Page 60 of The Risks of Reuniting

"Those things too." We stand in silence for a minute, and as my senses return I realize we're in the dark because at some point Rachelle closed our door. "Oh, boy. We have been seen by Rachelle."

He squeezes me. "This was her plan."

I swat at his back. "It was not. She's loyal to me."

"Correction. She's loyal to romance."

I snuggle in closer. "Holt, for real, we can say we love each other still, but . . ."

He pinches at my waist. "Did you just say you love me?"

My mouth dries, the fear stabbing in momentarily, but I shove that jerk down and suck in a deep breath. He has spent the past few weeks fully putting himself out there – I can meet him halfway.

"Yes," I say against his chest.

"Woohoo!" He manages to do a cheer that's quiet enough to keep others from hearing, and the under-the-breath celebration makes me laugh. "The feeling is incredibly mutual, baby."

Now it's my turn to pinch at his back. "But . . . that wasn't enough to keep us together before. I don't want to go through it all again only to find out we made the right choice last summer."

I hear him swallow. "Did we make the right choice? Have you been as unhappy as I have?"

"You moving was the wrong choice?" I fish, knowing full well it nearly killed me.

"Me being away from you will never be the right choice," he states firmly.

I tighten my arms around his waist, pulling as flush against him as I can go. "What do we do differently?"

"First things first," he says, tipping his chin to rest on my head, "I am officially asking for another chance. I don't want any room formisunderstanding. If you say yes, then we'll get out the war map and figure out some things, but all of that is pointless if you're not willing to fight to be together again."

As I listen to his heart pound against my ear the same realization I came to just twenty minutes ago settles into my bones. I've already been in the valley, and I want to climb out. With him.

"Yeah," I whisper. "I'd like to go to war."

He whoops – loudly this time – and picks me up to swing me around. I laugh and hug him tight until I'm back on my feet once more. I poke him in the chest and make a fierce expression.

"I'm going to try, Holt, but this time we work together. Same team."

"Same team, corazón, same team."

And we seal the deal with a kiss before taking a ridiculous amount of time to say goodnight to each other. As I watch him disappear back toward his room, I smile broadly.

Guess it's time to tell my parents.

And my cousins.

And Allie.

It's going to be a long night . . . like I'll be able to sleep anyway.

I grab my phone and hoof it over to the Center office to steal WiFi. I only hope they're all as happy as I am.

Sun, May 25

Dear family,

First – let me tell you that I purchased awesome souvenirs for all of you yesterday, and I kept the receipts, and I will return them if you make my life crazy after reading this email.

Second – I need you to sit down and read carefully the words I am typing. Do not make up other words, or try to read between some lines to see what I'm "really saying" to you. These words are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

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