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“You’re not going to ruin anything,” said Luke. As he drew closer, his blond hair shone in the light, and the pain in his eyes grew clearer, twisting Rose’s stomach. “That’s not possible.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t do this to you.”
She allowed herself one more moment. One moment longer to take in his handsome face: those green eyes that could set her on fire with just a look, that strong jaw that might’ve been sculpted by one of the masters, those perfect lips that she’d missed so much over the past four years.
And then she slid past him and into the hallway. The house whipped by—so many doors she hadn’t even entered since she’d come back. The room that he’d given her on the first night she’d returned, before they’d realized they couldn’t stand that amount of distance between them. The family portraits on the walls. Lenore looked out at her from some of them, and Rose had to look away. She was going to hurt her best friend again, too, and she wasn’t ready for that. But she couldn’t make herself turn around. At the front of her mind was the picture of Calvin taken after the bar fight. From what Rose had heard, he’d only done six months for what he’d tried to do to her, and somehow, Luke was still paying for that night. He always would, unless she put a stop to it.
She raced down to the first floor, and she knew Luke was behind her. His footsteps were rapid and louder than hers, and she wanted to turn around and throw herself into his arms, but she couldn’t. Instead, she plowed forward, making her way to the front door. She pulled it open, and the cool afternoon air knocked the breath from her lungs. Her car awaited her in the driveway. Luke’s was beside it. The ice-blue door of his Miata was open, and the car still dinged rapidly. He’d left his keys in the ignition when he’d run in after her.
She stood on the top step with one hand on the doorknob when she heard his voice.
“Rose! Wait!”
She shut her eyes and fought back the tears that wanted to spill down her cheeks. Now wasn’t the time to cry. She was doing this for him—to protect him, and to protect his family. She was so good at causing him pain, no matter how much she hated it. All she’d ever wanted was to make him happy. For the two of them to be happy together.
He’ll never be completely happy with me dragging him down.
“I have to go,” she said. Though she intended the words to come out forcefully, they sounded broken, and she mentally kicked herself for it. She needed to sound like she believed what she was doing was the best option. If she didn’t, how would she ever convince him that it was?
“No you don’t. Please, don’t go.”
She closed her eyes tighter, but she couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. She clung to the doorknob for support. The metal stung her hand with the force of her grip, but she wouldn’t release it.
“Don’t you understand?” Her voice came out a little stronger this time. “As long as I’m here, your life is never going to be what it could be without me. You’ll always have people running your name through the mud because I give them the ammunition. Luke, the only things you’ve done to get in trouble were because you were protecting me. You’re not the dangerous one, like those people are saying. I am. I make you do crazy things, and you don’t need me ruining your life.”
“Ruining my life?” he repeated. His tone was hollow, and she bit her inner cheek at the sound. When she felt his hand on her arm, his touch was light. Tentative. She wanted to throw her arms around his neck and tell him she wasn’t going anywhere, but she’d come this far, and she had to see this through. “If that’s honestly how you think I feel,” Luke continued, “then I’ve failed you.”
Rose let out a shaky sigh. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to start sobbing. “I didn’t say that’s what you feel,” she said. “But it’s what everyone else feels. You’d be so much better off without me being in your way, Luke. Can’t you see that?”
“Could you turn around, please?” he asked. “There’s something you need to see.”
The urge to run straight to her car without looking back pulled at her stomach, but she’d never been able to resist him. She could give him this much. She opened her eyes and turned to face him, and her breath caught in her throat.
He was still in the suit he’d worn to work, and its gray brought out the green of his eyes. In his hand was a single white rose—the one he’d brought back from the island. She stared at him, wanting to say something, but no words would come.
“You aren’t ruining my life,” Luke said, sparing her the need to speak. “You’re saving it.”
At this, she opened her mouth to protest, but he continued.
“For four years, I’ve been lost without you. I haven’t felt like me. I was going through the motions every day, waiting for something to happen that made me feel like my life had meaning. And then you showed up on my doorstep, and it was like something out of a dream. I’m still not convinced I’ve woken up since then, but I’m okay with that as long as it means I get to be with you. Rose, my biggest regret in life is that I lost you. That I pushed you away, that I didn’t make you feel like you could talk to me when you were suffering, that I scared you when I was trying to help you that night at the bar. Everything I’ve done wrong has been something that put distance between us. And I don’t want there to be any of that anymore.”
Rose was vaguely aware of the tears streaming down her cheeks. She still held onto the doorknob, using it to keep herself steady. She felt like she might crumble beneath the weight and beauty of his words.
“People are going to talk,” Luke went on, “but I don’t give a damn. And I know it’s hard to get to that point—I’ve been living with the gossip all my life, and sometimes, I find myself slipping and caring what they think. But I shouldn’t care, and neither should you. And do you know why?”
“Why?” she breathed.
“Because if we have each other, it doesn’t matter what anyone says. Nothing anyone could ever do would stop me from loving you. There’s absolutely nothing that could do that. I’ve loved you every second of every day since you left. Please don’t leave again. Please… stay with me. Always.”
He held the flower out to her, and she finally looked down at it. The thorns had been trimmed from its stem, leaving it with nothing but beauty. At the sight of something sparkling within its central petals, she blinked. She looked up to meet his eyes, and he was watching her expectantly, his soul laid bare on his face. Pain. Love. Fear.
She returned her gaze to the flower, and slowly, her fingers trembling, she reached out for it. She took it in one hand and removed her other from the knob at last to reach into the petals.
Her fingertips brushed metal. Stone.
From within the flower, she pulled the engagement ring she’d given back to him on the night she’d left him standing in the rain.
Several seconds passed before she could find her voice, and it came out soft and strained. “I just don’t want you to hurt because of me,” she said. “I don’t want your life to be harder because of me.”
