Page 83 of Words I Couldn't Say
“Tucker?” I reached out to touch his shoulder.
He whipped around, his eyes flashing with delight when they spotted me. His lips, tight in a line, curled up into the brightest smile, showcasing his dimples. “Ava?” he asked, his eyes searching mine. “What are you doing here?”
I smiled. “I could ask you the same thing.”
“I once told you I wouldn’t chase you. I wouldn’t follow you. And it was the biggest mistake of my life. So this me, Ava, chasing you. This is me following you. Because I love you, I love you so goddamn much. I’ve already wasted so much time away from you. I’m not doing it anymore.”
“Wow,” I whispered “I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you’ll have me. Say that Tawni won’t mind another roommate and you won’t mind sharing your twin-sized bed. I promise. I’ll be the perfect cuddle buddy,” he said with a grin.
When I only stared at him, his smile faltered.
“Ava? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“It’s just… Tucker, I don’t want you to move to L.A.,” I responded.
He dropped my hands and took a step back. “Oh. Uh. Wow.”
“No! No, that’s not what I meant.” I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around his neck. I stared up into the eyes of the man I loved. “In case you haven’t noticed, I didn’t get on that plane.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want you to move to L.A. because I don’t want to be in L.A. anymore. I want to be here, with my family, with you. I walked away from you five years ago, and it was my biggest mistake. One I refuse to make again.”
“You sure about this?” he asked. His eyes searched mine as if he were waiting for me to change my mind. He was crazy.
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my life. I love you, Tucker, and I can work from anywhere. That’s the beauty of airplanes—they’ll take me anywhere I need to go. At the end of the day, none of this matters if you’re not by my side. We began our lives together, and that’s how I want to spend the rest of mine. Together, with you. And, if we’re lucky, we’ll go outThe Notebook–style—minus the whole Alzheimer’s thing.”
It was true. It’d been a lonely, miserable existence without him in my life. He wasn’t just my best friend, the love of my life. He was the balm on my soul, the other half of my heart, and he was the sunshine that kept my heart warm and happy. He was everything to me.
It’s true that Hollywood was my dream.
But Tucker?
Tucker was my real-life fairytale and we were going to live happily ever after.
Or Dad would chop his nuts off.
The End
