Page 112 of She’s Worth the Risk

“You okay, Zinnia?” Iris asks.

I nod, trying to blink the emotion away. Today isn’t about me. It’s about Violet and Kyle and Forest.

“I’m fine,” I say hoarsely, and the girls frown.

“You’re not,” Violet insists, sitting up in bed. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.” I wave a hand. “Let’s talk about you. Tell me about the birth?”

She gives a vehement shake of her head. “Please. I am so sick of discussing my cervix.” I open my mouth to ask about Forest instead, but she gives me a look. “And I’ve got months to complain about breastfeeding and sleep schedules.”

“She’s not wrong,” Poppy says, snorting a knowing laugh.

Violet reaches for my hand. “Come on. Distract me for a few minutes. What’s going on?”

“Fine,” I mumble, sucking in a deep breath. “I told Nick I love him.”

Daisy’s eyes light up. “What did he say?”

“He loves me too.”

They lean closer, wide-eyed, so I go on.

“He asked me to stay in New York. To move in with him. And he wants to come clean to the university.”

Poppy gasps. “Wow. That’s a big deal.”

“Will he lose his job?” Iris asks.

“I…” My stomach seesaws at the thought. “I don’t know.”

Maybe that’s what’s gnawing at me. As honored as I am that Nick loves me enough to risk his career, could I really let him do that? Sneaking around is one thing, but to tell the department chair we’re together, to really lay his career on the line like that… I couldn’t live with myself if Nick lost his job because of me.

“Hold on, though,” Daisy says, expression thoughtful. “You met before you were his student, right?”

I nod.

“And nothing happened while you were in his class,” Iris points out. “You made sure of it.”

I grimace. “Sure, in his first class. But now…”

Poppy nods. “I get it. You tried to do the right thing, but it still doesn’t look good.”

“Do you really love him?” Violet asks gently, and I nod again.

“I do.” My voice cracks. “Honestly… I’ve never felt like this. So happy and so terrified at once.”

The women share knowing glances.

“He obviously feels the same,” Daisy says.

You’re everything I could want, Zinnia. Everything. All these years I thought I was living, but I wasn’t. You showed me what it’s like to feel, to be alive, and I can’t imagine living without that now. Without you.

His words echo through my mind, and there’s a sharp tug in my heart. When I first met Nick, he’d hardly let himself look at me, let alone feel anything. And now… now he looks at me like I’m his entire world. And he loves me so intensely, even Venus of Urbino would blush.

“He does,” I whisper.

Violet squeezes my hand. “You have to let him tell the university. Let him take that risk for you.”