Page 91 of Click of Fate

I startle, spinning around to find Ruth standing behind me, a knowing smile playing on her lips.

Busted.

“I’m just…” I gesture weakly to the bag. “Packing up.”

She lifts a brow like she knows exactly how full of it I am.

Ruth steps closer, looping her arm through mine in that effortless way she has of making you feel safe even when she’s about to wreck your defenses.

“You wanna tell me why you’re hiding from the man you’re in love with?” she asks, voice low, kind but firm.

I flinch, because hearing it out loud, love feels like someone pulling a thread I’ve been desperately trying to hold together.

I swallow hard. “Why is he even here, Ruth?”

She pats my hand. “Because I made sure he was.”

My head jerks back. “You… what?”

“I might have nudged him onto the guest list,” she says with a wink. “Well, the gym was always on the list, but his wonderful marketing guru may have caught a ‘mysterious twenty-four-hour bug’ and couldn’t make it—someone had to to represent Squeaky Bum Climb. Fate needed a little... encouragement.”

I stare at her, heart pounding.

“You saw something,” I whisper.

She nods. “I did. And I still do. You two lit up a room, Stella. Most people spend their whole damn lives looking for that kind of spark. It’s not something you let go without a fight.”

My throat tightens.

“I don’t know if I can,” I say, voice barely above a whisper. “What if it’s too late?”

She squeezes my arm. “It’s only too late if you let it be.”

I blink fast, trying to clear the sting from my eyes.

Ruth’s expression softens even more. “Last I saw, Luke was wandering your section of the gallery. Looked like a man trying to memorize every piece of you he could find.”

The air whooshes out of my lungs.

“He’s still here?” I croak.

Ruth smiles. “He’s not hiding, darling. He’s right where you left him. The question is, are you brave enough to go find him?”

I press my hand to my chest, trying to calm the wild beat of my heart.

Because for the first time in a long time, the answer isn’t a reflexive no.

It’s a maybe.

It’s a hope.

It’s a beginning.

I nod, and Ruth beams like she already knew I would.

“Go get him, sweetheart,” she says. “Love like this? It’s worth the leap.” She winks at me and turns and walks away.

The hallway to the private gallery space is quieter now, tucked just out of sight from the buzz of the event. My steps are slow, measured. Partly because I don’t know what I’ll find. Mostly because I already know.

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