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Alec shook his head. “It’s been three months and not even a call. How long are you gonna hold out for this chick?”
“Forever.” I shrugged. “I’ll hold out forever.”
“You really want to do that?”
“No.” I laughed. “I most definitely don’t want to do that, but it isn’t a choice. It just is what it is. Ivy’s the one. She’s the only one, and she’ll always be the only one. And if she doesn’t come back, I know I’ll never find someone to replace her, so I’m not even going to try. I just need to hold out hope that what she feels for me is as strong as what I feel for her. It has to be. Me and Ivy? We’re the real deal. I know we are. Now I just need to wait until she figures that out too.”
“Damn, man.” Alec shook his head. “Okay, I don’t feel so bad about my breakup now because clearly, she wasn’t the one. Less than twenty-four hours after we called it quits, I’m already planning my comeback tour, and I was with Leslie for a year and a half. You spent a little over a week with this girl, and you’re hooked for life. I guess I should be glad I’m single again so I can meet the right girl for me.”
“Yeah. Don’t settle for anything less. I know I won’t. It’s Ivy, or it’s no one at all. I don’t care how long it takes, I’m waiting for her.”
Alec nodded his head, and then his gaze drifted over my shoulder. The surprise on his face prefaced a slow smile that spread as wide as it could stretch. “Well, man. Maybe that wait won’t be as long as you think.”
My heart stalled out in my chest as the hollow hole of agony filled with hope again. I spun around to follow his gaze. The moment my eyes clapped onto her, my heart finally started beating again in that rhythm that it did just for her.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.
In the three months I’d been without Ivy, it was like someone had turned all the color off, and my once-vibrant world was now a humdrum washed out black and white. But now there she was, standing on the dock now in all her technicolor glory.
Her blonde hair and soft pink dress blew in the warm, salty breeze as she lifted her hand in a shy wave.
“Ivy!” I jumped off the boat, landed on the wooden plank dock, and ran down it toward her.
She hurried toward me, tears filling her eyes as she raced back into my arms where she belonged ... where she would always belong. When I reached her, she leaped into my embrace, and I encircled my arms around her, squeezing her so tight I worried I might hurt her, but I couldn’t let go.
Iwouldn’tlet go. Not this time.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered into her hair as I inhaled the sweet scent I’d missed so much.
“I’m following rule number one,” she responded, slowly pulling back in my embrace just enough that I could see her face. “Find the thing that makes me the happiest and then go after it with everything I’ve got. And it’s you. You’re the one thing in this world that makes me the happiest. It’s always been you.”
My heart nearly exploded with the joy of hearing those words. Suddenly, my whole world tipped right side up, and the colors flooded in again.
I slid my hands along her face as I let myself get lost in those eyes I’d missed so much. With a big smile, I whispered, “I knew you’d figure it out.”
She grinned back, but I closed her mouth back up with my kiss. The power of our passion seeped into every inch of my body, pushing out all the sadness that had been living inside of me in her absence and replacing it with the warm light of our love. I kissed her until I ran out of breath, and then I kissed her some more. My lips ... my body ... my heart. They all wanted to stay here on this dock for all of eternity, locked in this embrace like we were frozen in time.
“Sorry,” Alex whispered as he tiptoed past us. “Just gonna squeeze past so you two can be alone. Welcome back, Ivy.”
“Hi, Alec,” she said against my lips as she kept kissing me while she spoke.
“See you later, Alec,” I said between peppering kisses on those lips I had missed so much.
We kissed long and hard until she finally broke apart our kiss and leaned back in my arms. “God, I missed you. I missed you so much.”
“You have no idea how much I’ve missed you too.” I let out a long sigh. “It’s been killing me being apart and not knowing if I was ever going to see you again.”
“I’m so sorry, Ethan. I just really needed to get my space so I could make a clear decision about what I wanted to do with my life. I was so worried I was just blinded by my passion for you that it was clouding my judgment, but it wasn’t. For the first time in my life, I was seeing clearly. I was consumed by you, but I realize now, more than anything else, I want a love that consumes me. That’s my greatest happiness. And that’s you. It’s always gonna be you.”
My smile spread so wide I worried my face might tear. “Literally the happiest man in the world right here. I’m just so glad you’ve decided you want me in your new life.”
“Of course, I want you in it. I honestly knew that before we ever said goodbye. But I just had to be sure. So, I went back to Chicago, quit my job, found a subletter for my apartment, threw all my stuff in storage, and I made my way back to you here. I have no idea what I’m going to do for work yet, and I don’t care. All I know is that I love Door County, I love Paradise Isles, and I love you. My home is wherever you are, and the rest I’ll just figure out as I go. And all the crazy things I want to do on my list? They’re only fun with you at my side. I want to find my path through lifetogether. You and me. Side by side through all the ups and downs that are going to come our way. I want to do them all with you.”
“Nothing would make me happier than to be at your side as you knock off all the things on your list you want to accomplish. I’ll never stand in your way. I hope you know that. I’ll support you in any decision you make, no matter how crazy it is.”
“I know you will, and that’s why I knew I didn’t need to take a year or two to be alone and figure my life out. I want to do it with you.”
I kissed her again, savoring the taste of her lips as I brushed my tongue between them.
