“Let me ask you, if you could choose between money and love, which would you choose?”

“Love,” He said without hesitation.

I nodded.

“Before Belle, I would always say, money. I didn’t even think twice.”

Dr. Scuziak looked at me closely.

“I guess it won’t come as a surprise that we ran into problems.”

“Now you’re here to win her back?”

“I’m going to try,” I said. “I mean, it’s worth trying, isn’t it?”

“Is it?” he turned the words back at me.

“I love her, Dr. Scuziak, and I no longer think it’s all about money and success. It’s about love. God, did I learn that lesson the hard way! I want to tell her I’m sorry and that I love her. My life without Belle is a horrible wasteland, even worse than Kansas in the wintertime…”

“I beg your pardon?”

I turned around, and there was Belle, standing behind me with her arms crossed, having listened to every word I said.

“Did you just call my hometown a horrible wasteland?”

“I did say I love you and I’m sorry,” I reminded her.

She smiled at that. “Yes, I heard that.”

She stood there for a while longer and then she crossed the space between us and kissed me for the longest time before saying, “I love you too.”

“Your father almost shot me,” I said.

“I heard a knock on the door, and I thought that idiot was back for more,” my father said.

“He called me a motherfucker!” I said.

Belle’s eyes widened. “You didn’t?” she turned to her father who shrugged unapologetically.

“I think he deserved that,” her father said with a glint of mischief in his eye, and I knew I was in the clear.

“What happened to your face?” Belle asked me worried, looking at me closely. “Did you get into a fight?”

I told her about how I fell off the rock and how it helped me reach my epiphany about how I was meant to be with her.

“I guess it’s true what they say, then, you do fall in love,” Dr. Scuziak chuckled. “I’m going to let you two love birds have some time to yourself,” he said, and took himself off to bed.

We sat down on the couch, and I pulled Belle onto my lap.

“I really am sorry about all of it,” I said. “It was like someone flipped a switch and I couldn’t think anymore. Everything he said sounded so convincing.”

Belle shook her head.

“I should’ve told you he’d been calling the office, bugging me for months. But I didn’t want you to worry. I didn’t realize it before, but Sven wasn’t nearly as nice as I thought he was.”

“He’s obsessed with you, I get it,” I said. “I do. The thought of losing you is enough to make any man go mad.”

Belle leaned forward to kiss me, tenderly, then she leaned against me. I put my arms around her and held her tightly. Inside, I felt a huge sense of relief.