AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He tucked her hair behind her ear, so focused on her that she could tell he was oblivious to the people walking by and the line forming outside the gallery. As he gazed into her eyes, the din of the streets fell away for her, too.
“And then there was you, Reese.”
“But you just said you came back for all those reasons you just listed. Not for me.”
“Those were the reasons I was willing to admit to myself. But the most important reason of all was you. Only it wasn’t until I watched Quinn and Shelley fall in love—and when I spent enough time on the island again to see my parents together and remember what true love really looks like—that I fully realized what I’d so stupidly thrown away.”
“Just like how until we bumped into each other last week,” she told him, “I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was still in love with you.”
“I’m done with lying to myself, Reese. I want you. I want to live with you and I want to raise our family on the island, not in the city.”
“But your practice is in New York. Won’t you eventually have to go back?”
“That’s another thing I wanted to discuss with you.” He glanced around them, looking as if he actually had forgotten they were standing in the middle of a busy sidewalk in downtown Boston. “Do you want to find someplace more private? Or would you rather wait to talk about this more until after we see the exhibit?”
“We’ve already waited long enough, Trent.” They could be onstage at this point, and it would still come down to just the two of them. “And I need you to know I’m not that scared nineteen-year-old girl anymore. I visit New York and Boston a few times each year for my artwork. If you need to go back, I can handle it now.”
“Sweetheart, I know you can handle anything. You’re an amazing, capable woman. You’ve built your own business; you have your work in major galleries. Of course I know you can handle the city, but you won’t need to. Because I’m planning to sell my practice.”
Shock sent her mind reeling. “Sell your practice?”
“Yes. I’ve already set the wheels in motion.”
“But you worked so long and so hard to build it up. How can you just let it go?”
“Letting go of it now doesn’t make the work I put in mean less. I’ll always be proud of the career I built in New York, but it’s time for me to work on building other parts of my life. Most important of all, our life together.”
“But I thought you loved practicing law. I’d hate for you to give up something you’re passionate about because you think it’s what I need you to do.”
“I’m handling all of the legal aspects of the resort and helping the resort to grow, so it’s not like I’ll lose that part of myself. And the truth is, it’s what I need me to do. Selling the practice will allow more time for me to be there for you as a boyfriend and, hopefully, as a husband and a father to our children someday soon.”
He was saying the things she’d wanted desperately to hear all those years ago. But it was all coming so fast—just like everything had come between them—that her heart, and her mind, couldn’t stop spinning.
“I know you were brought up to always put family first, Trent. So when you began working ninety hours a week, I wondered how you could have changed so fast, and now…” She took a deep breath to try to calm her racing heart. “Now I feel like you’ve changed, just as quickly, back to the man I fell in love with before. I love the changes, but I hate that the speed at which they’re happening is leaving me doubting even the slightest bit.”
“Of course I wish you didn’t have any doubts,” Trent told her, “but I understand why you do.”
“Things have been wonderful,” she said, “and I wish I could throw myself back into our relationship without any hesitation, but...”
When her words fell away, he tipped her chin up to look into her eyes. “We promised to always tell the truth. No matter what. Whatever you need to say to me, I can take it.”
“I still need more time to be one hundred percent sure, Trent. More time to look fear in the eye and vanquish it. More time to make absolutely sure that I’m still moving forward instead of backward. I know you’re ready for more, and I—”
“You don’t need to apologize for anything. I wasn’t asking you to share your feelings to push you anywhere you don’t want to go. I just didn’t want to make the mistake of assuming I knew what you were thinking like I used to and then getting it all wrong. Thank you for telling me everything you’re feeling, Reese.”
