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“I’ve told Jay I’ll stay until you’ve found a replacement.”
Looking up again, he frowned at her. “To be honest, I don’t really care about the clinic at the moment.” He sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t have expected that you’d want to stick around to see if we could work past this, given how badly I’ve acted. I just had hoped you might stay and give me a chance to prove that I can do better.”
“Wait.” Aria felt a brief surge of hope. “You… you still want to be with me?”
“Yes.” He paused, his gaze dropping for a moment. “I guess I didn’t really say that, did I?”
“I thought you were just apologizing.”
“I am apologizing, but also, I’m hoping you’ll forgive me and give me… give us… a second chance.” Gareth grimaced. “I know that I hurt you badly with how I reacted, and I’m so very sorry about that. I’ll understand if you don’t want anything more to do with me.”
Hope pushed its way up past her previous reservations. “I don’t want that at all.”
Gareth abandoned his seat, going to his knees in front of her. He reached out to cover her hands with his, gazing up at her with warmth and so much emotion in his beautiful brown eyes. “I promise that I have learned from this experience. I can’t promise that I won’t ever get angry again, but I won’t let it linger like this. You can hold me accountable. Wade and Jackson will hold me accountable. I’ll even tell Jay thathecan hold me accountable.”
Aria couldn’t keep from smiling at that. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to do that.”
“Oh, he definitely will be,” Gareth agreed with a grin that softened into a smile. “I know that my recent actions might not show it, but I love you, Aria, and I promise to do my best to prove that to you every single day.”
Aria’s heart skipped a beat, then began to pound rapidly. Gareth had said the words she’d longed to hear. Maybe she really was dreaming. “You love me?”
Gareth’s fingers tightened over hers. “I do, and one day, I hope you’ll feel the same for me.”
She looked down at their hands, then relaxed her fingers and turned her hands over so that she could hold on to his. Clinging to the strength of his hands, she met his gaze. “I don’t need to wait for one day, Gareth. I already know that I love you.”
Emotion filled Gareth’s gaze. “I prayed that you would, but I didn’t feel that I deserved that. At least, not yet. Loving you makes me want to be a better man.”
“I love you just the way you are,” she told him.
Letting go of his hands, Aria cupped Gareth’s face, then leaned toward him. Gareth rose up to meet her, and their lips brushed softly. The promise in that gentle kiss resonated deep in her heart, and when it ended, she had to blink back the tears stinging her eyes, nearly overcome by the emotion welling up inside her.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Gareth murmured, his voice rough. “Thank you for giving me a second chance. I love you so much.”
Getting to his feet, he drew her up as well, then wrapped his arms around her. Aria sank against him as she gripped handfuls of the back of his shirt and hung onto him. As she inhaled the scent that she’d always loved and associated with him, Aria said a prayer of thanks. She’d thought he was lost to her because of what she’d done, but now he was there, holding her tightly like he didn’t want to let her go.
Gareth picked her up and gently swung her around, making Aria let out a squeal before laughing when he set her back down. She gazed up at him and smiled, seeing a look in his eyes that she hadn’t been sure she’d ever see.
Though she’d lost all hope for things to work out between them, she was now confident that their relationship actually had a great chance of succeeding. It hadn’t been fun going through that horribly rough patch, but she felt like she’d learned a lot about herself, Gareth, and dealing with issues within a relationship. Something told her that Gareth had learned a lot, too.
After sharing another lingering kiss, Gareth said, “Are you ready to go eat some pizza and deal with my siblings gloating?”
“I’d love nothing more.”
Hand-in-hand, they walked down the stairs toward the chatter in the kitchen. Even knowing they were going to face some teasing, Aria didn’t mind. Not one member of the family had been anything but supportive of her, even after her bad decisions had been revealed.
“Yay!” Janessa yelled when she spotted them. Abandoning her pizza, she hurried over and grabbed them both in a tight hug. “I’m so glad you two figured this out. I was afraid you wouldn’t, and I’d lose you, Aria.”
Aria hugged her friend back. “Thank you for caring so much.”
“Of course!” Janessa smiled. “And now you’re not allowed to leave. Ever!”
“I agree,” Gareth said, slipping an arm around her waist.
“I have no plans to leave.”
“That’s a definite answer to prayer,” Jay said from where he sat. “I wasn’t looking forward to having to find someone to replace you.”
“Receptionist problem solved,” Janessa agreed. “Now we just need a doctor.”
