Page 65 of Hush Money
We walk onto the beach, and she pops a squat right in the sand. I follow suit, and she turns to me.
“You already have,” she says. “And besides,” she goes on, turning to face me, “this ismydate. Stop trying to steal it by being all romantic.”
I smile at her as I finish off my—well,her—ice cream.
“Do you want to know why I brought you here?” she asks.
I turn to face her now, looking down into those big eyes.
“Tell me.”
“I brought you here because the last time we were in this spot, I made the wrong decision.”
“Eve…” I start, but she holds her hand up.
“I just want you to know that I’m so happy that I did.”
My eyes widen, but I let her go on.
“I’m so glad that I did, because even though I hit rock bottom, I get to start over now. And I get to do that with you. I have never felt so much like my genuine self as I do when I’mwith you. I don’t feel afraid. I don’t feel limited. I feel like I can do anything. Because even if I can’t, I already have everything.” Tears prick in the back of my eyes, but I keep it together. She clears her throat and goes on. “Thank you for always seeing me, Keat. Even when I didn’t see myself. I wanted to bring you back here to make a new memory. To reclaim this spot for us. And to promise you that I’l let you steal my ice cream for as long as you want.”
I let her words sit with me for a moment. I replay them, soak them in. And then I reach out and cup her face in my hands. I pull her in for a long kiss, then rest my head on hers when we come apart.
“I have a ring, Eve,” I whisper. I open my eyes, and she is staring at me, like a deer in headlights. I smile. “Take a breath.”
Her chest heaves up and down a few times.
“You…you have a ring?” she mumbles.
I nod.
“I’ve had it since our junior year of college.” Her eyes grow even wider, if that’s possible. “I always had hope, Eve. Even when my head was convinced we would never happen, some part of me knew.”
Tears fill her eyes, and she drops her head to my chest. I slowly lift her off, holding her face in my hands.
“Doesn’t have to be now. Doesn’t have to be in a year. Doesn’t have to be ever, if you don’t want it. I just want you to know where I stand. You said for as long as I want it? I want this, you and me, till they put me in the ground.”
This next chapter of my life is uncertain. Scary. Unstable.
There are so many unknowns, except for the obvious: everything is about to change.
But when it does, I can weather it.
Because Evie Rae Dawson loves me.
EPILOGUE
EVIE
“Congratulations, Miss Dawson,” my lawyer says. “You are officially divorced.”
I stare down at the paperwork she’s handing me and blink about a few million times. I look back at her.
“Everything okay?” she asks. I swallow and nod.
“Yeah, yeah,” I say. “I just can’t believe that after all of this…everything I went through…that it’s finally over.”
She puts a supportive hand on my shoulder.
