Page 197

"I've waited years for you to live with me," he explains. "To really be with me without an ounce of distance between us. And don't get me wrong—these last few weeks have been everything. More than I ever thought we'd ever get back."

He drags a hand down his face. "But I still want the same thing I wanted when I was seventeen. I want you there when I wake up and when I finally fall asleep. I want to come home from practice and find you on the couch after a shift. I want to leave for a series knowing I get to come back to you."

His eyes lock on mine.

"I want to do a few miles around the park and know that the run back home leads right to you."

I smile past the tears that are building.

"I don't want separate places anymore, Len. Even if they're in the same city. I want our place."

"Are you sure?" I ask, my voice breaking slightly. "It hasn't been that long since—"

"A decade," he interrupts. "It's been nearly a decade since I've wanted to be wherever you are, Lenny girl." He tucks a hair behind my ear. "So, yes. I'm sure. Move in with me—please."

My throat tightens hard enough that it hurts.

Because for so long, every version of my future felt temporary. Another stop. Another apartment. Another city I'd eventually leave behind before anything could settle too deeply beneath my skin.

But nothing about this feels temporary at all.

Not the way Jace's hands feel in mine like they've always belonged there.

Not the way he looks at me like home was never a place to him either.

Not the life we've somehow started again after everything we've been through.

Jace brushes his knuckles gently down my cheek and smiles like he already knows the answer. I laugh shakily through the tears still threatening to fall.

"Okay," I whisper.

His entire face softens. Relief. Happiness. Something deeper that looks a little like finally exhaling after holding his breath for years.

"Okay?" he repeats carefully.

I nod. "Yeah." My smile grows before I can stop it. "I'd really like to come home to you too."

His forehead falls against mine as he wraps his arms tightly around my waist.

He holds me, and I realize that for the first time in a long time, staying somewhere doesn't feel like a risk.

It just feels right.

"You guys are adorable."

Both of our heads pop up to find JJ standing just inches from our faces.

"God, I'm so jealous," he says, shaking his head as he tosses a handful of caramel corn from the reception's popcorn bar into his mouth. "Think there's room for one more on the plane to Alaska?"

Jace narrows his eyes slightly. "No."

JJ hums like he expected that. Then, he shoves another dozen kernels into his mouth and sighs. "Fine. But one day I'm gonna find a girl, and you guys will double-date with us."

There’s a beat where his words sit between us—half joke, half promise.

Then he suddenly spins on his heels and walks away like it barely matters.

"Don't count on it," Jace calls to him.