Page 74 of Come A Little Closer

“Clearly, you don’t know very much about divorce law or how life works, but she doesn’t owe you anything, buddy. Do we understand each other?”

“Yes, sir,” he muttered dejectedly. “She won’t hear from me.”

“Excellent. Do make sure you back off, Mr. Gibson. Don’t forget what we talked about tonight. I’m not in the habit of warning people about the same thing twice.”

With that, I hung up the phone and instantly felt better. I got to go to bed with Tallulah tonight, and together, we could move on. I could propose to her and she would never have to worry about her past catching up to her ever again.

While part of me wished her parents would realize what a coward they’d sided with over their daughter and apologize, I knew better than to believe it would ever happen. It was devastating how badly a single missed call had affected her, but she was part of my family now, whether or not she decided to marry me, and I would always protect her.

Always choose her. Until death did us part.

35

TALLULAH

Afew days had passed and the sting of the phone call had worn off. I still wondered if my past was going to come back to haunt me at some point, but at least I’d been honest with Niall about everything now.

He and I talked about it some more over the last few days, and I’d told him everything he needed to know about my parents and about Carter. There was nothing they could say to him now that would come as any surprise to him, and I’d also warned him that they might try to dissuade him from being with me if they ever did show up.

As always, my guy had been a pillar of strength and support, listening patiently and constantly assuring me that there was nothing that could or would change the way he felt. Honestly, I never would’ve been able to imagine feeling so secure in a relationship with a man who made me as happy as he did.

It was like living in a fairy tale. One where I got to wake up with the handsome, secretly golden-hearted prince every morning and then got to spend each day doing what I loved. Above all, I wasn’t waiting for the other shoe to drop anymore.

In the aftermath of the festival, I’d been helping to take down the decorations and Niall had assigned a whole team to me to follow my lead in boxing everything up for storage. I loved the organizational component of it, as well as being given true ownership of something for the future as well. In letting me lead, it was also like he was guaranteeing that the next time the company needed these things, I’d still be here and in charge of putting it up all over again.

It was a symbol of permanence I’d sorely been craving, and it was creating a feeling of belonging for me with the company and in this role. I no longer felt like I had something to prove. With all the new events I was planning around town, I was really starting to feel like I was part of something.

When added to the incredibly amazing relationship I had with Niall, I couldn’t actually believe that this might just be my life. I might get to do this. To be with the man I loved in a job I couldn’t get enough of, and it made my heart so full that I felt like I could pop.

Since I was supposed to meet up with him tonight for a date, I left the property I’d been checking out for an event with a brilliant, excited smile on my face. When I got to his place in the Garden District to find it dark and empty, however, the smile started slipping.

“Niall? Are you here?” I supposed it wasn’t impossible that he’d gotten caught up at the office, so I headed inside anyway, my footsteps echoing in the quiet foyer.

Moving deeper into the house, I called for him again and frowned when I found his kitchen completely abandoned. “Niall? Where are you?”

I knew he liked to spend time in here and the living room when he was home, so the fact I couldn’t find him likely meant he wasn’t home. I sighed, slinging my purse off my shoulder just as my phone started ringing.

I plunged my hand into my bag, fishing out the device and smiling once more when I saw it was him. “You didn’t forget about our date, did you?”

He chuckled. “I did not. I could never forget about you. I actually had to run out to the plantation, so I’m hoping I caught you before you went to the Garden District?”

I made a buzzing sound. “Guess again.”

He groaned. “You’re in my kitchen, aren’t you?”

“I am, but it’s okay. I’ll meet you out there.”

“I’m at the main house,” he said distractedly. “The maintenance team needed me to take a look at something. I should still be up here by the time you arrive.”

“I’ll see you in a little bit,” I promised before hanging up, sliding my purse back over my shoulder and retracing my steps to the front door.

I particularly loved this property of Niall’s and I definitely understood why he’d chosen to make it his home, but it felt weird here without him. Strangely empty and ghostly quiet.

Happily letting the door swing shut behind me, I strode to my parking spot down the street and hopped in his old truck, smiling a little over the fact that he still had it. When Niall had told me the story about it, I could hardly believe that he’d let me borrow this car over all the others, but it meant a lot to me that he trusted me with it.

It’d also inspired me to start using it, since I didn’t want him to think I was just being a snob, not wanting to drive around a beat-up old truck. The engine turned over on my first try, but that was no surprise. He kept it in tip-top shape and it ran like a dream.

I’d fallen in love with it in the time I’d been using it, and I felt a bit silly for not having used it before. The truth was that I still wouldn’t have been driving it if it wasn’t for the fact that I didn’t feel like I was stealing it or something anymore.