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“That’s right,” he said more quietly. “When Lucy ran out on me, she broke my brain. But when you left . . .” To his dismay, his voice cracked. “When you left, you broke my heart.”
He finally had her full attention, not that she looked at all dreamy-eyed or even close to being ready to throw herself into his arms, but at least she was listening.
He collapsed the umbrella, took a step forward, then stopped himself. “Lucy and I fit together so perfectly in my head. We had everything in common, and what she did made no sense. I had the whole town lining up feeling sorry for me, and I was damned if I was going to let anybody know how miserable I was. I—I couldn’t get my bearings. And there you were in the middle of it, this beautiful thorn in my side, making me feel like myself again. Except . . .” He hunched his shoulders, and a trickle of rainwater ran down his collar. “Sometimes logic can be an enemy. If I was so wrong about Lucy, how could I trust the way I felt about you?”
She stood there, not saying a word, just listening.
“I wish I could say I realized how much I loved you as soon as you left town, but I was too busy being mad at you for bailing on me. I don’t have a lot of practice being mad, so it took me a while to understand that the person I was really mad at was myself. I was so pigheaded and stupid. And afraid. Everything has always come so easy for me, but nothing about you was easy. The things you made me feel. The way you forced me to look at myself.” He could barely breathe. “I love you, Meg. I want to marry you. I want to sleep with you every night, make love with you, have kids. I want to fight together and work together and—just be together. Now are you going to keep standing there, staring at me, or could you put me out of my misery and say you still love me, at least a little?”
She stared at him. Eyes steady. Unsmiling. “I’ll think about it and let you know.”
She walked away and left him standing alone in the rain.
He dropped the umbrella, stumbled over to the wet railing, and curled his fingers around the cold metal. His eyes stung. He’d never felt so empty or so alone. As he stared out into the harbor, he wondered what he could have said that would have convinced her. Nothing. He was too late. Meg had no patience for procrastinators. She’d cut her losses and moved on.
“Okay, I’ve thought it over,” she said from behind him. “What are you offering?”
He spun around, his heart in his throat, rain splashing his face. “Uh . . . My love?”
“Got that part. What else?”
She looked fierce and strong and absolutely enchanting. Wet spiky lashes framed her eyes, which didn’t seem either blue or green now, but a rain-soft gray. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair a flame, her mouth a promise waiting to be claimed. His heart raced. “What do you want?”
“The church.”
“Are you planning to live there again?”
“Maybe.”
“Then, no, you can’t have it.”
She appeared to think it over. He waited, the sound of his blood rushing in his ears.
“How about the rest of your worldly possessions?” she said.
“Yours.”
“I don’t want them.”
“I know.” Something bloomed inside his chest, something warm and full of hope.
She squinted up at him, rain dripping from the tip of her nose. “I only have to see your mother once a year. At Halloween.”
“You might want to rethink that. She’s the one who secretly put up the cash so you won the contest.”
He’d finally thrown her off balance. “Your mother?” she said. “Not you?”
He had to lock his elbows to keep from embracing her. “I was still in my mad phase. She thinks you’re— I’m going to quote her. She thinks you’re ‘magnificent.’ ”
“Interesting. Okay, how about this for a deal breaker?”
“There won’t be any deal breakers.”
“That’s what you think.” For the first time she looked unsure. “Are you . . . willing to live someplace other than Wynette?”
He should have seen this coming, but he hadn’t. Of course she wouldn’t want to move back to Wynette after everything that had happened to her there. But what about his family, his friends, his roots, which stretched so deep into that rocky soil he’d become part of it?
He gazed into the face of this woman who’d claimed his soul. “All right,” he said. “I’ll give up Wynette. We can move anywhere you want.”
