Page 68 of So Wrong It Must Be Right

“She talked about Gallagher’s and how proud she was that she’d built it. She talked about being disappointed in her children, and how I had all the markings of someone who could take over and make Gallagher’s something great.”

“She’s no doubt right on the money. You can go now.”

“I told her to shove it.”

Carter barked out a surprised laugh. Leave it to Dinah to surprise him even now. “You did not tell your grandmother to shove it.”

She smiled. He didn’t want to be charmed and tricked into smiling right back, but he could hardly help it.

“Okay, I didn’t tell her to shove it. But I did tell her I wouldn’t stop seeing you.”

“I think last night was a pretty good indicator—”

“That we love each other. And I do love Gallagher’s and it matters to me a lot. I’ll never want to cut ties with it, but between you and Kayla stepping away from me because of it, I realized it doesn’t matter as much as people. It matters. It matters a lot, but it’s not you and it’s not Kayla. It’s not friendship and it’s not love. I don’t want to be eighty-something and not feel satisfied about the relationships I have. Buildings can’t love you back, and the business can’t give you a heart.”

Carter felt frozen. He couldn’t breathe. She was saying all the right things. Exactly what he needed to hear, and he was afraid to trust it. Maybe it was a hallucination.

Dinah blew out a long breath and then stepped closer. Everything about her was dead serious. She wasn’t manically trying to bulldoze him. She wasn’t gripping onto this one idea, certain it would work.

She was calm and earnest. She was hopeful, but it wasn’t the same as sure.

“Loving you is more important to me than being director of operations. I don’t think I have to walk away from Gallagher’s, but I do have to change my plans. Which, as you may have guessed, isn’t easy for me to do. My whole life I have followed this one dream, this one goal, and it’s . . . it’s hard to let go.”

“You don’t have to.” He didn’t want her to. He didn’t want to be the thing—

“I do. I do because I realized I want you more than I want it. I want Gallagher’s, but I’m not going to be my grandmother. I don’t want to be Uncle Craig or my father. I don’t want to get to a certain place in my life and realize that because I followed this one thing, I screwed up everything else. I’d rather have everything else and realize I screwed up Gallagher’s.”

She still stood inches away from him, looking so imploring and beautiful. He wanted to cross the distance and fall at her feet, but . . . How could he be sure? How could he give in to this?

How can you not?

“That’s a pretty big decision. Are you sure?”

“Positive, actually. I’ve done the screw-up-everything-else part already. Nothing Gallagher’s can give me takes away that hurt or that pain, but when Gallagher’s was making me feel like crap, you and Kayla both gave me something that made me feel better. I choose what makes me feel better. I choose the people who give me love. I love you and I want you over anything else. I know if we’re together we can find a way to do the things we both love. Maybe not the way we planned, but some way.”

Carter didn’t know what to do with his hands, and he certainly didn’t know what to say. He was half convinced he was dreaming. “Are you sure?” he repeated.

“What would I have to do to prove it to you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t . . . I’m not sure I know what to do with something good happening or someone choosing me.”

“Well, you’re going to have to figure it out,” she said, stepping toward him. She placed her palm on his chest and it was only then he saw she was shaking a little bit. It was only then he realized she must be worried. But she met his gaze with a certainty and serenity he recognized; with that strength of purpose she always seemed to have, which he admired so much he wanted to emulate it.

“Because I choose you, Carter. I choose love, and you know when I make a choice I don’t waver. So I need you to do the same.”

He covered her hand with his and wrapped his fingers around it. Warm and strong, a force to be reckoned with that was for sure, and everything he wanted. Even if it hurt, having it was like . . . breathing. Necessary. “I love you, Dinah.”

“I love you too.”

He knew he had to say more. Words were important and powerful and she deserved them. But it was hard to well up the courage to look at her and let out the feelings that had always brought him loss.

Maybe more than that, he was afraid of the power the words would give her, when she already seemed to have so much over him, but he also knew how important this moment was. It would be part of the foundation they built the rest of their lives on. So he said what he was most scared to say.

“I was just working this morning and coming to the conclusion that I would give all this up for you if I had to. That as much as I love it, and as much as it’s a part of me, I’d rather have thepeopleI love than thethingsI love. If I had to choose, I would always choose you.”

A tear dropped onto her cheek and she brushed it away with her free hand. “I choose you, too. I do.”

Carter had learned not to be certain. He’d learned to work with his head down, without hoping for the best or knowing that the best was around the corner. He’d learned not to think about the future and just focus on his present.

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