Page 163 of You Fall First

My jaw goes slack. “But what about Paige and Dutton?”

“She has a plan for them,” he says. “And I think she’ll actually do way better without her big brother hanging around, making her feel like something about her life should be different. That she should be different.”

I draw in a long pull of oxygen. “Man, I love her.”

“Paige?” Noah laughs. “I know the feeling.”

“Dutton too,” I add on the exhale. “I love him so much.”

“Same.” Noah’s Adam’s apple dips. “Speaking of which, our little space ranger wanted you to have this before they leave.” He hands me Bugs. “He told me to tell you thank you.”

My esophagus still feels too crowded for this.

“But I want Dutton to keep him.” I push Bugs back at Noah, and a smile breaks across his face.

“I kinda told him you’d feel that way. And I’m not gonna admit that’s the only reason he was willing to part with Bugs in the first place, but …” Noah’s voice sails off on a laugh, but tears still sting behind my eyes.

“They’ll be so far away.”

“Yeah, well.” He drags a palm along his neck. “I figure we didn’t love each other any less after I moved here. So. I’m not sure why that didn’t occur to me before.”

“What about your parents?” I swallow against a knot of emotion. “Didn’t your mom and dad want you to keep the family together?”

“They wanted us to be happy,” he says. “Paige is happy there.” His eyes come to mine. “I found my happy right here. With you.”

His gravelly voice rumbles through me, and I put a hand on the back of the bench to steady myself. “Are you sure?”

“Never more.”

I let out a shaky breath.

“And I was thinking, if I push things a bit on the financial front, I might be able to afford a little place up there next year. Maybe a cabin on the lake. To make visiting them easier.” He tips his chin. “The Adirondacks are really beautiful in the summer.”

“Summer?”

“You’ll have breaks then, I assume, in between school years. And if I save up my vacation days, we can go up there together. If you want.”

“Want?” A laugh slips out of me. “A minute ago, I was ready to pack up and move to Mayville with you.”

He sets Bugs on the bench, then straightens to meet my gaze. “And I love that you were willing to make that choice. But for the record, no matter what you decided”—his gaze locks with mine—“I already chose you, Jo.”

Already chose.

Past tense.

I’m not sure why that makes a difference, but it does.

One swollen tear escapes my eyeballs and dribbles down my face. Noah catches it with his fingertip and puts the teardrop to his lips.

“I sure hope this is a happy tear,” he says. “But either way, I’m here for you, Josephine Michaels. For the long haul.”

I blink and blink, smiling through tears as more of them leak out, two rivers down my wet face. “You really chose me?”

“I did.” He grins. “I still do. And I’ll keep on choosing you over and over again if you’ll let me.”

“If.” I snort, which pulls another laugh out of me.

“Actually, I’ll keep choosing you even if you don’t let me. There’s no other option. My heart picked you first, before I even knew what was happening. Right about the time Dutton knocked you over by that pigpen at Harvest Farms. You fell, but I fell for you.”