Page 50 of Searching for Sunshine

Before I can start to spiral, Chloe walks in through the front door of the lobby, and I sigh in relief.

“Hey, Stella. How are you tonight?” she asks, sliding onto the stool beside me.

“I’m good. Honestly, just exhausted. It’s been a crazy day here.”

“No worries, you head on out and I’ll meet you for brunch tomorrow morning. We can chat then,” she offers, and I smile at her appreciatively.

“Sounds good. Thank you again for doing this. You seriously saved me today.”

“No problem. I didn’t work today so I spent the day napping. I promise I’m good to go. I’ll take care of everything.”

“Thank you again. Miss Clara will be back tomorrow, and she should be in pretty early. And I’ll get you a check next week for all the hours you’ve been putting in.”

“Perfect, now you go get some rest, babe,” she says, shooing me out from behind the counter.

I grab my bag and head toward the cottage, trying to convince myself I’m getting worked up over nothing. But by the time I reach the front door, I feel like my heart is going to beat out of my chest.

I push the door open, and pause when I hear Wyatt talking from the bedroom. “…totally in love with you and I can’t imagine spending a single day without you,” he says. I feel like my heart stops at the words.

What the hell?

I burst into the bedroom, not sure exactly what I’m expecting to find, but it definitely isn’t Wyatt sitting on the bed talking to my chocolate lab. He looks up at me in surprise and I freeze, trying to piece together what’s going on.

“Wait, what? When did you get here? I didn’t hear you come in,” he asks.

“Were you just telling Duke that you’re in love with him,” I blurt, unable to stop myself.

Wyatt blinks and I wait for him to say something before he groans. “Oh my god, tell me you didn’t hear that.”

“I definitely did, and I’d love to know what the hell is going on.”

“Damn it,” Wyatt mutters before confessing, “I was in here talking to your dog like a fool, practicing how to tell you that I’m completely in love with you when you walked in and heard me.”

I freeze, unsure if I heard him right. “You…you love me?”

He stands and makes his way over to me, pulling me into his arms as he sits back on the bed. “Fuck, I feel like an idiot. I realized tonight I’m completely in love with you, Stella. And I know it’s not what we agreed upon and I probably should wait until we’ve spent more of the year together, but I just need you to know that I love you and I don’t ever want to let you go.”

I remain silent, trying to let his words sink in as he continues to ramble. “I can’t ask you to stay married to me if it’s not what you want. But I’m just asking if we can give this a real shot, because you’ve become the most important person in my life and I can’t imagine letting you walk away at the end of this year.”

“Wait, you’re in love with me?” I ask, trying to keep up with how fast he’s talking.

“Yes, Stella, I’m completely in love with you. This was absolutely not how I saw this going, but I guess nothing about us has been conventional so why start now, right?”

I stare at him for a moment before his words finally register and I feel my face break into a smile. Running toward him, I wrap him in a hug and lean up to press a kiss to his mouth. “Wyatt, I’m in love with you too. I spent all night last night trying to figure out how to tell you because I can’t stand the thought of this thing ending between us in ten months either.

“Oh, thank god.” He sighs before bringing his mouth to mine and kisses me hard. Before I can get too lost in the moment, Duke barks behind us and moves to nudge me in the leg with his nose.

“Are you feeling left out, sweet boy?” I ask with a laugh. “You know we love you too.”

Our dog barks again and both Wyatt and I lean down to pet him. After a moment, Wyatt asks me, “Should we try this whole thing again? I wanted it to be a little more romantic, but I got nervous and went and screwed it all up.”

“Nope, it was perfect,” I say, leaning in to let him hold me in his arms. “Never a dull moment, right?”

“Come on,Duke, we need to clean this place,” I tell my pup, looking around at the cottage I’ve neglected to clean for the last week. Wyatt and I slept late after spending most of the night kissing and fucking, and he left a few minutes ago to grab our groceries for the week before we meet our friends for brunch.

I’m giving myself a mental pep talk to get off the couch and start on the mountain of laundry that’s accumulated when my phone pings.

Avery: We got three more bookings overnight. The second week of March for next year is officially booked already for spring break.

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