Page 101 of Hearts on the Line

“I think everyone’s moved past grief to irritation.” My mouth twists. Honestly, I’m annoyed with everyone. Annie and Jack are here to help, but there’s not much to do but make phone calls and wait. They could go back to their lives, but instead, they insist on following me around and asking if I need anything. Or running interception on the flood of well-meaning casseroles landing at our front door from everyone in town.

“You can’t push me away.”

I hate it when she reads my mind. “I’m not⁠—”

“You’re back to grunting,” she says. “I know this really sucks—all of it—and I’m so sorry. But you don’t get to shut me out—again.”

I duck my head and quickly rub my face, annoyed at the tears in my eyes. I try to wipe them away without her seeing. But she catches me. Sloane draws my hand to her mouth and softly kisses my knuckles and doesn’t let go.

“What are you worried about?”

A laugh bursts out, sharp and humorless. What am I not worried about? But the only thing that falls out of my mouth is “Losing you.”

She leans forward, pinning me with those dark-brown eyes of hers and a sad, soft smile. Her fingers run back into my hair, and she presses a kiss to my cheek.

“Where am I gonna go?”

I shrug, because that hasn’t necessarily stopped her before.

“Ethan, if I wanted to leave, I would have by now. I don’t want to go. But if you don’t talk to me, you big dummy”—I fight back a grin—“it’s gonna make it harder. I told you we’d figure this out together, and I meant it. Life gets messy. We’re messy. But it doesn’t mean it can’t get better again.” She glances out toward the beach, wiping at her eyes. “The fire’s not the end. For you. Or for us.”

The final crack splits, and I swear the hole in my chest caves in. I can’t hold it in anymore.

“I love you.” My voice is rough. “I’ve been thinking that a lot because there is so much of my life that’s yours. But I remember sitting in the dunk tank during the summer fair, and I was raising money for the hockey team. You walked up with a ball in your hand, and you smiled at me. It’s the last thing I remember before you hit the target, and I dropped into the water. When I finally surfaced and wiped the water away from my eyes…” I set down my coffee and blow out a breath. “All the carnival lights blurred around you, and you stood there, and that smile of yours changed everything for me. I’ve fallen in love with you in a hundred different ways over the years, but at that moment, it all fell into place.”

Sloane rests her forehead against mine, her palm cradling my cheek. Her smile brushes my mouth before she kisses me, slow and lingering, and suddenly it’s like that night all over again.

“You never deserved to be a secret in high school.” My chest feels too tight, but I keep going. “I loved you too damn much, and I didn’t want to lose you. But I did. I’m not going to do that again, baby, not going to get in my own way. Time apart didn’t change a damn thing for me, and I’ll love you with everything I have because my heart is yours. Always yours. I’ll find you every time, Sloane, because it’s always going to be you for me. If I have to wait, if you need more time⁠—”

She grins at me, tears brimming in her eyes. “I swear these are happy tears.”

I pull her close and hold her against me, pressing my lips to her forehead. For a few minutes, we sit there quietly.

“I think you should go talk to your dad. Just you and him. Tell him what you want.”

“You,” I say.

She scoffs. “Are you flirting with me, Ethan Murphy?”

“Always, Sloane Arden.”

“Good.” She bumps her shoulder into mine. “Go talk to him. I think he can help you see where you’re going. You’re already more than halfway there.”

“Halfway to where?” I say.

“You.”

Then she kisses me again, and everything inside me wants to drag her back upstairs. But I don’t. She chuckles against my mouth when she pulls away as if she knows.

“I’m going for a walk on the beach.” Sloane quickly untangles herself from me and sprints down the stairs, Wally following.

The storm clouds are building, and I can smell the rain. “Don’t go too far.”

She spins and blows me a kiss. With Wally close on her heels, they start walking the stretch of beach in front of the house.

I’m still gripping my coffee minutes later when my dad walks out.

“So, you and Sloane, huh?” he says. “Finally figured it out.”