Page 175 of Delivery After Dark
“I’m losing myself to this thing with you, and I have no idea where you’ll even be a few weeks from now.”
“I’m sorry to have upset you this way.”
“I’m not upset. I’m trying to keep my wits about me so if you decide to go back to your old life, I’ll still be able to enjoy mine here.”
“After these last few weeks, I don’t think I could enjoy any life that doesn’t include you.”
At that, she finally looked directly at him. “Really?”
He caressed her face with a light slide of his fingers over her cheek. “Really. It seems, at some point, I’m not exactly sure when… No, wait, that’s not true. I know exactly when. It was when you looked at me at Billy’s funeral and made me feel stronger just because you were in the room. That’s definitely when it happened.”
“When what happened?”
“I fell in love with you.”
“You… You fell… Oh.”
Smiling, he said, “That was articulate.”
“No one has ever fallen in love with me before. I’m not quite sure how to process that.”
“I’m so very honored and thankful to be the first man to fall in love with you. I’d also like to be the last one.”
She was so overwhelmed by emotion that she barely noticed when tears slid from the corners of her eyes.
But he noticed, and he kissed them away. “Am I out on this love limb all by myself?”
She shook her head. “Not at all. Why do you think I was freaking out?”
“I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you these things, but I was working to figure out my shit before I talked to you.”
“Your boss wants you back to work.”
“I resigned from that job yesterday.”
She sat up. “What? You did? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was waiting for my new job to become official, and it did today. I’ll be working for the town of Gansett Island to upgrade the island’s power grid—in addition to providing electrical services to Mac McCarthy’s construction company. I wanted to have everything resolved before I told you.”
“I thought you didn’t want to live here full time.”
“I didn’t until I met someone who has a business and a life here that she loves. She wouldn’t be happy anywhere else, and I wouldn’t be happy without her. In the end, the decision was much easier than I expected it to be. As I thought about leaving here—and leaving you—everything in me objected.”
“Can you be happy here full time when all you wanted was out of here as a kid?”
“Will you be here with me?”
“For as long as you’ll have me.”
“Then I should be set to spend the rest of my life right here with you.”
“Is this really happening?”
“Only if it’s what you want.”
She held out her arms to him, and he made himself at home in her embrace. “I was all set to tell you that you couldn’t come to Christmas after all.”
“Ouch.”
