Page 119 of One and Only

Because I saw it in his eyes, that he’d never be able to live with himself if he didn’t tell Josie the truth of what we’d done.

This man would never be able to build a life on a lie.

It would be so much easier if I didn’t love him.

But I did.

That was why I nodded, and as I did, my heart shattered like glass. “Yeah,” I whispered. “You’re doing the right thing, Beckett.”

He exhaled slowly. His eyes tracked over my face, lingering slightly on my mouth.

I took a slow, measured step back, even though everything in me howled tostay, stay, stay. To move closer when he looked at me like that.

To take this thing we’d never allowed ourselves while we could.

Doing nothing, moving away from action in those big moments … I’d never managed it before.

But if there was any moment it counted most, it was this.

It was for him.

The sound of Josie’s car cleaved through the silence between us, and Beckett straightened.

He was holding his body so tight, it looked like he might fracture into a million pieces. His eyes were frantic as they held mine.

Because I couldn’t walk away without giving him something, I took a deep breath and clutched his hand in mine, stepping up to press a featherlight kiss onto his cheek. Into his ear, I whispered, “It’ll be okay.”

His hand gripped mine, like I was his lifeline. He smelled so good. And he felt so good.

“She knows how much you love Olive,” I said quietly, pulling back to look into his face. “Just remind her of that, even if she needs to have her mad for a few days.”

He managed a nod as I stepped back again.

I waved at Josie as she pulled up and then disappeared into the house.

Olive and I wandered into the backyard, her sketch pad tucked under her arm, and through the windows, I saw Josie taking a seat at the island.

I pointed Olive to a large patch of wildflowers just past the barn, and she scampered lightly through the grass to find the best place to sit and draw.

I held a hand up to my eyes, shielding the sun so that I could see into the house.

My stomach roiled unpleasantly after only a few minutes when I saw Josie stand from her seat, her hands perched on her hips.

I took a few steps closer to the house, changing the angle just enough to see the dejected slump of Beckett’s shoulders.

Josie was yelling.

He nodded his head, swiping a hand over his mouth. My lungs ached, and I couldn’t pull in a full breath, imagining the pain he must be in.

When she pointed an angry finger out toward the backyard, where Olive and I stood, I laid a trembling hand over my stomach.

Beckett started saying something, his body language that of a man who knew he’d fucked up and wasn’t trying to fight it.

And Josie … Josie was pissed.

I saw her swipe at her face, moving the frantic motion of her hands to point at him.

She marched toward the slider that led into the backyard and yanked it open.

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