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My favorite love story
Burke Barrett (with special advisers Ford and Felicia Barrett-King)
Underneath the too-small font was a small stick-figure couple with a heart over their heads.
The next slide appeared with a shockingly loud transition noise, like the whooshing of air, and I exhaled a laugh.
This slide held a picture from my social media, copied and pasted right smack dab in the middle and far too large. My name wasn’t centered, and underneath it was a small drawing of handcuffs.
The next slide was a picture of the Campbell House when we’d started, something that Daphne must have taken. I was pointing at something on the roof; Burke had his hands on his hips and a terribly grumpy expression on his face.
Slide after slide of pictures from the last few months. And with each one, as I stared at his face, I saw what Daphne had talked about.
The way he looked at me.
We don’t make much sense, the next slide said.We’re about as different as two people can be.
There was another shocking whoosh, and my eyes watered at the next slide.
I don’t know why you trusted me. But I’ll work for the rest of my life to earn it. Every single day.
A tear slid down my cheek when the next one appeared.
I will mess up sometimes. I’ve already messed up.
Despite all the things I’ve done wrong, all the ways I need to make amends, I know that the thing I do best is the way I love you.
Underneath that was a picture from the Fourth of July, one I hadn’t seen yet. We were sitting shoulder to shoulder on the blanket. I was laughing, and Burke was looking down at me, his expression overflowing with tenderness.
And love.
A sob got stuck in my chest, and I wanted to dig it out when I registered the weight of all the ways I’d missed him.
Another whoosh, and I closed my eyes when I read the next line.
I’m right here, Charlotte. Turn around.
He was in the middle of the room. He’d come in quietly while my focus was elsewhere. His eyes were clear, his face expectant and full of hope.
“Hi,” he whispered. His eyes drank me in—head to toe—and I felt it everywhere.
Slowly, I sucked in a breath, trying to fill my lungs when my knees felt a little weak. “I’m surprised to see you here,” I said.
Burke swallowed, gave a brief nod. “I’m so sorry for what I said to you when I left.” He took a small step closer. “It was wrong. And cruel.”
The bridge of my nose tingled, and I clenched my jaw to stem the tears that threatened to fall. “It was.”
“I thought ...” He stopped, shaking his head. “I thought I was doing the right thing. Thought if I left, and didn’t complicate things, you’d be better off. I didn’t know how to do any of this, and it seemed easier to run instead of tell you how much it all scared me.”
“I kinda pieced that together.” I swallowed. “After you left.”
He breathed out a laugh, his lips curving into an endearing half smile. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
My feet and hands tingled because the desire to move closer was so strong, but I held steady right where I was. “We all protect our hearts in different ways, Burke. But if the way you protect yours is to lash out when you can’t admit what you want, that’s not something I’d like to be a part of.”
His eyes seared into mine. “I will never do that again.”
Tingling nose.
