Page 32 of Decked By The Grumpy Golem
My skin begins to glow faintly with the heat of my emotions, melting the snow around my feet.
"The night of prom, when we made love for the first time, every cell in my body knew you were mine. But I also knew you had dreams of leaving, of seeing the world beyond Saltford Bay. And I knew I could never ask you to give that up for me."
Lucia's eyes fill with tears, but she doesn't speak. Neither does anyone else. The only sounds are the whisper of falling snow and the distant hum of traffic on the main road.
"So I made the choice for both of us," I continue, my voice cracking with the weight of a decade's worth of buried truth. "I convinced myself I was being noble, protecting you from a life you didn't want. But the truth is, I was protecting myself from the possibility that I might not be enough."
I step closer to Lucia, my heart hammering against my ribs. "I spent ten years telling myself I did the right thing. Ten years alone, because golems don't get second chances at love. Ten years watching you become everything I knew you could be, and hating myself for the choice I made."
"Gideon," she whispers, but I shake my head.
"I'm not done," I say softly. "I love you, Lucia. I've loved you every day since that first time when we were both children, and I'll love you every day for the rest of my life whether you want me or not. I know I don't deserve another chance. I know I hurt you in the worst possible way. But I'm done being a coward."
Tears stream down her cheeks as she stares at me, her expression cycling through shock, hurt, hope, and something else that I’m way too afraid to name. The silence stretches between us like a taut wire, and I can hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears.
I drop to one knee in the snow, ignoring the gasps from the assembled crowd. "I'm not asking you to give up your dreams for me. I'm asking you to let me be part of them. I'll move to New York if that's what it takes. I'll start over, build something new, whatever you need. Because losing you again isn't an option."
She raises her hand, cutting me off mid-breath.
"Stop," she says, her voice barely above a whisper.
The world tilts sideways. This is it. This is where she tells me it's too late, that I've hurt her too badly, that some things can't be forgiven. I brace myself for the words that will shatter what's left of my heart.
But then she says something that stops my world completely.
Chapter Fifteen
Lucia
Iusedtothinknothing ever changes in this town.
I was wrong. Everything has changed, and I'm the one who's been too scared to see it.
Gideon's words hang in the air, raw and desperate. The man who once abandoned me is kneeling in the snow, looking like he's carved from it, waiting for me to crush him or save him. His skin glows faintly with that golem heat, melting the snow around him into a perfect circle, and his gray eyes hold ten years of love and ten years of regret.
"Stop," I whisper, but not because I wanthim to leave.
Because I need him to know the truth before he says another word.
"You idiot," I say, my voice shaking with emotion as I step closer to him. "You beautiful, stubborn, impossible idiot."
His face goes perfectly still, like he's afraid to hope.
"You think I need you to move to New York?" I continue, tears streaming down my cheeks. "You think I need you to change who you are, give up everything that makes youyou?"
I sink to my knees in front of him, snow soaking through my jeans, my hands reaching for his face. His skin burns against my palms, and I watch his eyes flutter closed at the contact.
"I don't want you to be someone else, Gideon. I fell in love with a boy who worked with stone, who carried his father's legacy, who belonged to this place as much as the cliffs belong to the ocean." My voice breaks on the words. "I never wanted you to leave Saltford Bay. I wanted you to ask me to stay."
His eyes snap open, and I see my own pain reflected there, magnified by years of misunderstanding.
"I love you too," I whisper, my forehead touching his. "I always loved you. I never stopped. Every hero I've ever written, every happily ever after I've crafted. They all have your face, your hands, your heart."
The confession hangs between us like a bridge finally built across ten years of silence.
"I love you so much it terrifies me," I continue, my voice growing stronger. "That's why I ran this morning. Not because I didn't want to be there, but because I wanted it so desperately I couldn't breathe."
Gideon's hands come up to cover mine, pressing my palms harder against his cheeks. "Lulu," he breathes, and the childhood nickname breaks something open in my chest.
