Page 232 of At First Catch

Nolan nods once.

Elation floods so hard through my chest I physically can’t breathe for a second. Because I know this isn’t really about the house. It’s about what it means. Roots. Permanence. Choice.

Nolan’s voice lowers, softer now. “I realized something after you left.”

Tears burn fresh behind my eyes. “What?”

He takes one final step closer. Close enough that I can feel warmth rolling off him again for the first time in days.

Nolan looks directly into my eyes when he says, “I don’t want a future that only survives if I control every possible loss.” Emotion roughens his voice sharply. “I want a life with you in it even when things are messy and uncertain and terrifying sometimes.”

The tears spill as I take in the meaning of his words. Love isn’t safety because nothing bad can happen. Love is trusting someone enough to stay through uncertainty together.

“Nolan,” I whisper brokenly.

His face crumples around the edges hearing his name in my voice like that. It’s then I realize he’s terrified too. Terrified to learn if I’ll still choose him after everything.

“I know I hurt you,” he says. “The hardest part wasn’t losing you.” His voice shakes. “It was realizing you’d been asking me to let you love me, and I kept handing you problems to solve instead.

“And I know I can’t magically undo weeks of making you feel alone.” His eyes shine now openly. “But Hads…” His voice breaks slightly. “I am so unbelievably in love with you.”

The words hit like sunlight after weeks underwater. After everything, I never doubted that part.

Nolan swallows hard before continuing.

“You asked me to learn how to stay because I wanted to, not because I was scared.” His gaze never leaves mine. “And for the first time in my life, I think I finally understand the difference.”

Love surges so violently through my chest I physically press one hand over my heart.

Nolan carefully lifts the rolled house plans between us.

“I bought a home because I want a future with you in it.” His tone becomes even more gentle. “Not because I’m afraid of losing one.”

The entire bookstore blurs behind tears. Every painful, lonely moment of the breakup crashes into something else entirely…hope.

I stare at the man I still love standing in front of me, finally choosing to follow his heart.

He looks terrified and hopeful and heartbreakingly sincere all at once.

Tears slide silently down my cheeks while Nolan watches me with the kind of careful stillness people reserve for things fragile enough to break.

Through all of this, we both changed. Not just him. Me too. Because loving Nolan taught me that staying doesn’t always look graceful. Sometimes it looks messy and painful and horrible. Sometimes love asks you to trust someone while they’re still learning how to trust themselves.

“Nolan.”

My voice breaks around his name. Immediate panic flashes across his face. Like he’s preparing for rejection anyway.

I close the distance between us before I can overthink it. One step. Then another. Until I’m standing directly in front of him again for the first time since the breakup. Close enough to feel his warmth. Close enough to hear his uneven breathing.

Nolan looks overwhelmed.

I slide trembling fingers carefully along his jaw. And the second I touch him, he exhales shakily. Like relief physically leaves his body all at once.

“You idiot,” I whisper tearfully.

A startled wet laugh escapes him. “There she is.”

Warmth flickers painfully through my chest hearing that. We still find each other inside the grief.