I grab my coat and am halfway out the door as Simon yells, “Don’t come back! You can’t live here anymore!”
If all goes as planned, I won’t need to.
I hop in my car, simultaneously backing up and tugging on my seat belt.
I’m such a fool for waiting this long.
I pull into his driveway and I’m halfway up the front walk when he opens the door.
I don’t get any words out. I don’t do anything but smile at him. Then I run.
He catches me when I leap, wobbling a bit because I’m sure his body is still sore, but he wraps his arms around me as if he’ll never let go.
I sure as hell hope he doesn’t.
“I’m sorry,” I say as he lowers me back to my feet. “I’m so sorry it took me this long to figure it out.”
“Baby, as long as your choice is us, I don’t care how long it took you.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Then I flick his chest.
“Ouch.”
“That’s for making me think you signed divorce papers.”
He chuckles and wrinkles his nose.
“Technically, I never said I signed then, just that I got them.”
“So then what is this?” I hold up the driver’s license application. “Looks like you put a lot more effort into completing this one.”
“Yeah, well, I wanted that one more. All you have to do is sign it and put it in the mail. I think it takes only a few weeks to get a new driver’s license. You’ll officially be Calla Robertson.”
I shake my head and let out a huff.
“If we’re going to make this work, we both have to agree to be honest about everything no matter how scared we might be to tell the other one.”
“Deal.” He kisses my forehead.
“So… you should know that I didn’t leave because of all the book stuff.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling it wasn’t.”
I lick my lips and bite my lip as I struggle to find my words. “I…”
“I love you,” he says, a finger to my chin guiding my gaze to his. “I love everything about you, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
I nod quickly. The guilt and worry over whether or not he’ll be happy with just me is replaced with more love than I’ve ever felt.
I hate to admit that we could have resolved this weeks ago if I had just talked to him, but sometimes, you have to make a few wrong choices to make the right choice.
That’s just life.
I push him back with my hands on his chest. “There are more things you should know,” I tell him. And because teasing each other is what we do best, I let him sweat it for a good twenty seconds.
