Page 110 of The Exception

She nodded and lifted her eyes to his. “I should’ve had your back with Abi about Frank. What you did was the right thing for him. Instead of trying to put together a recovery plan, I should’ve been telling Abi everything I could to avoid needing one. I’m so sorry I didn’t.”

Trav swallowed. He’d been praying for a chance to have this conversation since he left Mike’s, and now that he had it, he wasn’t going to let her take the fall. “I’m not blameless in what happened,” he said. “No matter how right I thought I was, we were supposed to be partners. I should’ve talked to you before I went to see Frank, and I shouldn’t have acted like an ass when you called me out on it. I’m sorry too. You were right when you said I was lucky it all worked out.”

Sonya’s gaze fell to her feet. “Almost,” she said. “Everything worked out except you and me.”

The haircut Marielle had forced Trav to get hadn’t left much to run a hand through, so he shoved his hands into his pockets. That was the crux of it, wasn’t it? Everything had worked out except the one thing that was the most important. Even while he was walking across that stage earlier, it hadn’t felt like he’d imagined it would. Not like it would have if they’d been here together.

Now she was standing right here and he still didn’t know if this was a goodbye.

“Sonya, I—”

She interrupted. “Letting you walk away will always be something I regret. Not only did I break my own heart, I broke yours too by allowing you to think I didn’t care enough to try stopping you. Because I did care. I do care. I’m sorry for ever making you feel like I didn’t.”

Her voice cracked and Trav shook his head. “It was me who shouldn’t have walked away.”

“No. I used overthinking to protect me from over-feeling and I pushed you away,” she corrected. “Before you left, you asked me to tell you what I wanted and I didn’t answer you. It’s just… I’m used to staying inside the lines I’ve drawn for myself when it comes to my career, my life… everything. But then you came marching in like a cocky force of nature and forced me to see all of those things differently. You made me see myself differently and showed me that beautiful things can happen when I allow myself to drift outside the lines.”

Sonya paused, and her chest rose with a large breath before her teary but determined eyes met his again. “I have an answer for you now. Do you still want to know what I want?”

Trav cleared the emotion clogging his throat. “I do.”

“You,” she said. “All I want is you. I made so many lists of things I thought I wanted, but I threw them all away because it kept coming down to you. I know it’ll get messy at times and we won’t always agree, but what we have together is worth fighting for…you’reworth fighting for. This… this is my parachute moment and I really hope it opens.”

Nothing could’ve stopped Trav from covering the last space between them and cupping her gorgeous face in his hands. Her brown eyes were red and glassy, but filled with so much love and it was all for him. That look stole his breath and made his heart seize in his chest. Had anyone ever made him feel like that? He didn’t know, but he’d spend the rest of his life earning those looks, if she’d let him.

He brushed at the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs. “I told you that I’d catch you, so that makes me your parachute. You never need to worry about it not opening.”

“Yeah?”

Sonya’s tears were coming faster but she was smiling so wide in spite of them. It was contagious and Trav felt his cheeks tighten with a smile for the first time in weeks.

“I’m so in love with you, Sonya Pope, PMHNP. You’re the only thing I’ll ever want.”

Her hand covered his and she pressed her lips to his palm. “I love you too, soldier.”

Trav couldn’t wait another second. He crushed his mouth to hers and the contented sigh that his kiss pulled out of her was enough to have him thinking about when they could be alone again.

But he was quickly reminded that they weren’t.

A quiet sob pulled Trav’s attention away from his girl and he turned around to see Marielle and Tif standing with their arms around each other and tears streaming down their faces. That wasn’t at all surprising, but Mike standing there holding Asia and rubbing at his eye was an image Trav was looking forward to never letting him live down.

Grinning, Trav entwined his fingers with Sonya’s. “Come on. I want you to meet my family.”

Forty-two

One year later

Sonya tried not to break into a sprint as soon as her toes hit the sand. She’d spotted Trav from the parking lot, on top of his board, cresting a wave with ease. Of course he’d picked up the new sport easily. A few weekends hanging out with Josh and Dylan and he was a pro.

“Slow down, Sonya,” Cat huffed from behind her. “I have enough bags for an army of babies.”

“Sorry.” Sonya turned to grab Lucia’s diaper bag from Cat’s shoulder in an effort to pick up the pace. She hadn’t seen Trav in seventy-four hours and counting, and with their new schedules, she wanted to take advantage of every minute off they got.

Josh spotted them and came to relieve Cat of the rest of her baggage. Sonya couldn’t wait another minute. She took off running, reaching the edge of the water just as Trav glided onto shore.

He jumped off of the board, holding it still with his foot, and captured her in a hug. “Hey, you.”

“Hey yourself.” His board shorts left a big wet spot on her dress, so she jumped, wrapping her legs around his waist. “I missed you.”

---