Page 76 of Under the Lights
“So you drove all the way back to say good-bye? I’m surprised you didn’t text me.”
“I’m definitely sorry about the text message.”
“And what you said? What the hell was that?” She wanted to shove him, so she put her hands in her pockets instead. “You’ll never forget the frozen pizza?”
“That was stupid and I’m so sorry. I was trying to be funny. To keep it light because I thought that’s what you wanted from me. And the frozen pizza was special to me, actually. It’ll always remind me of that night, so it wasn’t as idiotic as it sounded.”
No, she guessed it wasn’t. The frozen pizza night had been one of her favorite evenings with him, so she could see where he was coming from. She guessed if he’d stayed gone, it would have been a long time before she passed the frozen pizzas in the grocery store without thinking of that night, and of him.
“Why did you leave without saying good-bye?” she asked, since that seemed more important than analyzing his text to her.
He rolled his shoulders a little, and she realized he was nervous about what he was going to say. “Because you wouldn’t look at me during the parade. I felt... dismissed. Like I’d screwed up so badly kissing you on the sidelines that you couldn’t even stand to look at me.”
Kelly closed her eyes for a moment, willing them not to tear up. She’d never for a moment imagined she’d come across that way, and the only way to explain why he’d been wrong was to confess how she felt about him.
Her heart had taken a hard knock, and she wasn’t sure about making herself that vulnerable, but the man had to have made it at least halfway home to New Jersey, and he’d come back just to talk to her.
“I was trying not to look at you because I’d made a decision to tell you something, and I was so intensely emotional about it, I was afraid you’d see it. I didn’t want to scare you off.”
She watched his face as she spoke and could almost see his mind turning as he tried to make sense of what she was saying. “What were you going to tell me?”
“That I...”What the hell,she thought. If he didn’t like what she had to say, he could put a few more miles on that truck of his. “That I didn’t want you to go. I mean, I know you have to go for now, but that I wanted you to come back to Stewart Mills. To me.”
“Why?” His look was so fierce, she thought she might melt.
“Because I fell in love with you,” she said, surrendering to saying it first. Assuming that’s what he’d come to say. “I love you.”
All the breath rushed out of his body and he seemed to sag against the truck’s door. “I came back to tell you I love you, Kelly.”
Tears prickled at her eyes again, but she blinked them away. At least they were leaning toward happy tears now. “You should have led with that and closed with the frozen pizza joke.”
“I was afraid to tell you. I was afraid you wouldn’t want me because my life’s not really in order.”
“It’s scary,” she admitted. “But we’ll figure it out, because being with you means more to me than having all of our ducks in a row.”
“Like you said, I’ve got a few things to take care of in New Jersey. I might even have to do four days there and three days here for a while, but everything I do will be working toward being here with you.”
“What will you do here?” She knew things were still tight in the building market.
“Whatever it takes. I’ll find work, or I’ll drive down to the southern part of the state every day because there’s new building going on there. The commute will be worth it if I get to come home to you every day. Eventually people will start buying all the houses for sale and want them remodeled. I’ll find work.”
She laughed, wiping a tear from her cheek. “Listen to me. I’m being all practical and ruining our romantic moment.”
He crossed the distance between them and cupped her cheek in his palm. “Practical things are important to you. I’ll stand out here and make spreadsheets and pie charts if it means you’ll take a chance on me.”
“I’m ready. No matter how messy it gets.”
He rested his forehead against hers. “I kept thinking I didn’t even have a solid foundation in the ground to offer, but I was wrong. Loving you is my foundation, and we can build on that. Iwantto build on that. I don’t know what that building will look like, but I know it won’t ever shift out from under us. It’ll stand forever.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.” He kissed her. “I’m sorry I took off. Trust me when I tell you I’m seriously kicking myself in the ass right now for not at least trying to talk to you first.”
“Don’t do that again.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him close. He was hers. Forever.
When she thought about how close they’d come to losing each other because of bullheadedness, she shivered. He held her tighter and kissed her neck. “I’m going to love spending the rest of my life with you.”
They heard the screen door slam, and she wasn’t surprised when Chase took a step back from her in reflex. She saw her father on the front porch, one eyebrow raised as if waiting for some kind of explanation as to why Chase Sanders was back in his driveway.
