Page 44 of Second Best Again
I know you have so much going on right now, and I won't press. I'll be patient. I'm sorting things with Blair as best I can, untangling the knots I should have cut free years ago. But please, I beg you, don't write me off.
I wanted to give you something lasting. A letter you could find years from now, unfold with the creases worn soft, and remember that once there was a man who loved you, clear and true.And I have never said these words to anyone else. It may sound stupid and rash after just ten days of knowing you, but when you know, you know.
Because I do, and I always will. I would choose you in a thousand lifetimes, but I will spend this one waiting for you to choose me back.
Forever yours, because I am, and always will be, in love with you.
Euan
Chapter 33
The letter was like an oasis in the desert. Sage held it to her chest for a long time before unfolding it again, her fingers brushing over the paper as though it carried warmth from his hands. She smelt the paper, imagining his woodsy scent between the pages.
She read it in the kitchen, propped against the counter while pasta sauce bubbled on the hob. Later, she slipped it into her pocket when she walked to the shops, a secret comfort she kept touching. That night, tucked into bed, she read it again before switching off the light, the words circling through her head long after her eyes closed.
At last, she picked up the phone and dialled.
"Euan," she whispered when he answered on the second ring.
"Lass," he said softly. "Did ye get it?"
"I did. Your letter...it means more to me than I can say. But ..."
There was a pause. Then Euan's voice, softer, almost teasing. "Oh, big words scare you, lass? Do ye mean like love? And forever? I ken you'd think it's daft...a confession like that."
Sage shifted on the bed, lowering her voice. "Euan...we've only known each other six weeks. And I was there for barely ten days."
He sighed, a low, warm rumble. "My da married my mam one week after he met her. Always swore he knew straight away. I never believed it until I met you. They ran off tae Gretna Green, would you believe that? Her da was so furious, he near made her a widow when they came back cap in hand."
Sage was quiet for a long moment. "We barely know each other."
"We know enough," Euan said firmly. "We've chemistry. I want tae jump yer bones, and you want tae jump mine—let's no' pretend otherwise. But more than that...I did kidnap ye in a way, didn't I? Like the old days." She could hear the smile in his voice. "So, think of that letter not as a love letter, but a letter of intent. It says,I'm coming for you.The question is, will ye give me a chance?"
Her heart thudded, traitorously fast. "Okay..."
Too soon...too soon,her lizard brain warned.
There was a pause, and when he spoke again, his voice had grown more serious. "Blair finally sat down wi' me—her boyfriend strong-armed her into it. I think her running to me every time she has a problem instead of talking it out with him is not helping their relationship. She admitted she was worried I'd go off and leave her behind. I told her she'll always be my family, but I need to live my own life as well. She cried a lot, but finally agreed to go into therapy. She is twenty-two this week and I am not doing the lass any favours treating her like a child. So, I've some plans in place."
Sage frowned faintly. "What kind of plans?"
"You'll know soon enough when everything's decided."
That afternoon, Sage wandered into the second-hand bookshop on High Street. She'd meant to browse and to lose herself in the rows of worn paperbacks, but instead, she found a Chinese, red lacquer, hand-painted keepsake box, delicate and luminous even under the harsh shop light.
The first thing she tucked inside was Euan's letter. Then, she placed it on the top shelf of her closet.
The house felt cavernous when she came back downstairs. Once, she had dreamed of this house—an eighteenth-century masterpiece, lovingly restored with her own sweat and imagination. Every architrave, every plastered wall, every painted sill had held a piece of her heart.
But fourteen years had passed, and her dreams had changed. Now she wanted something smaller, easier to keep, closer to life and people and noise. Not this echoing mausoleum.
That evening, over dinner, she asked David, "How would you feel about moving closer to the city? Not too close so you'd still go to your old school."
He paused, fork midway to his mouth. "Can we discuss this like mum and teenager?"
Sage smiled faintly. "Yes. But hear me out first."
He set his fork down, narrowing his eyes. "Why now?"
