Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 101051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 505(@200wpm)___ 404(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101051 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 505(@200wpm)___ 404(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
My heart fills so completely that it shoves all the tension from my limbs. “Of course, Lil. You’ll always be my girl.”
She grins. “To the moon and back?”
“To the moon and back.” This. Girl. “Can we go in now?”
“Sure thing,” she says. She swings the door open, and Ethan’s standing inside. He’s not staring out the windows at the lights or out across the water. He’s looking right at us, as if he’s been waiting the whole time.
I bite my bottom lip. “What are you doing up here? I thought you had a date.”
He shrugs. “It might have been a little premature to call it a date. I haven’t asked the girl yet, and between you and me, she’s way out of my league.”
Behind me, Lilly giggles, and I hear Shay call her name from below. She must have followed us at least partway up the stairs. “Come on, Lil. Leave your daddy and Nicole to talk.”
Lilly waves to us and scurries away, pulling the door shut behind her.
“Do you remember the night we met?” Ethan asks.
“Yes,” I manage. “Of course.”
“You didn’t want to exchange names at all. And when I pointed out that I already had your name, you quoted Romeo and Juliet.”
I swallow the emotion building in my throat. I can’t get ahead of myself and assume this is something it isn’t. “I was pretty tipsy.”
“I liked it,” he says. “I feel like fate planted us there that night. As if we were destined to meet in that moment—when you needed to feel beautiful because Marcus had broken your heart, and when I didn’t know enough about you to realize you could so easily steal mine.” He reaches into his pockets and pulls out a stack of papers. “I’ve been cleaning the house and finding all these notes Elena left behind. She liked her notes and she liked her platitudes. When she was having a bad time and was especially angry with me for . . . whatever . . . she used love notes like Band-Aids. She left them for me everywhere, and sometimes they were her words and sometimes they were quotes.”
“I found some while I was staying there,” I admit. “I never knew what I should do with them.”
He smiles. “I guess that makes two of us. I always left them where I found them. After all, you shouldn’t pull off the bandage when the wound hasn’t healed.” He takes a step toward me, and I stiffen—not because I don’t want him close, but because I do. So badly. I’ve missed him. I’ve thought of a thousand ways to throw myself at him—crawling into his bed, showing up at his office, joining his gym, anything that would put us in the same room again. “After you left, I realized I was done grieving for my wife and it was time to gather up the notes, time to take off the bandages. As I did, I realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“I like to think fate got us in Jake’s bar together that night. That was your wedding night, right?”
I nod. “Yeah.”
“You could have been with Marcus or even crying in your bed at home, but instead you followed an unlikely path that brought you to me. Forgive me for saying so, but I’m fucking grateful your sister screwed around with your fiancé. Because if she hadn’t, you wouldn’t have changed my whole world. You came here and taught me joy. You freed me from grief I didn’t believe I’d ever escape.”
I hold my breath and wrap my arms around myself so I don’t go to him. He’s clearly planned this out, and I don’t want to miss anything he has to say. Not a single word.
“So many stars had to align to bring you to me. More had to align to get a stubborn-ass grump to open his heart. But they did.” He hands me three slips of paper. “I think maybe my wife played a part in that.”
“What are these?”
“Notes I found in Elena’s bedside table.”
I read them in order, immediately recognizing the loopy script as Elena’s.
“Call me but love and I’ll be new baptized.” – Romeo
I look up at Ethan. “That’s what I said to you, isn’t it?”
He nods, and I tuck the note on the bottom of the stack and read the next one.
“Have courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” – Maya Angelou
My eyes fill with tears as I slide it to the back and read the final note.
Ethan, never doubt your love is enough for me. – Elena
I blink at him through my tears. “What are the chances?”
“It’s like she’s trying to tell me something.” He draws in a big breath. “I’ve been spending a lot of time with your sister.” When I gape at him in surprise, he laughs. “Crazy thing, though? I’m not in love with her.”