“You what?” I ask, my voice barely a whisper, but instead of explaining, he continues.
“It’s why I spent an hour outside to find your earring, which, just so you know, somehow flew like, fifteen feet away from where you were standing, and put it right where you’d spot it. It’s why I upgraded our hotel room on your birthday and?—”
“You fixed the craps game, didn’t you? It’s illegal to cheat in a casino, Graham,” I say with wide eyes, panicked even though I think I’m supposed to be mad at him right now.
Even if I’m mad at him, I don’t want him to go toprison.
A tiny smirk lifts his lips, and he shakes his head.
“That was all you, June.Thatwas your luck. I’m not so far gone as to commit fraud in a casino.” I smiled a bit, then my mind moved through moments over the summer, big and small.
“The hotel rooms in Wildwood. Did you plan on just one?” I ask.
“No. At that point, I just wanted you happy, but I didn’t want to cross that line. It felt selfish.”
I nod, understanding in a twisted way.
“The clovers?”
He looks away before letting out a sigh and running his hand through his hair.
“You were excited to find them, so I found one in another spot of the yard and transplanted it.”
A new thought hits me, and panic comes with it. “Did you set up the proposal with Rowan?”
He instantly shakes his head. “No. No, I didn’t. That was all you, and that was all Rowan. I drew the line at anything that had to do with your career.”
I give him a deadpan look. “You had Sutton give me a job!” I say, throwing my hands in the air before running one through my hair. “Now my entire career is a lie!”
He gives me a knowing look, a hint of a smile on the edges of his lips. “Working as an executive assistant is not your career, June.”
Crossing my arms on my chest, I glare at him, but there’s not much indignation left. In fact, I’m slowly coming to terms with it and finding it all a bit endearing. This is the kind of thing that, if I heard it happening to someone else, I would swoon. Not that I’ll be telling him that.
“It could be,” I say, and even I know I sound petulant.
He shakes his head, taking a step closer, and I let him, staying where I am. “Not for you, and you know that. That was always a stop along the way, and you were always meant to do so much more. You and I both know as much.”
God, how does he always know the right thing to say?
And why am I suddenly desperate for him to be closer?
“I don’t know if that’s insane or precious,” I murmur, taking a step closer and letting him wrap me up in an embrace. I can process all of this much better in his arms.
“I’m hoping precious,” he murmurs into my hair, and I let out a sigh, snuggling into him, that feeling ofhomemoving through me again. His hand moves to tip my chin, and I’m forced to look at him. There’s no shield or mask on, and I realize it’s been that way for a while. There’s also worry, nervousness, and regret.
But most of all, shining bright in a way I don’t know how I didn’t realize it sooner, is pure, unadulterated love.
God, this man loves me. So much so, he would work tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure all of my whims come true.
“Do you forgive me?” he asks, eyes hopeful.
“I can’t believe you did all of that,” I murmur.
“And I can’t believe that even when I was the grumpiest asshole on this planet, you kept working at me, trying to make me like you, trying to get me to open up, to see the magic that is Seaside Point. I can’t believe you made me want to stay in one place, and that you made me make actual, honest-to-God friends I look forward to spending time with. I can’t believe I won you somehow, made you mine.”
“You really think you won me, Hawthorne?” I ask, lifting an eyebrow. I’m no longer angry, and I’m sure I’ll have a million questions after this, but I can’t find it in me to be genuinely mad, not when he clearly has been tying himself in knots trying to do anything he can to just…what? Make me happy? See me smile? Make me believe that I really could have everything if I just wished on enough dandelions, four-leaf clovers, and lucky pennies?
“If I’m lucky,” he says, voice low, and it settles in my chest.
