“Let’s go inside,” he said after a few minutes of holding her. “You must be freezing.”
“Not anymore,” she said, using the sleeve of her coat to mop at her face as she pulled away.
Once they were inside his apartment, they made quick work of taking off their coats and boots, and Cait grabbed a paper towel to wipe her eyes again.
“We need to talk,” she said.
“Can I hold you while we talk?” He didn’t want to let her go and some part of him felt that as long as they were touching, they could talk through anything.
She walked straight into his arms, though this time she rested her face against his chest instead of burying it in his shoulder. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“My life’s broken, Cait,” he admitted, since he knew there was no more holding back from her. “Without you, it’s not whole anymore. And slapping emotional duct tape on the cracks isn’t going to heal them. Those pieces aren’t going to knit back together no matter how much time I give them.”
When she pulled back to smile up at him through her tears, he felt hope for the first time since she walked out of his door. “Emotional duct tape?”
“That’s what it’s felt like since you left. Like my heart and my life are breaking apart and I keep slapping duct tape on the cracks, but it’s not enough.” And with her looking up at him with those dark eyes, he went all in. “I love you, Cait.”
“I love you, too.”
And just like that, he could breathe again. The ground was no longer shifted under him and everything would be okay. “From now on, no matter what, that’s all that matters. We love each other and we can figure out anything else together.”
“You were right before,” she said quietly, “about me being a crutch for my mom and enabling her to lean on me when she didn’t need to. I didn’t want to face it, I guess, and rejecting that meant rejecting you and I’m so sorry.”
“I’m the one who’s sorry because whether it was true or not, that’s your relationship with your mother and I had no place butting into it.”
“You did, though. If we’re going to make a life together, there are noplacesor butting in because we’re totally each other’s business and sometimes taking care of somebody means helping them face truths they don’t want to. I’ll do better at being taken care of.”
“I want to make a life with you. I want to take care of you and I want you to take care of me. And together we’ll take care of our families and, when the time is right, take care of our own family.”
“I want that, too. I don’t think I knew how much until I thought we were over. I thought I lost you.”
The thought of her hurting almost killed him. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never feel like that again.”
She smiled, and this time there were no tears or shadows in her eyes. This was his Cait and he had her back. “Never?”
“Never.” He ran his thumb across her bottom lip. “Do you trust me?”
“Completely.”
“I’m going to love you for the rest of my life, Cait.”
Epilogue
Two months later
“See? I told you the secret to the neighbors not complaining about the noise is to invite the neighbors to the party,” Gavin whispered in Cait’s ear.
“I’ve never seen so many people in this backyard before.”
“We’ve got a lot of people who love us.” He shrugged, which she felt since she was tucked under his arm, leaning against the fence. “And the neighbors.”
Their parents had insisted on a joint family event to celebrate Gavin putting an engagement ring on Cait’s finger after a romantic walk on the beach, but they’d managed—with his dad’s help—to contain the two moms to a barbecue. Diane’s backyard was bigger, so it and the small cape were full of family—including their coworkers—and friends. It was noisy, but Cait was loving every minute of it.
Gavin’s hand strayed down her back toward her ass. “How long do we have to stay?”
“Until the end. Can you imagine us getting out of here without either of our moms noticing?”
“Didn’t you have a bedroom here?” He bumped his hip against hers, making her laugh.
