Page 108 of You Know You Wanna

“Make what easier?”

“To tell you to pull your head out of your ass,” she said bluntly. “You love him. He loves you. He loves you so much that he came to fetch you because he can’t live without you. This is what you’ve been waiting for. It’s what you’ve been wanting since long before he even left, so why try to fight it now?”

“I’m not fighting it.” I inhaled deeply through my nostrils and closed my eyes, centering myself before I continued. “I’m scared, Gracie. What if I do this? What if I go with them and it doesn’t work out?”

“What if you don’t?” she countered. “What if you stay here and eventually go off by yourself, only to realize years from now that you missed your shot with the love of your life? What if you go with him and it works out like a fairy tale?”

“In the original fairy tales, people die,” I reasoned. “They’re grim and not cute at all.”

She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t talking about the original fairy tales. Besides, you’ve already faced the ex-wife. You already thought you lost him. You’ve done grim. You’re at the happily ever after part now.”

“Am I, though?” I asked, even though I knew she didn’t have the answer any more than I did. “I’ve never been to New York. What if I go and I hate it there?”

“Again, what if you don’t? What if you go and it’s the most amazing place you’ve ever been?” She sighed. “There are no guarantees in life, Birdie. Not for anyone for anything. The only thing you can do is to live. To live, and to hope, and to love.”

“That’s not comforting,” I muttered.

She shrugged. “It wasn’t supposed to be. At the end of the day, life isn’t about guarantees. It’s about living it to the fullest every damn day that you’ve got, and there’s a lot more to life than just Blue Pines and Bluebell Hollow. God knows, I love this place, but neither of us have been living our fullest, best lives here.”

“Are you saying you’re going to leave?” I asked as my heart skipped about a dozen beats. “Are you moving to New York with Declan?”

“He hasn’t asked, and if he does, I don’t know what I’ll do, but in the meantime, I’ll keep an eye on the resort for you,” she said gently, reaching across the table for my hands and taking them. “You took care of your family when they needed you. You stayed here for them and then for Alan. It’s time to do something for yourself now. I know it’s scary. I know it’s venturing into the unknown and I know how much you love the known, but you need to do this because it’s what you want to do.”

“It is what I want to do,” I admitted when I realized it was true. Deep down inside, it was what had been true all the time. I wanted Remington, and Laurene, and a studio in New York fucking city and I was finally going to get it.

I jumped up out of my chair so fast that it toppled over. Then I embraced her tight as my heart pounded and the shackles fell away from my mind. “I love you, my friend.”

“Go get your man,” she said as she hugged me. “Remember to tell him that you’re scared. Communicate with him, Birdie. You’re usually so good at that, but with him?”

“I’m scared. I’m going to work on it.” I released her.

She grinned at me but tears glistened in her eyes. They were in mine too. This was a huge moment for us both, especially since she’d finally admitted to not only having feelings for Declan but actually loving him.

Sooner or later, I was going to sit her down and talk to her about it. She couldn’t encourage me to go and live my dreams elsewhere and think I was going to let her get away with not taking her own advice, but first, I had to go find Remington.

I’d left him at the lake and I had no idea if he was still there, but it was as good a place as any to start. Gracie and I hadn’t been talking for that long and I’d run pretty fast. Even if he’d only hesitated for a few minutes before he left and walked back at a regular pace, I should be able to catch him.

I just hoped he was still here. That he hadn’t left after I’d run away from him. As I barreled out of the lobby, I realized it had started raining again. I grinned, remembering all the other times we’d had our big, romantic moments in the rain.

Our first kiss. Our second. That night I’d seen him walk toward me in the rain and the other when he’d walked away, but only because he’d been afraid Laurene would wake up alone while a storm raged outside.

Rain was our thing, and I took it as a sign from the universe that it was raining again now. Jogging out into it without hesitation, I took off looking for him, eventually finding him just as he emerged from the trailhead.

His white T-shirt clung to him, his hair was drenched, and his jaw was tight, but when he saw me, he seemed to forget about it all. His gaze swept across my face. When he saw my grin, he broke out into one of his own, kicking up his pace into a run again until he reached me.

“I love you,” I said, needing to spill my heart out this time. He’d had his turn and he’d taken it bravely, without wavering. I slipped my hands around his neck and crushed my chest to his in the pouring rain, and I did my best to do the same. “I can’t believe you’re really here and I have absolutely no idea if we’re going to be able to make this work in the real world, but I want to try. I’m so scared, Remington. I’m scared of leaving here and I’m especially scared of doing it with you, and yet, I don’t want to spend another day without you. I’m probably going to freak out again like I did today, but it wasn’t and will never be because I don’t want you.”

“Are you saying yes?”

I nodded, tears mingling with the rain on my cheeks. “I want to go home with you.”

“That’s funny,” he murmured. “Because without you, it’s not home. Not anymore. You’re my home now, Birdie. I love you.”

Leaning into him, I caught his face in my hands and kissed him. After today, nothing about my life would ever be the same, and yet somehow, now that I’d told him how I felt, it wasn’t so scary anymore at all.

57

REMINGTON