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There is nothing better out there for me—my better his here, with him.
“When you go back, will it be for good?” Hailee asks, spinning to face me in the low club chairs we’re both perched in.
“Damn I hope so,” I sigh, glancing over at her husband and kids and feeling a squeeze in my chest, “I want this too. I never thought I did before, you know? We never talked about it because he always figured I would go off and leave him behind. He was always preparing himself for that, and that breaks my heart. I never let him consider forever with me. Even though I wanted it and I know he did too.”
“Well as they say, you fumbled it. You two just had a false start, Pais,” she says gently, smiling at me teasingly, “now you reset and head for the end zone. You blow through any defense he puts up, any blitzes that come your way, until you score.”
Connor and I share a look across the room before we both laugh. Our girl has spent too many years with him, watching his games and shouting out encouragement. Hailee laughs and the littles start giggling too, wanting to be in on the joke. But I guess she is not wrong, is she?
Bran and I, we had a false start. A few of them.
Now I think it is time we make it to the end zone.
After they wish me luck—for both my meeting with my new bosses and with Bran—I head out. Taking my time on my drive back towards town, I am anxious. I am so angry at myself, so ashamed I let him down so many times. When I came home from that meeting, he felt jealous, and he lashed out. All I had to do was tell him there was nothing to be jealous of—not of rich investors opening a gallery, or of that gallery taking me away from him.
My ego got in the way—because I put what I wanted and how I felt above his feelings. He should know by now I would never choose someone else over him. But he can’t know that I won’t choose something, some dream of mine, or some escape from here—over him. I chose that again and again by staying away from him for so long.
When I get to the building where the gallery I have dreamt of for so long will be a reality, I am stunned. Gabe and Brady stand outside, peering up at the beautiful brick that drew us to the building in the first place. It was aged and crumbling a bit but Brady has plans to fix it up and restore it to its original splendor. But now he will have to put in some extra work.
Scrawled down one side of the red brick in bright white paint are dripping letters. At first, I think it’s just a random act of vandalism. Until I squint my eyes and tilt my head and see that the words that run together are not random at all. They can’t be, of course—my name is painted at the top.
It is an open letter to me, with just a few words.
* * *
Paisley,
* * *
I love you. I am sorry. I want you to have everything even if I can’t give you everything. You will always have me, even if it’s not enough. Forgive me.
When I join the guys on the sidewalk, all of our heads turned to read the message as it spreads left to right at an angle, I am so red I could blend in with the cobblestone street. There is no hiding that this was because of me, and it will cost time and money to get rid of it. Only I don’t want it gone. I want to stay there forever, just the way it will stay inside of me forever.
“I-I-I am so sorry,” I stammer as they turn to grin at me.
“Sorry? For some paint? No need to be sorry for that, doll face.” Brady chuckles, winking at me as he shoves Gabe.
“But...but, the gallery,” I sputter, surprised they seem to be nothing but amused.
“What about the gallery? We want to know about this amazing love note, Paisley,” Gabe teases gently.
“My...my...well, my boyfriend and I…we had a fight. He thought...I think he was jealous of you two,” I say with a sigh, waving a hand at them, “because the gallery is my dream and you’re helping me get it. And he probably thought I was choosing him over the gallery.”
“And are you, Paisley?” Brady asks, surprising me when he smiles wider.
I do not even need to hesitate to consider my answer. “No. I would always choose him, even if I didn’t a few times. Never again. It would always be him if I had to choose,” I decide, tears stinging my eyes as I look up at the messy scrawl he painted across the building.
How did he know this was where the gallery would be? I never told him it would be here in town. Since he walked out that night, he has not called me or sent me any messages. How does he know?
“Good answer. Now he can stop hounding us,” Gabe says on a laugh, both men seeming less than bothered.
“Wait...what? Bran has...he contacted you two?” My eyes flick between the two men before I turn to glance down the street where I can see Bran’s dealership.
“Oh yes. Daily. After we bought his dealerships to expand some builds we want to do, he asked about the gallery and has not left us alone since we told him it was going to be here.”
Am in in the twilight zone? What is happening? Bran has not talked to me in days, he walked out on me and never came back after our first fight in years, and he never even asked about where the gallery would be. But he can call them and chat it up. Wait, did he say what I think he did?
“Back up. Hold on a minute.... sold his dealerships? Bran sold the dealerships his father left to him?”
