Page 64 of Another June with You

Her shoulders sank. “This is too hard. If we start talking about this right now, it’s only going to make things harder.”

He took her hand, and her eyes met his. They were filled with a sadness that made his heart ache. “Don’t you think we’ve both grown up and changed enough that we could make it work this time?”

“Micah.” Her eyes dropped to their hands, and she tried to pull hers away, but he kept a firm grip.

“Please, just let me say this. If you don’t want to talk about it and you want to leave when I’m finished, then that’s fine. But let me get this out.”

Her eyes lifted to his then dropped as she nodded.

“I miss you. I’ve missed you for a decade. All this time, I wondered what you’d think of the life I’ve made for myself in Virginia. I wondered what it would be like if you had come with me when I asked. What kind of life we’d have right now. And I know maybe it’s foolish of me to hold onto hope after all this time, because you ended it. You walked away from me. And I still don’t know why, but I don’t care anymore. I’m so sorry for whatever I did back then that caused you to break up with me. I was young and stupid, and if I could go back and have a do-over, I’d take it back—whatever it was—because I want you, Shannon. I’ll never stop hoping and praying for another chance with you.”

“Micah.”

“I know you still feel something for me. Please don’t try to deny it.”

She stared at the ground in front of them until he took her face in his hands and tilted it up, forcing her eyes to meet his.

“I love you, Shannon McGregor. I always have, and I always will. And I want you back. I want the life we talked about. You by my side. The house full of kids. All of it.”

Tears were streaming down her cheeks then, and he kissed them away.

“Don’t cry, love.”

She removed his hands and turned away from him. Her shoulders shook as she sobbed.

“Shannon, what is it?” He took hold of her shoulders and tried to turn her to him, but she wiggled out of his grasp.

“It can’t happen,” she whimpered.

“Why not?” His throat tightened with tears of his own.

“I can’t give you what you want.” She started to stand, but he gently took hold of her arm.

“Please talk to me.”

She sat back down and faced him.

“I don’t know what you think you can’t give me. All I want is you,” he repeated.

“You want the dream, Micah.” She brushed her tears aside and looked him in the eye. “But I can’t give you that, because I can’t have kids.”

Chapter 20

Those four words were not what he had expected to come out of Shannon’s mouth. “You can’t have kids?”

She brushed away more tears.

“How do you know?”

“I have PCOS. It’s Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.”

“What does that mean?” he asked.

“I get cysts on my ovaries sometimes. I used to have a lot of problems with my periods, where I either wouldn’t get them for months or they would last for a really long time with a lot of pain and excessive bleeding.” She made a face. “Sorry if that’s an overshare.”

“No, I want to know everything.”

“Long story short, my hormone and insulin levels are messed up. That’s why you saw all the greens in my fridge. People with PCOS can gain a lot of excess weight. Eating healthy helps prevent my body from doing that and from turning diabetic.”

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