“I’m saying maybe we’re both trying to sacrifice something we shouldn’t have to. You love Blue Point Bay. You have Wren, and she needs you just as much as I do. And I...” I pulled her closer. “I want the chance to build a new life. To choose something for myself instead of just accepting what I inherited. And I can’t think of any better way to do that than by being with you.”
A tear slipped down her cheek. “You’d really move? Leave everything here?”
“Not everything. The brothers will still be the brothers. Geography doesn’t change that. We’ll visit, they’ll visit. Family is family no matter where we live.” I brushed the tear away with my thumb. “But yeah. I’d move. For you. For us. For the chance to build something that’s actually mine.”
“But you’ve never even seen Blue Point Bay. What if you hate it? What if…”
“Then how about this,” I interrupted gently. “After the wedding, we go to Blue Point Bay for a few days. You show me your world. Your studio, your town, the places you love. Let me see what my life could look like there. And if it feels right…” I paused, making sure she understood. “If it feels right, I start making plans to move.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that.” I pulled her fully into my arms, resting my forehead against hers. “I spent my whole life living in my grandfather’s shadow, running a business I inherited, living in a house I grew up in. I never chose any of it. But this? You? That’s a choice I want to make.”
She was crying for real now, but she was also smiling. “You’re serious.”
“Completely serious. I love you, Leigh. And I’m tired of pretending that anything else matters more than that.”
“I love you too.” She kissed me, soft and sweet and desperate all at once. “God, I love you so much.”
We held each other as the last light faded from the sky, the sounds of the party distant and dreamlike behind us.
“So Blue Point Bay?” she said finally, her voice muffled against my chest. “You really want to do this?”
“I really want to do this. Show me your world. Let me see where I could fit in your life.”
She pulled back enough to look up at me, and the smile on her face was like sunrise. “Okay. Day after the wedding, we drive to Blue Point Bay. I’ll show you everything.”
“Everything?”
“Everything. The beach where I run in the mornings. The coffee shop where I sketch out shoot plans. My studio, thelighthouse. All of it.” She paused. “And we’ll look at the local businesses. See if there’s anything that might work for a garage.”
My heart felt like it might burst. “You’ve been thinking about this.”
“Maybe a little.” She kissed me again. “Fair warning. Blue Point Bay isn’t as small as Willowbrook. And it’s right on the coast, so there’s a lot of tourists in the summer. And the winters can be rough. And…”
I kissed her quiet. “I don’t care about any of that. I care about you.”
“Even though I don’t really have anywhere for us to live? And I have two cats who shed everywhere?”
“You have cats?”
“Did I not mention that?”
“You definitely did not mention that.”
She laughed, the sound bright and free. “Surprise. Their names are Pixel and Aperture, and they’re very judgy about new people.”
“I’ll win them over.”
“That’s what everyone says. No one ever does.”
“Then I’ll be the first.” I pulled her close again, breathing in the scent of her shampoo and feeling the knot in my stomach finally start to ease. “Tomorrow’s the wedding.”
“Tomorrow’s the wedding,” she agreed.
“And day after tomorrow…”
“Day after tomorrow, we start figuring out forever.”
