Page 101 of Back To You

They say if you love someone, you let them go. If they come back, they were always yours. If they don’t, they never were.

But Luke didn’t have to come back to show me he was mine. I never really let him go in the first place.

While the cupcakes are cooling and the frosting is chilling, I take a quick shower—taking a page from Mia’s book and blasting music to keep my mind from spinning—and pull on sweatpants and one of Luke’s hoodies, anything to feel a little closer to him.

The bathroom door is closed, the mirror foggy from the hot steam of the shower. I brush my damp hair, tucking it behind my ears, the music filling the room enough that I don’t notice someone opening and shutting the front door behind them until I step out of the bathroom to catch Luke red-handed, a cupcake in his mouth.

“Hey, honey,” he sheepishly says, talking around the cupcake in his mouth. His long hair is half pulled back in one of my hair ties, and I can’t deny that I get why Drew likes how Emmett ties his back. His gray sweatshirt looks big on him, but there’s color back in his face, a slight pink tinge to his cheek from the December air.

“Those weren’t ready,” I reply, trying to hide the smile on my face and the emotion clogging my throat, feeling like I’m seeing Luke for the first time in weeks.

“I couldn’t help myself,” he answers, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and closing the distance between us. He wraps his arms around my waist, my arms instinctively going around his shoulders as he nuzzles his head into my neck.

“I miss you,” he whispers against my skin, and my hold on him tightens.

“I’m right here,” I answer, one of my hands going to the back of his head as I feel a hot tear drop from his cheek to my neck.

We stay like this for a few minutes, holding each other in the middle of the kitchen. I feel Luke’s fist ball the fabric of his sweatshirt I’m wearing, pulling me in evencloser. “Please don’t ever leave me, Annie girl,” he whispers, the words going straight to my heart, the heart that beats just for him. “I don’t know if I could survive it.”

I pull back against his tight embrace, just enough to hold his face in my hands, looking straight into his glistening baby blues. “You’re never getting rid of me, sweetheart. Never.” I lean in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

Wrapping my arms around his waist, I rest my head on his chest. He rests his chin on the top of my head, exhaling before he says, “I don’t know how’d I get through this without you. You’ve been taking care of everything, all on your own, on top of rotations. Seriously, Annie, I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“What you deserve is the space and time to heal. I’ll do whatever I can to give that to you.”

“I’m getting there,” he says, letting out a sigh. “Maybe today is a fluke, but it's the first one I've felt like maybe things will be okay.” I pull back slightly, just enough to look up at him. He continues, “I decided to push back the opening of the coffee shop. I want it to open on Bennet’s birthday.”

“December 14th.”

Luke looks down at me and gives me a small smile. “Two weeks.” He squeezes me a little tighter. “I can’t thank you enough for preparing everything to open on the original date, but I needed more than just three days formeto be ready. Plus, it’s one way I feel like I can honor him.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” I reply, knowing how proud Bennett was of Luke for building this place from the ground up. Bennett will always be a part of it, not onlybecause it’ll open on his birthday or because he helped Luke with putting it together.

Bennett gave Luke the push he needed to find his own way. Without Bennett’s blessing, or advice, or whatever you want to call it, Luke’s path would’ve been the law firm, a path he never wanted but thought he needed to do.

“And I think I figured out a name,” Luke adds, but he doesn’t say more.

Instead, he lifts my chin and his lips find mine, drinking me in like I’m the only water source he’ll ever need. He kisses me until I forget my own name, until I’m a mess in his arms, until he’s begging me to bring him to bed.

So I do.

He kisses me as I fall apart in his arms, him following close behind me, and the world around us fades. It’s just us, in the darkness of our bedroom, the security of each other’s arms.

Luke tells me stories of him and Bennett until I can’t keep my eyes open, his fingers drawing mindless circles on my bare skin.

I fall asleep to the sound of his voice, the touch of his lips against my forehead, and the feeling that everything will be okay.

We’ll figure it out.

Together.

Chapter 41

Luke

“Why won’t you tell me the name?” Annie asks as she walks in front of me. I have my hands over her eyes as we make our way through the parking lot, headed to the soft opening of the coffee shop.

“If it’smydesserts and baked goods that will be sold here, I feel like I should have a say in the name,” she adds, and she has no idea how right she is.

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