“With my hands. And a YouTube video. And more swearing than I care to admit.”
A watery sound escaped me, half laugh, half sob. “I wasn’t afraid of the job.”
He went very still.
“I was afraid because you kept something so important from me. You let me fall for you while you were making a decision that would affect both of us, and I didn’t even know it existed. That’s what hurt the most. That’s what I’ve been sitting with.”
“I know.”
“My grandmother came and helped me separate the two. The job is something we can figure out together—the hours, the travel, the nights you’re gone. Those are practical things with practical answers. But the hiding, that cut deep. But I’m done being hurt by it because I did it too. I never told you how much Eric scared me. Never confided in you that I couldn’t sleep because of him. You had to talk to Paige about it. That was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“Oh, sweetheart. It’s okay.”
“Thank you. We will make it okay. Together, Jasper. Promise we’ll talk to each other. I’m done being away from you. Being without you has been worse than the hurt. I’d rather be hurt in the same room as you than hurt alone in my apartment with the phone off. I didn’t expect that, but it’s true.”
“Cara…” His voice broke on my name. “I know I hurt you,” he said. “And I know sorry doesn’t fix it on its own. But I need you to know why I was scared to tell you about the job, and it wasn’t about the job. It was because somewhere along the wayyoubecame the thing I was most afraid of losing, and I didn’t knowhow to say that without saying everything, and saying everything meant—” He exhaled. “It meant saying this.”
He looked at me steadily, both hands flat on the counter between us, and his eyes were bright, and he wasn’t trying to hide it.
“I love you, Cara. I have been trying to find the right moment to say it, and there isn’t one—there’s just this moment, right now, with you looking at me like that across your counter in your bookshop—and I don’t want to wait for a better one anymore. I love you. I’m saying it now, and I mean it.”
The shop was very quiet.
I pressed my fingers to my mouth and looked at him and felt the tears come, and didn’t try to stop them, and said the only true thing I had. “I love you too,” I said. “I’ve loved you for a long time.”
He came around the counter, and I met him halfway.
“But I need you to understand something first.”
“Tell me.”
“If you ever keep something like that from me again, I will leave. You need to hear that and believe it, because I mean it with everything I am.”
“I believe you. I swear I will never keep anything from you again.”
“Good.” I drew a shaky breath. “Because I’m coming to the cabin with you tonight. I’m going to see the bookshelf. I’m going to bring the book and put it on that top shelf where it belongs. And after that, we’re going to sit at the kitchen table, and you’re going to tell me everything about the job. I’m going to ask questions, and you’re going to answer them, and we’re going to figure out what this life looks like. Together. At the table. The way it should have been from the beginning.”
“Yes,” he said simply, the word carrying the weight of a vow.
“Good.” I held my arms out. “Come here.”
He came around the counter. I met him in the middle. I reached up and framed his face with both hands the way he had so often framed mine—thumbs brushing his cheekbones, fingers sliding into the hair at his temples. His skin was warm, stubble rough beneath my palms. His eyes were still wet, raw with relief and longing.
He was shaking.
I had never felt Jasper shake before.
I rose onto my toes and kissed him.
I kissed him with everything—the terrible days apart, the long nights on the couch with the cats, the cold coffee in the reading nook, and the stubborn hope that had refused to die. I poured it all into him, and he took it, arms wrapping around me so tightly my feet nearly left the floor. His hands spread across my back, one sliding up to cradle my head as he kissed me back with desperation and gratitude.
When we broke apart, I rested my forehead against his. “Take me to the cabin.”
I went upstairs to fetch the book while he waited in the shop. The cats greeted me at the door with their usual quiet curiosity. I slipped the book into my bag, added a change of clothes, fed them, and whispered goodnight to Wentworth, who blinked his slow acceptance. Then I locked the apartment and returned downstairs.
Jasper had placed the flowers in the mason jar on the counter. He looked up when I appeared, something soft and wondering in his eyes.
“Ready?” he asked.
