Page 27 of The Corner of Heartbreak and Forever
He set her boots aside and nudged her legs open, kneeling between them, his arms circling her waist. He smiled, tugging at all the lonely pieces of herself she’d been starving for years.
“I need to tell you something, Gracie, and it might hurt to hear it, but I don’t want any secrets between us.”
“That’s not exactly the best line to get a woman into bed.”
“I know, but you need to hear this. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you, and the weird thing is, I know it’s going to bug you, but you should know, it doesn’t bother me.”
“Reed, just spit it out, because you’re making me nervous.”
“You asked about my life, and what I said on the Ferris wheel was true. With the exception of the business I started and sold, nothing I’ve done matters more than coming back together with you. After we broke up, I headed to Michigan. Roy’s brother, Joe, lives there. I went to college, and he hooked me up with a historical preservation company. I worked through school, which is where I met Thad, who eventually became my business partner. After college we made a name for ourselves in the industry, and within a couple years we were earning seven figures and things were going well. About two years ago I met a woman, Alina, and we dated for a while. She wanted to get married, and even though I knew something wasn’t right between us, I was considering it. Six months ago, I came back from a business meeting early and caught her in bed with Thad. Two months later Roy suffered his heart attack. I sold my half of the business to Thad, sold my house with all the furnishings, and came here.”
Grace struggled to find her voice. “You wereengagedsix months ago?”
“No.Almostengaged, if you can even call it that. Our relationship wasn’t what it should have been, so I never took that last step. Something was always missing.”
She pushed to her feet, feeling gutted. “Not what itshouldhave been? What does that even mean?” She was breathing hard, and somehow she still felt like she was choking. “How can you say you feel so much for me, when you were in love with another woman only six months ago?”
Reed stood and closed the distance between them. “Grace, I wasn’t in love with her. I never felt for her what I felt for you, or what I feel for you now after only a few days of seeing you again.”
“You were never engaged to me, so you must have feltmore.” She turned away, staring out at the creek, trying to dodge the pain zinging through her.
“Bull. I never even introduced her to my family, and in four months I’ve never once felt the need to talk about her toanyone. No one here even knows about her other than Roy and Ella. Doesn’t that tell you something? I haveneverfelt more for anyone than I’ve felt for you. I spent a decadenotfeeling, Grace. Do you have any idea what that’s like? I gave up hope of ever finding what we had again. Igave up, Grace. I figured, I might not beall inwith her, but she wanted to get married. I hoped that someday I’d get over whatever was holding me back, so I considered it. There was no ring, no proposal, no ‘I can’t live without you.’ Do you know why?”
She crossed her arms, struggling to hold back tears she knew he didn’t deserve. Why did it hurt so much to know he’d almost married someone else?
“Gracie, please look at me. I’m trying to be honest with you. We’ve never lied to each other, and I wasn’t about to start now.”
She turned, and a tear broke free. He wiped it away with the pad of his thumb, the love in his eyes boring into her chest.
“I never said it to her because I never felt it. You weren’t as broken as I was. You must have had other relationships. Don’t tell me you never came close to settling down.”
“I didn’t! I might have, if I’d met the right guy, but…” She blinked away tears, thinking of how few guys she’d actually gone out with and how disappointing they’d all turned out to be. “No one was right. No one wasyou, and I was so angry at you for that, because I was hurt that you left town after telling me you never would.”
He reached for her. “But now you know why I left.”
“Iknow,” she snapped, feeling foolish for crying. “And I don’t have any idea why I’m so upset, or why it hurts to know you almost married someone else, but it does.”
“Because you still love me, Grace.” He wiped her tears and gathered her in his arms. “You still love me, the same way I still love you.”
She tried to push the hurt aside, struggling with the truth of his statement.
“I know that was hard for you to hear. It was just as hard for me to say, and not only because I knew it would upset you, but also because I didn’t trust my feelings enough to get out of that relationship long before it imploded. I’m not willing to make that same mistake again and live in the dark. You’re it for me, Grace. Youalwayshave been. This coming-clean business, and the ten years prior, were hard. But loving you has always been easy.”
“We were never easy,” she reminded him. “We had to sneak around.”
“That’sseeingyou, notlovingyou. I’d have gone to any length to see you because I loved you.”
Her heart climbed into her throat. “But we’re temporary again.”
“We don’t have to be. A long-distance relationship can work if we want it to. I’ll never ask you to give up your dreams.”
She thought about her busy life back in the city and how difficult it would be to maintain a full-time relationship when she was working long hours and weekends. Could they manage a long-distance relationship? Maybe that way they could actually enjoy the time they had together without the stress of either of them feeling second-rate to their careers on a daily basis. Hope bloomed inside her.
“You never asked me to give up my dreams back then,” she said as realization dawned on her. “You never asked me to stay in Oak Falls. If anything, you pushed me toward college and New York.”
“Because I loved you. I wanted you to be happy, and I knew you never would until you caught that rising star and rode it all the way to the moon. That’s who you are, Gracie. You were the girl with big dreams, and now you’re the woman who has achieved them. I’d never want to take that away from you. If the only way we can make this work is long-distance, I’ll take it. I’m not pushing you away this time. I’m asking to bepartof your life, however we can fit it in.”
His honesty, endless faith in her abilities, and his support touched her so deeply. She didn’t want to dissect their future or wonder if all the pieces of herself she felt shifting into place were real or only in her head. All she wanted as she went up on her toes and touched her lips to Reed’s washim.
