Page 102 of Forever To Me

I like her. More than like her. And now that she knows about the songwriting, how I’ve been holed up in that cabin, pouring my soul into notebooks for years, the line I’ve tried to keep between us doesn’t exist anymore.

I let her in.

Jack’s voice breaks through my thoughts. “Walker, you’ve always been a damn hermit since we've known you. And we get it. We do. But Violet’s different. We like her for you.”

Ollie nods. “She gets it, man. She's one of us."

I swallow. Yeah.That’s the terrifying part. Because I can see her here as one of us. But what if she ends up leaving?

“I don’t know if I can let her in,” I mutter. “Not all the way.”

Jack sighs. “You mean you don’t know if you can let yourself be happy.”

I shoot him a glare.

He grins. “You’re not denying it.”

The silence stretches across the bar. I stare at the worn wooden surface, trying to find some excuse, some reason to keep everything locked down. But the truth is there, staring me in the face.

Violet isn’t like anyone else.

She fits here. With me. With Mack. With this entire town. And damn if I expected this. Or was even looking for it. I wasn’t waiting around for someone to walk into my life and make me feel like this. But she did.

She makes me laugh. More than I’ve laughed in a long time.

I like her so damn much.

She makes the world feel brighter. Like there’s color where there was darkness before. And she’s so beautiful. And I’ve been standing on the edge, pretending I don't want more. Pretendingthat night with her didn’t undo me. Pretending that being near her doesn't make me ache with something I haven't let myself feel in years.

I want her. And I want her to know the parts of me no one else does. That scares the hell out of me.

Ollie slaps the bar suddenly, making me jump. “Enough with the broody act, Walker. She likes you. You like her. Stop being a wussy and go get your girl.”

I barked out a laugh. “A wussy?”

“Yeah.” He grins. “A big ol’ wussy.”

Jack chuckles. “I mean… he’s not wrong.”

I shake my head, biting back a smile. “You two are relentless.”

“Because we’re right.” Ollie points his soda at me. “And because she's worth it.”

The words hit harder than I expected. Because yeah, she is.

And suddenly, I’m not so sure I want to spend the rest of my life not letting her in. Maybe it feels scary because it's right.

I want more.

And maybe… maybe it is time to stop being a damn wussy and go after it.

Chapter 24

Violet

Ishould’ve known something was up when Maggie knocked on my door early this morning, wearing sneakers and smiling like a woman on a mission.

Maggie doesn’t wear sneakers. She wears cowboy boots and judgment. So, when she hands me a clipboard and says, “We signed you up!” with that mischievous glint in her eye, I absolutely know that my day is about to go straight to hell.

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