Page 34 of Spring Break with a Fire Chief

Chapter 20

Ryan

Watching her walk away from my truck,from me, during Spring-Break-A-Thon was the second worst thing I've done in my life. The first? Letting her do it three years ago. She said everything right. She said it was a mistake. She said she’s the one taking the nurse practitioner job and Naomi is the one traveling. But I was so mad and so hurt that at that moment I couldn’t listen. I didn'twantto listen. I wanted to be mad and in a way, I wanted to be right.

Of course as I drove to my home, I wanted it all to be wrong. I’ve never wanted to be so wrong about something in my life as I do right now. I pull into my driveway and stop. I sit and think. I pull up the website again and see the same headline. As I scroll down, I see the contact for Sarah Tucker. I lean my head back against the headrest with my phone in my hand. Do I make this call? Or do I trust what she’s telling me?

My heart races at the thought of her leaving. And it begins to race more with the thought that if I’m wrong, I’ve just pushed her away for good. Those final thoughts have me throwing mytruck in reverse and racing through the streets to her home once again.

I’m giving myself whiplash right now. How could the website be so wrong? But how could she leave me again? I park my truck and jump out running to Maddie’s front door. I knock twice and when I don’t get an answer, I try the knob and walk in when it opens freely. The room is dark except for the streetlight pouring in and I see her on the floor leaning back against the couch.

“Madeline! Are you alright?” I run to her and drop to my knees. She’s crying and I take her in my arms.

“I’m not leaving, Ryan. And you thought I was!” she yells in between sobs.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“No, you still don't trust me. And that’s worse.”

I close my eyes and take a breath. “You’re right. That's so much worse and I’m so sorry. I should have seen everything you were doing. I should have listened.”

She cries and I pull her into my lap trying to calm her, soothe her, whispering words ofsorryandforgive meandstay with me.“Watching you walk away, I couldn't believe it was happening a second time. But this time, it was my doing. And the longer I sat in my driveway the more scared I became. I can’t lose you again.” I push the hair back from her face and her eyes are red and teary. I brush her tears from her cheeks with my thumb and cup her face. Leaning in, I kiss her softly and say, “I love you, Madeline. I’ve loved you since day one and I should have told you instead of just expecting that you knew.”

She closes her eyes and leans into me. “I love you, Ryan. It's why I came back. It’s why I’ve been doing all of these things, because I don’t want to leave Love Beach and I sure as hell don’t want to leave you.”

“Now we’re going to do them together.”

She exhales and cuddles even closer. “I traveled because I never had a stable home to go to. I traveled because I was always looking for something else. Until here. Untilyou.You’reit. You’re my home, Ryan. And I don’t ever want to leave it.”

“And as long as you want me to be that home, I’ll never leave your side.”

My phone buzzes in my pocket but I let it ring out. A moment later, Madeline’s phone begins to ring. “Someone is looking for us.” She reaches for her phone that’s lying next to her and sees its Sarah. She looks at me and I nod as she answers in speaker mode.

“Hello?”

“Maddie! I’m so sorry to call so late. I started getting text messages about the website and I had no idea what they were talking about. I pulled it up and saw the designer had everything wrong. I just tried calling Ryan but he didn’t answer. I hope he didn’t see it.”

“It’s okay Sarah, he’s actually right here with me. We were just discussing it.”

She makes a noise in the back of her throat. “I really hope it didn’t cause an issue. And Ijustsaid to you at the dance how everything was set. I apologize to both of you. I can’t believe they had the wrong information.”

“It’s fine, really. I think it actually helped clear a few things up.” She snuggles in close to me and I squeeze her tight. “We’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks for calling.”

She hangs up the phone and I stand before lifting her from the floor. We’re wrapped around each other and I can’t believe I was so stupid. “Hey, look at me.” I tip her chin up to meet my eyes. “I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for not seeing what was right in front of me.”

“I was part of the problem, too. I kept waiting for the perfect time to tell you I was staying instead of just telling you.”

“No more waiting. The perfect time for everything we do is right now. No more holding back, no more surprises.” Her lips twist and I laugh. “You know I hate them anyway.”

She leans on her toes and kisses me. “Just you and me. Forever.”

“Forever.”

Epilogue

“Good morning, Love Beach!” The crowd cheers as Sarah welcomes everyone. “Thank you all for coming out so early and celebrating with us today!”

The whole town is down on the Great Lawn. It feels so good to have the support from everyone, knowing they nominated us as this year's recipient has been a great reward to the department. My guys are always on point with the town, showing up and helping in every way so it felt good to get that recognition.

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