Page 134 of The Space Between
He stares at me, then, he says, “Okay. I’m not used to this,” his voice is low and rough. “Not since them. Molly and Aubree. I buried myself in grief and work and guilt, and Ilikedit there. It made sense. Nothing touched me.” Reaching up, he brushes a strand of hair off my cheek. I lean into his touch. “Then,youtouched me.” My breath catches. “And now you’re in everything, Blakelyn. You’re in the way the river looks at sunset. You’re in the fucking air I breathe. You’re inme. I don’t know how to shut it off. I don’twantto shut it off.” I don’t blink. I can’t. “I love you,” he says again. “I love you and I’m gonna say it as many times as it takes until you believe it’s not something I regret.”
Tears sting my eyes.
Idobelieve him… even when the part of me that was trained to flinch still whispers that it’s a lie.
Standing on my tiptoes, I press my chin to his chest, stare up at him, and whisper the one thing that’s been sitting in my throat since he stood beside me in the storm. “But I’ll never get tired of hearing you say it.” I exhale. “I’m still scared.”
His arms wrap around me. Strong. Sure. His breath lifts the hair at my forehead as he presses a kiss against it and he says, “I know. I’m scared, too.”
“I don’t want to ruin this.” I mumble.
“You won’t.” He replies. “If anyone fucks up, it’ll be me.”
“I don’t want you to wake up and wish you hadn’t said it.” I blurt out.
“I won’t.” He replies, instantly.
My head falls back further as my arms wrap around his neck. I look up as he looks down. It’s raw… open. “I love you, Gruene. Not because you saved me. But because youseeme. And I don’t want to go back to a life where no one ever really did.”
Leaning down, he kisses me. It’s soft, yet passionate, full of everything we’ve both been afraid to say.
He pulls back and whispers, “Come on. Come inside.”
I nod and follow—because heloves me back.Not with flowers or soft words. But with fists and fury that don’t scare me because he doesn’t direct it at me and a promise that shakes me deeper thananythingTyler ever used to control me.
He loves me in a way that’s loudinits silence… raw… and unmistakable.
And now we’re waking up in the stillness of that after. In the hush of a dusk with everything we didn’t say before it mattered but finally found the courage to say in the dark.
He stirs besideme as the sun crests through the gauzy white curtains, washing his skin in golden light. His arm tightens around my waist, and I let myself soak it in for just a second longer before slipping out of bed.
I tug one of his shirts over my head and pad barefoot through the quiet cabin.
His cabin smells like cedar and river stone and warm cotton—like him. Everything inside has this worn-in feel, like it’s been lived in and grieved in and now… maybe starting to heal in.
I make coffee. Just the way I know he likes it. Black, strong, no fuss.
When I carry the mug back toward the bedroom, I pause in the doorway.
He’s awake now, sitting on the edge of the bed. His elbows are on his knees with his eyes fixed on the floor.
“Hey,” I say softly.
His head snaps up. The way he looks at me—like I’m the first sunlight he’s seen in years— sends warmth through my chest.
“You okay?” I ask, walking toward him.
He reaches for the mug without a word, his fingers brushing mine, holding the contact a beat longer than necessary. “I didn’t think you’d still be here,” he murmurs.
Sitting beside him, I fold one leg beneath me. “I told you. I’m not running.”
His jaw ticks, but he nods. “You shouldn’t have had to go through that,” he says. “He shouldn’t have been able to get to you… to touch you… to violate you like that… I should’ve?—”
Oh, Gruene.
“Stop.” Reaching out, I touch his cheek. “You heard me scream and you came. You didn’t hesitate. You dideverythingright.”
He turns toward me, his eyes full of something I’ve never seen in a man before—not like this—Something broken and brave all at once—“I meant it,” he says. “What I said... I love you”
