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But the next thing I knew, Jesse was standing beside me. I looked up and saw him holding a coffee mug in his hand. There was something profound in his expression, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
Jesse sat down beside me and said, “I thought I’d bring the coffee to you since I knew you were struggling to wake up.”
I didn’t respond. I simply gripped the journal tighter in my hands.
Jesse set the coffee mug down on the nightstand and brought one hand behind my back. “Have you finished it?” he asked.
“Finished it?”
He jerked his head toward the journal and clarified, “Your list. Have you crossed everything off yet, or are you still adding things to it?”
I wondered how he’d take the news when I shared the truth. “I only added one additional thing to the list in the last twelve years,” I confessed.
Surprise washed over him. “Really?”
I nodded. “Yes. And I haven’t crossed anything off of this list in twelve years.”
“What?”
So, the initial reaction Jesse was going to have was shock. I expected as much from him. Knowing me the way he did all those years ago, I imagined it seemed impossible to him that I’d have just stopped doing this.
“I couldn’t bring myself to open this book and try to complete anything on it. It was just too much.”
Jesse’s concerned eyes searched my face. The silence stretched between us, but he eventually asked, “You only added one additional thing to the list in twelve years?”
Knowing what it was, I felt my features soften as warmth flooded my veins. “Yes, and surprisingly, it was a two-part goal that I genuinely believed I’d never be able to accomplish. As it turns out, I think I can actually cross it off the list now.”
“What is it?”
I opened the book, flipped the page with the last entry, and read it to him. “Find a way to get Jesse not to hate me, and move back home.”
His fingers pressed in at my lower back. “Baby girl… I never hated you.”
Jesse’s voice sounded tortured. The idea that this had been the one thing I’d written on my list in twelve years crushed him.
Nodding, I whispered, “I know.”
The hand he’d had at my back came up and brushed my hair back from my face. He allowed it to settle at the base of my skull, where he gripped my hair in his hand and urged me to look at him. Once he had my attention, he added, “And you’re home now. Here with me, you’re home.”
“I am,” I agreed. “And I love being back here.”
Relief swept through him, a smile formed on his face, and he tugged me toward him, so he could press a kiss to my forehead.
When Jesse let me go, I shared, “I got so much more than I ever thought I’d get coming back here. You’ve made me so happy. I love you, and I love us together. I have a job here, and I’ve made new friends at work. A week ago, your friends and the women in their lives welcomed me to town.”
“You love me?”
How could he not know that was the case?
I offered a small smile and confessed, “I feel like I’ve loved you my whole life.”
Something changed in his expression, the sight of it affecting me profoundly. In fact, it was so immense that I couldn’t just ignore it.
“What is it?” I asked.
He shook his head slightly before he replied, “I don’t know. I just… I guess I wasn’t prepared for how hearing you say those words would make me feel. And if I’m completely honest, I like what it means for the future.”
“In what way?”
