She handed him the box. “I drew this for you. I wanted to paint it, but I ran out of time.”
He untied the string, opened the box, and gasped. “Em, this... this is unreal.” He lifted the drawing of their fort overlooking the lake at sunset. Two small silhouettes sat in the fort, and the sky was a kaleidoscope of penciled-in pinks,oranges, purples, reds, and yellows of the sunset stretched across the sky and reflected in the lake.
While he studied the picture, she memorized the handsome face of the man she wanted by her side for the rest of her life. “I... I don’t know what to say,” he whispered, searching her eyes.
“That’s where our friendship began,” she said. “It’s where I fell for you.”
“I love this. And I love you. I have for a while, but I was too afraid of losing your friendship to admit it to myself.” He paused. “The truth is that I can’t just be your friend. I want to be your everything. And I want you by my side forever.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.” She took a shuddering breath. “When I left Claire’s Thursday night, I drove around and wound up by my old house.”
“You did?” His eyes widened.
“Yeah. I stood in the driveway and just allowed my grief to consume me. Then I went to your folks’ house to pick up the box I found in the basement, and I drove out to the other side of the orchard. I walked to my old backyard, and I sat on the swing for a while.”
She took a deep breath before she continued. “When I opened the box, I found a card from my dad, and he’d written a note saying he and my mom would be happy if I followed my heart to a profession that brought me joy.” Tears tracked down her cheeks. “I realized that my parents were proud of me even though I wanted to be a professional artist.”
“Of course they were, babe.” He set the drawing on his desk before wiping away her tears. “And I’ve always been proud of you too.”
She smiled softly. “After reading the card, I just let all of thegrief pour out of me. I stopped fighting it. I mourned them, and I mourned losing you.”
He shook his head. “You never lost me.”
“Let me finish,” she insisted. “And that was when my muse came back to life, and I started sketching the mural. It was like something released deep inside of me, and I was able to create again. I hardly slept. I was up at dawn, and I started on the mural, pouring all of my grief into it.”
She threaded her fingers with his. “I’m sorry I pushed you away. I did exactly what you told me not to—I let Claire get in my head and mess with my confidence. I was so insecure that I started to believe that Claire deserved you because she’s prettier, more sophisticated, and more deserving than I am.”
He shook his head and touched her cheek. “You got that backward.”
She smiled. “And then last night I realized that I had to fight for you. You’ve had my heart for most of my life, and I couldn’t allow Claire to take you away from me.”
“She never stole me away. I’m just so sorry it took me almost twenty-five years to realize that my soulmate was beside me the whole time.”
She grinned up at him. “But now that I’ve got you, I’m not going to let you go.”
“Promise?”
“Oh yeah, I promise.”
“Good.” His grin was wolfish as he pulled a candied apple out from behind his desk. “I saved one before they sold out.” He held it up. “How about a candy apple kiss?”
Her smile widened. “That’s the best kind.”
He took a bite of the apple and swallowed it. Then Jake’s eyesseemed to smolder, and he tilted forward and touched her cheek before he brushed his lips over hers.
Heat roared through her veins as she lost herself in the feel of his lips caressing hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close. And as Jake’s lips parted to deepen the kiss, she lost track of everything. Her fingers moved up and up on his neck until she was running her fingertips through his soft hair.
When he broke the kiss, she held on to his broad shoulders, working to slow her heartbeat to a normal rate.
“I love you,” he whispered.
She smiled as her heart danced. “I love you too.”
As Jake leaned down to kiss her again, Emily closed her eyes and imagined her future side by side with the love of her life.
Epilogue
Thanksgiving
