Page 140 of Drunk on Love

“I’m sorry, too,” she said. “About Sunday. I was hurt, and scared, and my emotions were so high from the party, and that conversation with Elliot, and everything. I realized how important you were to me, how much I cared about you. And it terrified me.” She looked up at him. “I’m sorry that I ever made you think I didn’t care about you. And I’m really sorry that I was too much of a coward to tell Elliot about us. It wasn’t because I was ashamed of you. It’s just that I’ve always been so on edge, so defensive about the winery and my place in it. And... I guess Ijust wasn’t quite sure of you yet. Especially since... that first night, when we were here, you told me you’d only be up here for three months, max, and so—”

He interrupted her.

“Yeah, but that was a lifetime ago! I didn’t mean to come here and fall in love with you!” he said.

“Well, I didn’t mean to fall in love with you, either!” she said.

They looked at each other for a second, and both broke out into wide smiles.

“Um. Did we both just say that?” Luke asked.

She nodded.

“I think we did.”

He reached for her hand.

“Wait. I want to say that again, when I don’t seem like I’m angry about it, because I’m not.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “I love you, Margot. I fell in love with you hard and fast, and it made me think I had to do something special to be worthy of you, when I should have realized that the reason I fell in love with you in the first place is that it would never occur to you to think that.”

Tears came to her eyes.

“I love you, too,” she said. “So much. I love how kind you are, and funny, and generous, and how safe I always feel with you. I think I realized that on Saturday, when all I wanted after the party was to be with you. And then I panicked on Sunday.” She grinned. “I told Elliot about us. He wasn’t upset. Or surprised.”

He gripped tighter to her hand.

“I told my mom about us,” he said. “And about my job. And about the very stupid lie I told her about Avery. I think she’s currently wondering what kind of an asshole she raised.”

Margot laughed through her tears.

“Never.”

She picked up a napkin and dabbed at her eyes.

“I was so happy working at the winery,” he said. “I was so happy with you. And it made me feel guilty; I felt like what I wanted wasn’t good enough, important enough, like I had to go back to that job to prove myself, to do something I hated to show the world—and you—I could do that. If I had really thought about you, I would have known that you didn’t care about any of that stuff.”

He looked down at their hands, then back at her.

“I still... It’s going to take some work, to unlearn all of that. But I’m going to try very hard to learn that being happy, actually happy, matters. And what I do know is that you are what makes me happy.”

She squeezed his hand.

“What a coincidence. You are what makes me happy, too.”

He cupped her cheek with his hand.

“Can I kiss you?”

Instead of answering, she leaned forward and kissed him. She didn’t care that they were at the bar at the Barrel, with people all around them; all she cared about was his lips on hers and his arm tight around her and how much she loved him.

When they finally pulled away, there were two champagne glasses sitting in front of them.

Margot looked over at Sydney at the other side of the bar. Sydney nodded at her. Margot could feel the smile stretch across her whole face.

Luke picked up his glass.

“Does this mean she’s forgiven me?”

Margot picked up hers.

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