Page 69 of Fall Love

I truly am over the engagement between Jake and Lisa, like I said. Lisa and I were a long time ago, and our breakup was never as simple as her falling in love with my brother. We wanted different things. We weren’t on the same page. Lisa and Jake are better suited for each other.

Their engagement, announced last Christmas, only threw me into a tailspin because of the idea of them. The idea that I’d been the one who wanted to get married while Jake never did, and yet here he was looking for wedding venues in a state Lisa hated to visit.

I’m guessing Dad had a say in the wedding direction. Lovewell Landing is his birthright after all.

Anyway, I didn’t care about Lisa and Jake as a couple. I care about Jake. I love my brother. We are opposites, but we are also close. I don’t hold any grudges against him, and I told him about Neve and the pregnancy, so he didn’t need to act so surprised.

Then again, I hadn’t had the best initial reaction either when I first saw Neve with that rounded belly.

How long has it been? Only a few weeks ago, and now her due date is almost here. Twelve days, but it’s not like I’m counting down or anything.

With another kiss to her head, I say, “Wait for me.” We need to talk, like I said, but the looks Fisk and Landon are giving me say get your ass over here.

The day is growing warm, and I tug off my sleeveless flannel and tuck it in the back of my waistband. I spread my arms wide, then wrap them around my chest to loosen them up. I haven’t tossed an axe in ages.

I glance over at Neve, confirming she’s still nearby, and catch her eyes fully checking me out. Just to tease her, I run my hand down my chest to my belt and watch as her gaze dips.

I want this woman so bad that it aches inside me. And it isn’t just the pregnancy. It’s the way she looks at me. The way she makes me feel. I’m like the monster in Frankenstein brought to life. My skin crackles and my heart races, and I just want to spend all my time with her. To laugh with her. Make meals with her. Hang out with her.

We should be spending time together, not me here participating in this lumberjack festival, and yet, isn’t that exactly how I envisioned couplehood happening? I’d be involved with a woman who did things with me. Fun things. Complicated things. A woman who supported me. Stood by me.

As I want to stand by Neve.

“You’re up first,” Landon says, handing over an axe.

I glance back at Neve and wink. She smiles, slowly, tightly.

Doesn’t she get it? I’m in love with her. Not like I thought I was in love with Lisa. This is different. Like a seasonal shift. Like the leaves brightly changing and the temperature dipping.

Neve feels like . . . home.

And yet, there’s still something holding me back from professing my feelings to her.

I toss the first axe, watching it flip through the air then hit the board. A valiant effort, but I’ve missed the designated mark. The moment feels prophetic.

Because before I can tell Neve how I feel about her, I need to come clean about one more thing. Guilt crawls over my skin, like a spider inching up my arm, causing my entire body to shiver. I’m never going to hit the mark with Neve until I’m completely honest with her.

I toss again, the axe landing within the circle drawn on the board, like another prophecy. Like I’m in the right hemisphere, but I’m never going to hit the core, get to the heart of Neve, if I keep withholding something from her.

I need to put all my chips in, lay it all on the line, and just confess the truth to Neve, then tell her how I feel. It might hurt her. It might even scare her. But I’m hopeful she’ll forgive me once she knows everything.

I throw the final axe, and it nails the center, as if confirming that honesty is the right path to Neve’s heart.

After my cousins and I complete the final competition—log-rolling—I’m done, because I’m soaked. I didn’t have a prayer of sticking on that log, especially as my head wasn’t in the dance necessary to stay afloat on a tree trunk bobbing in the lake.

My jeans are waterlogged. My flannel shirt is not worth wearing.

“Come home with me,” I ask Neve, knowing she arrived with her sisters, but lost both of them throughout the course of the day.

I’m getting the idea that Isolde wants to avoid Landon at all costs. Lumi ducked out earlier, after a final check on Neve.

Jake and Lisa fell into the crowd somewhere, although Jake sent me a text that he wanted to meet tomorrow morning for breakfast. Thankfully, he didn’t ask to stay at the house.

“Okay.” Hesitation fills Neve’s voice. She’s been off-kilter ever since Jake and Lisa arrived.

I wrap my arm around her shoulder until she pushes at my side, reminding me I’m soaked.

“You’re all wet.”