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“We haven’t talked about it, but I’ve been to therapy too,” I offered. “My therapist helped me through some of the darkest days when I felt like I didn’t have anybody to talk to. She got me through some heavy months. It did me a world of good to move here.”

“What do you mean?” Lincoln pressed.

“Well, you know that old saying, no matter where you go, there you are. But when you have a stillbirth, sometimes the place where it happened carries daily constant reminders. It’s where I graduated high school, but it became the place I didn’t want to be because it would forever be stained with that memory. Here in Alaska, it’s like my own new landscape.” I blinked a fresh set of tears away. Lincoln swiped them with his thumb.

“So if you want me to go with you, I’m happy to do that. You just tell me how you want it to go,” I added.

“That’s why I asked. It matters to me that you understand what I’m going through. Because I want to understand what you’re going through.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Lincoln

Tissues

Nervousness hummed through me, and I fidgeted as I sat on the couch in Delaney’s office. Chloe was beside me, holding my hand. I was not a nervous guy. Never had been. Maybe it was because of how I’d grown up, running around with my brothers like feral children in Alaska, facing off moose and bears, tumbles and more. Not much made me nervous. Despite what I’d experienced, I’d been graced with two parents who loved me and siblings who loved me. In that regards, I’d been lucky.

After the fire and losing my sister, I’d somehow convinced myself I’d face down those ghosts with hotshot firefighting. We all volunteered at the local fire station during high school. Fighting fires in the wilderness meant running straight toward danger. But then, fear of loss took hold. I dealt with that by telling myself I would never fall in love. That way, I only had to worry about the people I already loved. No extra responsibilities was how I looked at it. Chloe, who had proved me so incredibly wrong, was quiet beside me.

Delaney glanced between us. “It’s so nice to meet you, Chloe. I’ve loved hearing about you.”

Chloe’s eyes widened a little, glancing to me. “What have you said about me?”

“It’s all good, I promise,” Delaney said, nodding vigorously. “He doesn’t even vent about you.”

Chloe giggled and squeezed my hand. “You’re allowed to vent about me. I think maybe sometimes I’m a little, I don’t know, maybe too cheerful for you?”

A chuckle rustled in my throat. “Maybe at first, but I’ve come to love it.”

Delaney glanced toward me, her gaze sobering. “Lincoln, maybe you could explain to both of us why you wanted Chloe here?”

“It’s not couples therapy,” I said flatly.

“Oh, I wasn’t worried about that,” Delaney said lightly.

I cleared my throat. “I’ve tried to understand what Chloe’s been through and I just want her to know, well, I come here so I can be the man she deserves.”

I didn’t even realize I was crying until Chloe leaned forward and grabbed the ever-present box of tissues on the coffee table and pulled several out, handing some to me. She blew her own nose.

“Lincoln, you are everything I need,” she said seconds later.

“Sweetheart, I don’t always get it right.”

Chloe blinked, and my heart felt cracked wide open, as if cleaved by an axe.

“Okay, it was a little much when I thought you died in the snow.” She looked over at Delaney, shaking her head slightly.

Despite the emotion rushing through me, my lips curled in a smile. “I’ve kept my promise to myself and Chloe and the rest of my whole damn family,” I said, glancing toward Delaney. “I don’t go outside if I can’t sleep.”

“I keep telling him he can go outside, just to stay on the perimeter,” Chloe added.

Since we were both in the midst of watery laughs, Delaney laughed softly with us. “Did you feel like bringing Chloe to your therapist give you the reassurance you needed to trust yourself with Chloe’s heart?”

I took a moment, nervousness rising inside again. Chloe meant so fucking much to me. “I guess Chloe means so much to me and I just want to get this right. I’ll go to therapy for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes.”

Delaney’s gaze was warm as she looked over at me. “Lincoln, you’re doing all the things you can. There is no perfect. Most of us are just stumbling through life doing our best, and that’s the most we can ask of each other. You’re going to have good days, good weeks, good months, even good years. Chloe’s going to have the same. In between, there’ll be some bumpy times and you might stumble a little. But trying to be there for each other is what you do, and you’re doing that.”

Chloe squeezed my hand. “You are.” She glanced at Delaney and back at me. “I know you didn’t want to come to therapy.”