Page 100 of Until You Found Me

Her eyes widen. “They gave you one of my beans? Is it at home in there? Did it fit?”

Logan points to his abdomen. “Right in there. Fresh new kidney bean fits perfect.”

“Good.” She grins. “It was always yours. Only waiting for you, just like my heart.” And then she laughs with a groan when it pulls on her stitches. “What am I saying? Do I sound high? I feel high.”

Despite the ridiculous words coming out of her mouth, he knows that she means every one of them and his heart swells for her like it did the first time he knew he loved her. “You’re a little high. It’s okay, it’ll wear off soon. Hurting?”

She nods and stabs the call button with her finger.

“They’re dealing with something else. An alarm went off somewhere down the hall.”

“Talk to me until they come back?”

“About what?”

“Anything. Something good. Wanna hear your voice. It makes the bees sleep.”

He tells her about the route to Canada they’ll sail one day. All the little places they’ll stop along the way and the dolphins that might follow their boat. It isn’t the first time he’s described it to her, but now it sounds less like an unrealistic daydream and more like plans for the future they intend to keep.

“I wanna rub our feet together,” she says wistfully.

“Right now? Don’t think we can get outta bed yet…”

She snorts out an amused sound. “No, I wanna rub our feet together in bed on Sunday mornings before we finally get up and make pancakes.”

“Build Ikea furniture together,” he replies.

“With wine? They even put a glass of wine on the box, so I think that means we’re supposed to drink while assembling it.”

“The glass means it’s breakable, sweetheart.” He deadpans. “Ikea isn’t telling us to get drunk.”

“Oh. With wine anyway?”

“Absolutely.”

“Grow houseplants together until the trailer looks like a jungle.” She grins.

“Bake cookies, the ones you can make without a recipe.”

“Dance every night in the refrigerator light?”

He pauses, raising a brow and sending her a teasing glance. “I don’t dance. The first time was a fluke.”

“Sure, sure it was. Hey, Logan?”

“Hmm?”

“I think the drugs are wearing off. I don’t feel the bees hugging me anymore.” She pauses, squeezing his hand in the empty space between their beds. “I want to take you somewhere when we get out of here so you can see who I am for yourself. Will you come with me?”

“I’ll go anywhere with you.”

They’ve made it this far and wherever she takes him next, he knows they can face it together.

Chapter 22

Twenty-four hours after surgery, the first thing Tessa does, when she’s coherent enough to think straight, is tell Logan everything. They sit in side-by-side hospital beds with their matching surgery scars and she speaks every detail of her ordeal that her mind kept hidden from them until now.

Nick’s cheating, the pills, and the fight that lead to her early grave. He’s heard bits and pieces before, but everything is vivid now and if she keeps it inside, it’ll eat away at her. He is strong enough to help her carry it, though the guilt for asking him to almost kept her silent.

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