She settles back against my chest.
“Home,” she repeats, testing the word.
“Yeah,tesoro. Home. This is your home. I’m your home.”
She’s quiet for a moment, then: “Can I stay here? Even after the town hall?”
“You can stay here as long as you want. Forever, if you’ll have me.”
She lifts her head to look at me, eyes searching mine. “Forever?”
“I just told you I’ve been in love with you for five years. You think I’m letting you go now?” I pull her closer. “You’re stuck with me.”
“I think I can live with that.” A smile breaks across her face—the first real, unguarded smile I’ve seen from her in days.
“Good.” I press a kiss to her forehead. “Now get some rest.”
She curls against me, her body relaxed in a way I haven’t seen all week. The tension that’s been living in her shoulders since the first Facebook post finally eases.
I lie there holding her, watching the late afternoon light paint golden stripes across the bedroom wall. In five days, she’ll stand in front of the entire town. In five days, everything could change.
But right now? Right now she’s here. Safe. Mine.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks quietly. I thought she’d drifted off.
“How proud I am of you.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
“You’ve done everything.” I kiss the top of her head. “You stayed when they tried to drive you out. You’re still standing, though they keep trying to break you.”
She’s quiet for a moment.
“Thank you. For loving me even when I couldn’t see it,” she says. “We should probably get up.”
But she doesn’t move.
“Probably.” Neither do I.
She sighs contentedly. “Ten more minutes.”
“Ten more minutes,” I agree, pulling her closer.
Because five days from now, everything changes.
But now? Now is perfect.
CHAPTER 15
I’m staring at myself in Mateo’s bedroom mirror, and I barely recognize the woman looking back.
She’s wearing a deep burgundy blouse tucked into black slacks. Professional but not corporate. Her hair is down, brushed into soft waves. Minimal makeup except for the lipstick Jess insisted I wear.
“Power red,”she’d called it.“Armor.”
I look put together. Confident.
And I feel like I’m about to throw up.
