Page 201 of Worth the Trip

“You found me.”

My fingers tightened around the bookmark. “You hid inside my book.”

“Nah, Hershey. Left you somewhere beautiful to meet me again.”

“That line was entirely too prepared.”

“It wasn’t.”

“You wrote a secret message in a bookstore.”

“That don’t mean I rehearsed the reaction.”

I read it again.

Every beautiful story deserves another chapter.

“You really believe this?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

His answer took a moment.

“Because your life was already beautiful before me.”

I became still.

“You had Nyla, your businesses, your people, all the stuff that made you you before I ever spilled into Willow Run acting lost. I’m not interested in pretending your story started when I showed up.” My thumb moved along the edge of the bookmark. “I just like the story enough to want another chapter.”

The words sat differently than a grand declaration would have.

They didn’t erase anything.

They didn’t claim anything.

They simply made room.

“You knew what you were doing when you wrote this.”

“I knew what I meant.”

“That might be worse.”

“For who?”

“For me.”

He laughed. “Why?”

“Smooth men can be dismissed.”

“And sincere ones?”

I stared at his initial.

“They have to be believed.”