Page 98 of Rescuing Dr. Marian
“You sent me a ‘Have a good life’ text!” I snapped.
Now his eyebrows nearly shot up into his hairline. “What? No I didn’t. Why would I do that? I fucking love you! I have since… Hawaii! I had to come home for Anna’s birthday dinner, but I was going to drive back as soon as it was over. Slide into bed with you, even if it meant waking you up?—”
“You love me?” I spun around to face him fully. “You love me, but you’ve been throwing darts at my face for six months? That’s not love, Foster. That’s?—”
“Torture,” he finished quietly. “It was torture. Every single day, seeing your face and knowing I couldn’t have you. Knowing you belonged to someone else.”
“I broke up with her!” The words exploded out of me. “I called off my wedding because of you! Because one kiss from you was worth more than ten years with her, and you—” I gestured wildly at the dartboard. “You turned me into your personal punching bag.”
Foster stepped closer, and I saw something give way in his expression. “I didn’t know you’d broken up, Tommy. I thought you were married. I thought you’d used me for some pre-wedding experiment and then went back to your perfect life. And Istillcouldn’t stop myself from wanting you. I looked up your picture because I thought you couldn’t be as gorgeous as I remembered, but you were.” He gestured at the dartboard. “Then I thought maybe if I could destroy it, I might destroy the hold you had on me, but that didn’t work either.” His big hand reached out and cupped my cheek. “I fuckingachedfor you. Day and night.”
I took a deep, shuddering breath and turned into the warmth of his palm.
“Because deep down, I didn’t want to let you go, no matter how angry and hurt and heartbroken I was,” he went on in a voice so tense it cracked. “I kept your T-shirt, just so I could touch it. I got a dog, just like I’d told you I would, and the minute I saw her, I thought about how damn happy you looked when you were eating that damn hummus dip and teasing me to name her after?—”
“Hummus.” A laugh wanted to bubble up, but I was too scared things were still too precarious. “I can’t believe you named her after hummus because I made an offhand joke.”
Foster nodded, his gaze warm and a little wary. “Every time I said her name, I’d think of you, even when I thought I’d never see you again. And then I showed up in Legacy… and there you were. Even smarter, and funnier, and kinder than my memory. A hundred times more compelling than that damn picture.” His eyes bored into mine, like he was willing me to believe him. “If you think I could walk away from you with a ‘have a good life’ text, Tommy Marian, think again.”
I stared at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying. “But… Trace said you quit.”
Foster scowled. “Bullshit he did. I didn’t quit. I hired on!”
I stepped back and rubbed my hands over my face, trying to make any of this make sense. “What do you mean, you hired on? I asked him if you quit, and he said…” I stopped and replayed the words. “He said he thought so?”
That didn’t make any sense. How could Trace not know if Foster quit SERA?
Foster’s eyes closed, and he let out a breath before stepping toward me again. “Baby. He probably thought you knew. He probably thought you were asking if I’d quit my job yet.”
Before I could respond, he added, “Quit my jobhere. In Majestic. I accepted a permanent position at SERA.”
The words hit me like a physical blow. An impossible gift. “You… what?”
He gestured to the desk, which was neat and mostly bare, with the exception of a single, white business envelope. “My letter of resignation. I took the job Trace offered. Permanent SAR director. I’m moving to Montana.”
I felt like the world had tilted sideways. “When did you decide this?”
“It’s been in the back of my mind for a while, but I decided for good the other night, when we were stuck in the hunting shack. After I almost lost you on that mountain.” He ran both hands through his hair. “I realized I could have it all, my dream SAR job and maybe a chance to build something with you, too. If I live in Legacy and you live in California… well, I’ll have two weeks off between every SERA session to come see you. And when you come to Legacy to visit your family…”
It was too much. Too good to be true. “I thought you’d decided I was too much trouble. Too much drama. Too much… Marian.”
Foster’s face crumpled. “Christ, Tommy. You’re not too much of anything. You’reeverything. You’re the reason I’m here turning in my resignation instead of running from you again.”
I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath, like there were too many questions and not enough answers. “You accused me of running, when really… it was you.”
“Yes.”
“Because you’d already fallen for me.”
His smile was tender and sweet. “On the airplane that very first day. I didn’t believe in love at first sight, but I think I knew you were The One, even then. I guess you could call it…kismet.”
I huffed out a laugh that sounded almost like a sob. “Real, like daisies in sunshine?”
“Exactly.” His smile faded, and he stepped forward, taking my hands in his. “And it turned out you had the answer all along. You remember what you told Matthew that night at the bar? You said, ‘When you find The One, you hold on to him and find a way to make it work.’” He pulled me closer. “So if long distance doesn’t work for us and you want me to come to Stanford with you instead… I will.”
I blinked at him. “But…”
“Your great-aunt Tilly told me at the cookout that you’d accepted the position,” Foster said with a little eye roll. “And she’d already told me she planned to set you up with everyavailable person in Northern California. But we’reneverletting on that her shenanigans helped me get my ass in gear and realize what was important, okay? Because it’s bad enough I’m going to be called Sheriff Muscles for the next two decades?—”
