"I'm sorry. Not for bringing the documents to be preserved, they needed proper care. But for leaving you. For making you think three days didn't matter. They did." I stood, needing him to see my face. "I was terrified. Of being a burden. Of taking up too much space in your life. Of mattering too much and then losing it."
"And now?"
"I should have found a place in Vermont to take care of the documents.”
“I don’t care about the documents right now,” he said. “I’ve been here all day waiting for you.”
“Oh Neil,” I ran into his arms and hugged him. “I'm terrified that I've ruined this beyond repair."
"Why did you come back?"
"I want you. I want this. I want to build a life on this mountain and wake up in your bed every morning. And I know three days isn't very long to base a life on, but I also know that three days with you taught me more about who I want to be than six years in Boston ever did."
Neil was silent, but he held me tightly.
"If you don't want me back, I understand. I'll figure out what to do next. But I needed you to know that I came back. That I chose you. That three days did matter."
"I’ll never let you go again."
I pressed my face into his shirt and tried not to cry. "I'm sorry," I said into the fabric. "I'm so sorry."
"I gave you an out because part of me expected you to take it."
"We're both idiots."
"Yeah, we are." He pulled back just enough to look at my face. "You really quit your job?"
"Told Pemberton I was done being invisible so he could feel important."
"And the documents?"
"Properly preserved at the university library. But I'm working with the Vermont Historical Society as an independent researcher. My name. My discovery. My research."
"You're really staying."
"If you'll have me. I know I have a lot to figure out. Where to live, how to pay my loans, but I'm not going back to being a footnote in someone else’s research."
"You're staying with me. In my cabin. In my bed. In my life. That's not negotiable."
"I don't want to be a burden."
"Stop." He cupped my face in his large hands. "You're not a burden. You never were. I want you here. I want to wake up with you every morning and watch you get excited about historical documents. I want all of you."
"Even after I left?"
"Especially after you came back." He rested his forehead against mine. "You scared me. It made me think I wasn't enough. That three days weren’t real."
"It's real. It's the most real thing I've ever had."
"Then stay. Build a life here. Let me love you the way you deserve to be loved. Come on," Neil said. "Let's go home."
Home.
Chapter 10
Kim
On the drive back, Neil gripped my thigh with possessive intent.
