Page 51 of The Marrying Kind
“Don’t shoot.” I threw my arms in the air as the door swung open and I watched Austen’s brain glitch.
“I thought you were a bear,” he croaked out.
“Do bears normally knock on the door?”
“Get in here. It’s freezing. What are you doing here?”
“Was it a mistake to come?” I asked as I stepped through the door and shook off the cold.
“God, no, I missed you. I’m just in shock.”
I breathed out a little sigh of relief at the words.He missed me.“Me too. I can’t even believe I actually came back.”
“Come warm up by the fire.”
Austen tugged me to his side just as I kicked off my boots and shucked off my coat. In a few seconds, he had the dying fire roaring again, and we sat down side by side. So close, our thighs were touching.
Damn, I wanted to grab him, hug him, kiss him, but I didn’t know what was allowed. So, first we had to talk.
“Why did you come back?” he asked.
“Well…I have some unfinished business here.”
My words seemed coy, but I was really just afraid to tell him the truth. My mind suddenly reminded me that a year is a long time. Austen could definitely reject me. But I couldn’t let that stop me.
“More adventures on your list?”
“Yes and no.”
His face twisted up. “Explain.”
“I don’t have a list this time. But I am up for an adventure.”
“What kind of adventure?”
“The kind where I move here and see how the wholebeing your girlfriendthing works ...”
Austen didn’t say anything.
It was like letting a balloon go and it makes that desperate sputtering noise. That was my heart right now. He looked conflicted, and when he finally opened his mouth to respond, my heart sank all the way to my toes.
“Baby, everything inside of me would have killed to hear you say that sentence months ago, but ...”
“But not now?”
“Not now.”
“What changed?” I asked, sounding clearly disappointed.
His tongue peeked out and licked across his lips. “Kiss me first?”
I leaned over and kissed him, and holy mackerel. Was it better than swimming with dolphins, and eating real Italian gelato, and skydiving? Yes, yes, and hell to the yes.
It took me six figures and a trip around the world, ninety-nine adventures and hundreds of lonely nights, but I finally knew, one hundred percent for damned sure, that if Austen agreed to be with me, I’d never be missing out.
In that moment, I let go of every ounce of pity I’d felt for my parents. They didn’t live a sad life—they’d lived a comfortable life. They’d lived a life full of love and peace and steadiness, of happy dinners and walks around the block, and there wasn’t one damn thing wrong with that. They probably wouldn’t have cared that they’d missed their trip to Ireland, because their love was bigger than some tourist stop.
Love was bigger than waterfalls and Spanish sunsets. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t known that before, but in this moment, I did. I knew it with one thousand percent certainty.
