Page 76 of Another June with You

She felt so safe and secure, tucked against him, sheltered from the world.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you back then,” she said quietly. “I was eighteen and overwhelmed with all the details about my diagnosis and what it meant for me. For us. So many couples break up over struggles with infertility, and I was scared that would happen to us. Not to mention the cost of fertility treatments if I couldn’t get pregnant. And I was afraid of getting cancer. I thought I was making the right choice, saving you from having to deal with all of this.”

He leaned over and kissed her temple. “You made the wrong choice, but I forgive you for it. And I want to make it all right again.”

Her gaze settled on his brown eyes, a chunk of his blond hair hanging over one of them. She lifted her fingers and moved it out of the way before she could stop herself.

His hand slid up and circled her wrist, and she went still. “I thought a lot about things last night and all this morning, and I was wondering what you’d say if I asked you again to come to Virginia with me.”

Did he just ask her that? He had to know what her answer would be. “Micah.”

“It could be a new start.”

“My answer would be the same. I’m sorry, Micah. My life is here. My business is here. And I can’t leave Jamie right now.”

His eyebrows narrowed. “Why not? She has her own business, and the studio building fell through, so you aren’t locked into anything.”

“Thanks for reminding me.” She frowned.

“I didn’t say it to hurt you. I’m just trying to understand what’s keeping you here.”

She wrestled with whether to tell him.

“Maybe you don’t feel the same about me anymore, and if that’s the case, I understand.”

He looked so sad and vulnerable, like he had laid his heart out in front of her and she had smashed it to smithereens.

She leaned close until her lips were within a couple inches of his and looked him in the eye. “I feel the same.” And then she closed the gap between them, pressing a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth.

His hands moved to either side of her face then, his lips gliding across hers, causing her heart to stutter in her chest. She tilted her head, opening her mouth to his, pouring everything she had into this kiss.

“Please,” he whispered against her lips. “Please, come to Virginia.”

“Jamie’s pregnant,” she breathed.

He angled away from her, looking shocked. “Oh.”

“With my brother’s baby.”

His eyes widened as his mouth fell open. “Whoa! Drop a bombshell, why don’t you.”

“I know. And he came home from Denver with his new fiancée.”

Micah looked flabbergasted. “What is happening right now? Is this for real?”

She nodded. “That’s pretty much how I reacted too.” She filled him in on all Jamie and Duncan had told her.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. “It couldn’t be easy for you, hearing she’s pregnant.”

“I thought it had to be some kind of cruel joke. But it’s not. And I’m so afraid she’s going to get rid of it.”

“Would she do that?” he asked.

Shannon shrugged. “She’s really confused right now.”

“Who could blame her?”

They got quiet, staring out at a boat passing by on the water.

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