Page 77 of Crocodile Tears
“And there’s another thing I wanted to tell you.”
“Yeah?”
“All the proceeds from the film we shot here will be donated to the Simon Lachlan Conservation Fund.”
“I . . . Wow.” She could barely get the words out as her eyes welled more. “You have no idea how much this means to us.”
“I was thinking, maybe . . .,” I hedged. “Maybe you’d want to be my date to the premiere?”
“Deacon,” she said quickly, shaking her head. “I—we?—”
“It’s the last film premiere for a long time, I think,” I continued. “I got a call from Faith. I’ll be working on a new album with her. We’re going on tour next year. It’s already planned. Her band and Lucky Role doing all our old hits, and we’ll perform the new album together too.”
“You’re really doing it,” she praised, smiling. Smiling for me, happy for me, even through tears, and it made my heart hurt.
“Thanks to you,” I said.
She waved that away. “I just made a call.”
“Well, now you are the head of a new conservation fund. Congratulations, director.” I rose to a stand. “It’s not attached to me in any way, and you can run it without being reminded of me if that’s what you want.”
“Everything reminds me of you,” she confessed, and I felt it like a sucker punch. “The ocean, the animals, Eddie the toucan and Garret the llama. My music, my shows, my hand.”
She cried harder, and I couldn’t contain myself. I moved around to her chair and lifted her hand and kissed her scar, just like I had that day on the beach. I dropped to my knees in front of her, holding her hand to my lips, frozen in this moment where I wasn’t sure I could bear to ever let her go again.
“I came here to say goodbye,” I said, choking on my words. “I came here to give you a clean break from me.” My pleading eyes met hers. “But I can’t just let you go. There’s just no world where you and I weren’t meant to be together.” Dove opened her mouth to speak, but I pushed on. “I can protect your family. I can protect you. Iwantto disappear into my music and get out of the headlines and I want you to come with me.”
“Deacon . . .” She shook her head as I pulled my necklace out from under the neckline of my shirt and pulled the coin from the magnetic clasp. Dove looked at me through bleary eyes. “What are you doing?”
“Heads, you come with me,” I offered, brandishing the coin.
“What?”
“If it lands on heads, you come on tour with me,” I clarified. “You can work on the road. We can travel the world. You can be mine. Agreed?”
“You want to let a coin flip decide if we end up together?” she asked with a watery laugh.
I wiped her tear with my knuckle. “Agreed?”
She considered me for a long time before she finally said, “Fuck it. Heads and I come with you.”
I grinned and tossed the coin up with my thumb. Dove caught it in midair before it could even reach the apex of its flight. She held it tight in her palm as she met my gaze.
“It was heads,” she said, grabbing me by the back of the neck and pulling me into a burning kiss.
Chapter Forty-One
A few years later . . .
Dove
Deacon’s hand gently guided me down the red carpet as the lights of a million flashbulbs strobed in my eyes. It didn’t feel as jarring anymore. Being on tour with him had prepared me for this gauntlet—the last one for a long time. As much fun as the last few years had been, I was ready to stay in one location for more than a day, and Deacon was too. One last hurrah and then we’d get a much-needed rest before the next adventure. Wanderlust sated for the time being, Deacon had rented out the Sea Pearl on Prickle Island for the next six months, and I couldn’t wait to have a quiet Christmas at home with him.
“Deacon! Deacon!” a journalist shouted, and Deacon and me split in two, him going to answer one reporter while I replied to another.
“Dove, how does it feel to be walking the red carpet on the arm of Deacon Harrow?” the young reporter asked me.
“Wonderful, as always,” I answered honestly.
