Page 76 of Love Like Lightning

“She seems like she knows what she’s doing.”

“I’m assuming Cam knows what he’s doing too, if my parents hired him. And you,” I add quickly with a grin. “Listen, I can understand why you did what you did. I’m not happy about it, but I get it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I mean I was lying to you for a while there too.” Pulling her closer to me, I rest my hands on her hips and look into her eyes.

“You were?” Frowning, she looks up at me.

“It didn’t take long before the idea of being your friend was the furthest thing from my mind. The moment I started falling for you, I should have told you.”

“Falling for me?” Gia’s hand squeezes my side, and she sways even closer to me.

“Yeah, I’m kind of totally lost on you, Gia.”

Narrowing her eyes slightly, she nudges my shoe with hers. “Lost on me?”

“You know,” I tease her, not wanting to give away my secret too quickly.

“I don’t know, Henry. Maybe you can enlighten me?” She puts on a pout and tries to look stern, but she can’t quite make the look work.

Closing my eyes, I drop my forehead to hers again and take a moment to just breathe. I’m sure that this won’t be the last hard conversation we have. I’m even sure she’ll probably lie to me again at some point, although hopefully not to this degree.

I’m also sure that I don’t care. If we’re going to go through hard things in life, I want to go through them with her. If we’re going to figure things out, we’ll figure them out together. And damn it, if someone’s going to pull my hair during sex, it’s going to be Gianna.

Finally, I open my eyes and drop a kiss to her forehead. “What I mean to say, Gianna Ricci, is that I love you, and I should’ve told you sooner.”

Her face lights up, those pesky tears reappearing even as she grins like she just won the lottery. “Well, Henry Wright, I guess it’s a good thing that I’m in love with you too.” She pulls me into a sweet kiss, wrapping her arms around me and holding me like she has no plans of letting go.

Little does she know, I’m the one with no plans of letting go. Not now, not ever.

Epilogue

Gianna

I haven’t been this nervous since—well, since never. Every time I ever brought a boyfriend to meet my family, it went okay. But this time feels different.

Probably because I’m almost 99% sure that I’m going to marry Henry one day. And maybe not that far into the future.

Things have been going great with us and in Ever Lake. We received his parents' blessing not too soon after we made up from the blowup at the lodge. Neither of them thought it was weird or a conflict of interest, and Cam all but told me he didn’t care who I dated as long as I was happy.

So now we’re in Boston to get my family's stamp of approval.

“Listen, babe, I don’t know why you’re worrying. I do great with parents.” Henry fixes his hair in the rearview mirror of my car.

“Do I have to remind you that you told me that I’m the first real girlfriend you’ve ever had? How are you good with parents? Also, it’s not just my parents. It’s my Nonna, my cousins, Simone.” Simone, who’s been rooting for us since the inception of our relationship, but I don’t mention that. The two of them have video chatted more than enough for him to know where she stands.

“Yeah, but Hank and Betty love me. And my parents love me. And plenty of parents in Ever Lake love me,” he argues. He looks cute in his dark jeans and green polo.

“I don’t have the time to explain how different this is.”

We both get out of the car. My Nonna’s putting on a celebratory BBQ since it’s finally springtime and feeling like it. Based on the number of cars in the driveway and parked out front, almost everyone is already here. Pulling me into a hug, Henry drops a kiss to the top of my head, and I smile into his chest.

“It’s going to be great. I love you, and I’m going to love your family. And you love me, so why wouldn’t they?”

Sighing against his chest, I smile. “You’re right.” I let the nerves that have built up in my body over the last couple of days drift away, and my shoulders finally drop below my ears.

“Also, I know it’s not the time, but have you ever considered pegging?” He pulls away, looking at me with a straight face.

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