Page 162 of You Fall First

“I’ve been looking for you,” he tells me. “Everywhere.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Jo

He’s holding Bugs.

Why does he have Bugs?

My heart leaps into my mouth. Well, not really. But I’m suddenly incapable of speaking, so that’s the best way to describe the feeling. Noah has Bugs because he’s leaving, and he’s Noah. Of course he’d try to give me my stuffed rabbit back before he goes.

I don’t want Bugs, though.

I want Noah.

Besides, he told me he needed time to think. To figure things out. Maybe he’s not here to say goodbye yet. Either way, I know what I want to say to him. So I jump up from the bench, as he hurries around to join me.

“I found you,” he says.

“On Find My?”

He chuckles. “No. I totally forgot about that. I just drove around to all your places.”

“You didn’t call.”

“I wanted to do this in person.”

I nod, blinking back tears. Here I am, at a total loss for words for the first time, in one of the most important moments of my life.

The most important.

I’m ready to hand my whole soul over to Noah on a silver platter, complete with a fork and a knife, at the risk of him slicing right through my metaphorical insides. The thing is, I can’t imagine a world in which he would ever do that. He promised he’d never hurt me, not on purpose. But nothing in life is certain. And purpose is a big word.

Huge.

At least me being honest with him now, taking the risk, will remove all doubt. I’ll know in my heart I laid everything on the line for him. For us. No regrets. Deep breaths.

“I want to come with you,” I blurt out at the same time he says this:

“I’m staying.”

I startle.

“Wait, what?” I was so positive he had to leave. Not that Paige would’ve forced him. She felt bad enough already. The two of them have practically hobbled themselves trying to please the other one for so long. Still, I can’t believe he’s choosing not to go with her. Noah’s a family man, above all else. That’s one of the things I love most about him.

I love him.

“Say that again,” I whisper. “Please.”

“I’m staying,” he repeats, and my lungs fill with so much air I’m worried they might burst.

I shake my head and exhale a thousand emotions clogging my throat. “In Harvest Hollow?”

“Yes.”

“You aren’t moving back to Mayville.”

“No.”