Page 68 of All Along

I snort. “Not dwell on my anger? What do you want me to do instead? Be devastated because my parents don’t love me. I know they never loved me. But I thought…” I sigh. “It doesn’t matter what I thought.”

Caleb rolls me around until we’re facing each other. “Bunny, what you think matters.”

My nose wrinkles. “Even if what I’m thinking is how to convince you to drive toPirates Pastriesto buy me some goodies for breakfast?”

He chuckles. “I’ll buy you whatever you want, but you’re not getting out of this conversation.”

“When did you become this tenacious?”

He lays his palm on my cheek. “When I met this adorable seven-year-old with honey-blonde hair and whiskey-colored eyes on the monkey bars.”

My heart flips in my chest. “You remember?”

“Of course, I remember. How could I forget? You were terrified but the second you were safely on the ground, you ran off to your girlfriends to plot against those bullies. As I recall, they ended up with mud on the butt of their pants. Everyone thought they’d shit their pants.”

“It was Chloe’s idea. She always has the best ideas.”

He taps my nose. “Now tell me what you were thinking about your parents.”

I sigh. He’s not going to let this go. I fiddle with the hem of his t-shirt. “It sounds stupid.”

He pinches my chin to lift my face. I meet his gaze. “Nothing you say could ever sound stupid.”

“You obviously haven’t met drunk Maya yet.”

“I can’t wait to meet her. Now, stop stalling.”

I blow out a breath. “I thought if we madeFive Fathoms Brewinginto a success, my parents might start to speak to me again. We’d slowly reconnect and eventually, they’d learn to love me. Told you. It’s stupid.”

He wraps his arms around me and hauls me to him. I bury my face in his chest.

“It’s not stupid. Wanting your parents to love you is normal. I have no idea how you became this amazing woman I love considering how they treated you.”

I shrug. “I…” Hold on. What did he say? I lean back to gaze up at him. “Did you say, ‘woman you love’?”

“Nope. I said, ‘amazing woman I love’.”

My mouth gapes open. “You love me?”

He chuckles. “Isn’t it obvious? I came back to Smuggler’s Hideaway determined to hide away from everyone – you and my family included – because I thought everyone in my life was better off without me. And yet you barreled your way inside this cabin in no time.”

“I wouldn’t say barreled my way.”

“And I managed to keep our relationship fake for about a second.”

“It was definitely more than a second.”

He smiles down at me. “I love you, Maya.”

“Phew. What a relief.”

He tickles my ribs. “Why is it a relief?”

I slap his hands away. “Duh. Because I love you, too. I’ve loved you since high school. I was devastated when you left to join the Army. I thought you’d be gone a few years. Not twelve. At least you wrote back when I started writing you letters. I worried you’d ignore me.”

He lays his forehead against mine. “I could never ignore you. Those letters were my lifeline.”

Heat radiates throughout my chest. “Your lifeline?”

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