And when he speaks, there’s nothing rehearsed in it.
“I have unfinished business here. Have you seen that building down at the end of the road before the bigger beach houses? Talia is going to have a lot of work ahead of her.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” I whisper.
“I know.”
A beat.
“I just didn’t want a life where you weren’t in it.”
Everything in me goes still, like the world forgot to keep moving.
“You don’t get to say that,” I breathe. “Not after everything.”
“I can. It’s up to you whether you accept it or not,” he says. But he doesn’t look away, and that’s what undoes me.
“You make it sound so simple,” I say, my voice breaking around the edges now. “Like I’m just supposed to believe you and?—”
“I’m not asking you to believe me,” he says, cutting in gently. “I’m asking you to look at me and decide what you see.”
That’s the moment something in me snaps loose.
Because I have been looking at him. I haven’t stopped.
“I love you, Avery Parker. Not because you fit into anything I planned, and not because I know how to explain it to myself or anyone else. I love you because you beat me at go-karts and laughed like that’s what mattered more than winning, because you fell asleep on my couch like you trusted me without even thinking about it, and because when my car ran out of gas and I had nothing, you showed up like it was the most normal thing in the world, and I?—”
I reach over mid-sentence, grab his shirt collar, and pull him into me.
Our lips meet, and it’s like an explosion of heat coursing through them. He reaches up to cup my chin, slowing things down so we can savor the moment.
Pulling back slightly, I say, “Sorry, you were saying.”
He gives me a glazed-over look and says, “Well, now I can’t remember anything else I was going to say.” He hesitates, then, “I’m sorry, Avery. Just know, aside from my career and my name, everything else was and is real.”
I lean forward and give him a peck on the lips, not sure I can stop now that I’ve experienced this. Then I pull back, that little insecurity peeking through. “Why me?”
He frowns for a moment, then says, “Why not you? Avery,you challenge me. You make me excited to get up in the morning. And I love how passionate you are about things.”
We lean in for another lingering kiss, one I feel all the way to my toes.
“So, you’re attracted to a slightly chaotic caffeine addict, who just wants the best for her family?”
“Absolutely.” He opens his mouth to say something and then closes it quickly.
“Yes, I’ll give you full texting access,” I say, as if it were just another boring line item in a contract negotiation.
He pumps his fist and grins.
I lean over, touching my forehead to his. “I love you, too, Max Bauer.”
EPILOGUE
AVERY
Fourteen months later
Taking the coffee shop on the road isn’t easy, but for the Founder’s Day parade and celebration, I couldn’t say no.
