saw growing up. I honestlydon’t know what I’m doingmost of the time when it comes to this emotional territory.”
He finally sat down next to me, his hands finding mine and engulfing them. His touch was grounding, real. “But the other half? The part that’s stronger than the fear? It knowsI love you. God, Harper, I’m so completely in love with you. And I’m falling in love with being part of Finn’s life, too. It’s messy, it’s complicated, and I know I got scared and pulled back when everything started crashing down.” His grip tightened. “ButI’m all in. I don’t want easy or controlled anymore. I wantthis. I wantus. I don’t have all the answers, and I’ll probably still get overwhelmed sometimes. But I promise you, right now, I will always find a way, always fight, to make us work.”
Whatever air was left in the room disappeared. Something inside me that had stayed tightly locked since I’d dedicated myself to being a single mother—and the walls I’d only reinforced since Jarod left—cracked wide open. No one had ever laid out their dread and their commitment side by side like that for me. No one had ever chosenusover the fear.
I didn’t mean to cry, but the tears broke loose anyway. Not tears of sadness, but of overwhelming relief, of a hope so fierce it hurt. I slid forward into his space, tangling my fingers in the front of his shirt, needing to feel him solid beneath my hands.
“Oh, Chase,”I choked out, laughing through thetears.“I love you too. So, so much.”The words felt like releasing a bird I hadn’t realized I’d been keeping caged inside my ribs.“I’ve been terrified too. Terrified this was too good to last, terrified you’d realize what a mess this all is…”
He pulled me against him fiercely, burying his face in my hair. “Itisa mess. Our mess. And I wouldn’t trade it.”
I pressed my forehead to his, laughing a little through the storm. “Brenna told me that fear can keep you safe, or it can keep you lonely.” I took a huge breath. “You’re right, this is our mess. And I choose it. I chooseus. I trust you completely.” I grabbed his head and pulled him in for another kiss, wanting to prove to him I believed now.
When we pulled back, his hand landed on the red tool belt. He glanced up, green and gold flecks in his eyes searching for mine. “Can I give this to Finn?”
I nodded, barely holding it together. “Right away. He’ll… he’ll absolutely love it.”
Chase drew a thumb gently over my cheek, a touch lighter than air. I wanted to freeze this moment, hold it against my chest and never let it go. “But your house, Chase…”
He smiled, a real one, tired and triumphant. “It doesn’t matter. Honestly.” Then he barked a laugh. “Though I’ll need to start looking for a place soon unless I want to live out of my car.”
A wild, brilliant idea hit me with the force of a hurricane. He was selling his house, giving up everything to be with us. Why not go all the way? I bit my lip, my heart skipping beats like an unpracticed drummer. “You know… if you’re going to be homeless anyway…”
His eyebrows shot up.
