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But beautiful. He would always look beautiful to me, the bastard.
“Where’s my mom?” I asked.
“She helped me set up the flowers and left,” he said. I stepped as far into the room as I could, right at the edge of the vases of roses.
‘How many roses are here?”
“Hundreds. Just like you wanted.”
And the song…just like I wanted. I felt tears I could have sworn I didn’t have left in my body burn in my eyes.
“What are you doing here?”
“Groveling. Trying…trying to convince you to let me back into your life. Because you are my life, Lexie. And I fucked up. Big time. And I can’t promise I won’t fuck up again but I will never try and change you. Not ever. I swear.”
He said all of this in the kitchen, which felt like miles away from me.
“Why are you all the way over there?” I whispered.
“I’m kind of trapped by the roses. I’m scared to let Baby Girl go, in case she knocks over the vases. I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”
Carefully, on my tiptoes I picked my way between the vases until I was in my kitchen too. “You look beautiful,” he said.
“You’re such a liar.”
“No way. It’s fact.” His smile was brief. A lightening flash and then gone. “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
“I believe you. But I still…I still don’t understand how we work.”
“I’ll move here. You go back to work when your ankle gets the green light, or if you want to do something else, you’ve got time to figure that out. And I’ll get a job here. I can work for the city or get a job at a law office.”
“But what about Salt Springs and being mayor?”
“It’s not as important as you are. Nothing is. When I said my mom would like you that first night we met, it’s because I knew you were going to be the most important thing in my life. You are the sun, Lexie. And I’m just trying to stay in your orbit.”
Oh. That was good. That was better than his offer to move to Vegas.
“What about your family?”
“Well, Kristen is moving back to the farm. Dad can be her problem for a while.” He smiled, joking about his father because I knew even standing here right now, Ethan missed his dad. And I missed his dad.
I missed Salt Springs. Kristen and Jasmine. The kids. The front desk. I missed how I felt like I was a part of something in a real way. In a way I’d never expected.
“I love you, Lexie. We’re about as unlikely a love story as I ever imagined but I love you.”
“But we only work here,” I said. “If we go back to Salt Springs, you’re the mayor and I’m the girl who made the sex tape.”
“Oh, you didn’t see my speech. At all?”
I shook my head.
He took a deep breath and blew out it. “It was a good one. Matt’s been sending me YouTube links to it all day.”
YouTube link. Henny’s email had a YouTube link.
I picked my way carefully back through the roses to go get my phone. I heard a crash in the other room and Ethan’s muttered “Shit.”
Suddenly Baby Girl was on the bed with me and I pressed Play on the video. It was grainy and shaky but there was Ethan standing in front of dozens of people telling them I was amazing. And that he loved me.
“Oh,” he said. “And I’m the guy on the sex tape. If you’re coming for her, you’re coming for me.”
I squealed in kind of delighted shock and turned to find him in the doorway. That sweep of blond hair over his eyes.
“Keep watching,” he said. “The kids were amazing.”
I looked down at my phone, my hand over my mouth. Ben! Ben was on stage, he’d been so adamant he wouldn’t do it. And Chelsea, too. Oh, god, those twins…
“They did great,” I said.
“I’m sorry you weren’t there,” he said, wiping the tears from my face with his thumbs.
“Me too,” I whispered. “So does this mean you won’t be mayor?”
He shrugged. “Who knows and I don’t care. Wherever you are, that’s home.”
“What if I’m in Salt Springs?” I whispered. “What if I’m running the front desk and planning kids’ camps and Halloween haunted houses? What if I’m married to you?”
“Then that is all I need.”
“I’m being serious, Ethan. I don’t want you to not be mayor because of me!”
“If I’m not mayor it’s because of voters. Not you. And if you’re serious, then I am the luckiest guy in the world.”
He eased forward, carefully, like he wasn’t sure if I was going to accept him. And I made him make the whole journey on his own, his hands going around my waist. His lips coming down to mine.
“I love you,” he said.
