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Go home and tell that wonderful man who loves you who you are and where you came from; let him know you and watch him love you through it.
Lisa’s words play in my head again; I take a deep breath and prepare to do just that.
“James?”
“Where were you, Amelia?” he says.
I walk around the side of the sofa and sink into the armchair across from him. “I um—I was in Lost Hollow like I told you. I heard you talked to my sister.”
“Yeah, because you didn’t answer any of my calls.”
“I’m sorry…”
“You were acting strange the day you left, and then I didn’t hear from you for days. I was beginning to wonder if you’d left me. Are you, Amelia? Leaving me?”
“No,” I tell him. “That’s not it. I just—”
He cuts me off again. “I think I know what’s going on.”
“What…do you think is going on?”
“It’s the proposal, isn’t it? You think it’s too fast. You worried I’m trying to change you, but that’s not what I want, Amelia. I just want you.”
“You do?” I ask hopefully. “Because there are some things that…I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Yes,” James says, leaning over and taking my hands in his. “I want you: the smart, fiercely independent, driven—and sometimes cutthroat—unbreakable woman I’ve fallen madly in love with over the past year.”
Oh. That’s who he wants.
And just like that, that hope starts to drain, and my conviction goes with it. I can feel it, but he doesn’t even see it, and I think that makes it worse.
“I don’t believe in soulmates,” he adds. “I don’t believe in other halves, Amelia. We’re whole alone, but we could be great together. And that’s much better, don’t you think?”
“Yes,” I tell him. “That’s much better.”
“So, are we good? What else did you want to talk about?”
“Oh, um. I just wanted to say sorry…for not calling. My family and my hometown just take a lot out of me,” I feign a laugh. “And I want to elope if that’s okay with you. I don’t want anyone there. I just want it to be the two of us.”
“We can do that,” he says. “We could even get married up there in the mountains if you wanted.”
“No,” I say, perhaps too quickly. “No, I don’t want that at all—maybe a beach or something instead.”
“No problem.” He kisses my lips, running his hand down the side of my cheek, then my neck, making his way down to my chest. He stops on the chain around my neck, examining Ty's ring. “What’s this?” he asks.
“My mom gave it to me,” I lie. “It was my grandmother’s.”
“Hmm…that’s nice. Can I take you to bed now?”
“Yes,” I tell him.
He smiles, and, in one smooth motion, picks me up and throws me over his shoulder, and I laugh as he carries me into the bedroom.
Afterward, I fall asleep in his arms. I keep my secrets, and I don’t talk to dead girls anymore.
