Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
She blinked. “Oh, I’m not quitting. I have offers from just about every company I could ever want to dance at.”
“None of which are here.” Holy shit, was I actually trying to talk the love of my life out of being with me?
“Of course not. I’ll be gone for about three weeks at a time for up to three to four times a year, depending on what roles I’m interested in. I’m not signing with a company. I’m officially freelance.” She shrugged. “You get to live your dream, and I get to live mine. Best part is we can do it together. I just need some practice space and to order some equipment. If you’re okay with me living here. If not, I can find a place nearby and we can take it slow.”
“Slow?” I shook my head. “Allie, I’ve loved you for eleven years. Anything less than me waking up next to you every morning would feel fucking glacial.”
Her smile lit up her whole face. “Then wake up to me every morning.”
There had to be a catch. “What about Eva?”
“She needs to find her own sunlight, and you know Anne decided to stay at the cape to be near Juniper.” She tilted her head. “Any other reservations?”
“Besides the obvious?”
“Lina,” she whispered.
I nodded, silently preparing to have my heart ripped out.
“I don’t despise you,” she admitted softly. “Obviously, because I’m here. I’m sorry I said that. It took about three hours for me to realize that my mother put you in a no-win situation and we both suffered for it. And I, of all people, understand what it’s like to get caught up in a lie.” She started twisting Lina’s ring again. “I thought about it, really sat with what it would be like to look at you every day—other than the obvious appeal—and asked myself if the fact that you played a role in one of my tragedies overruled the simple, unshakable truth that I love you, and it doesn’t. It’s not your fault that Lina died, Hudson. You just happened to be there. And because you were, I’m alive.”
My whole body tensed. “Say it again.”
“It’s not your—”
“Not that part.” I closed the distance between us.
“Oh.” She smiled and wrapped her arms around my neck. “I love you. I’m always going to love you. This is me holding on. I don’t want five minutes—I want a lifetime.”
“Every day. Every night. You and me.” I lowered my forehead to hers and let the perfection of it slide through me and settle deep in my bones. “No one walks away. Not ever.”
“That’s what I’m asking.” She brushed her lips against mine. “Can you do that?”
“Yeah. I can do that.” I lifted her into my arms, and she locked her ankles behind my back. “I was born to do exactly that.”
Epilogue
Allie
Five years later
The Metropolitan Opera House buzzed with palpable excitement as we made our way to our seats. I glanced up at the family box, which was no longer our family’s, and smiled at the bright-eyed boy looking down at the orchestra pit with eager anticipation.
“Homesick?” Hudson asked as he led me down the back row, straight toward the center, his fingers laced with mine.
“No,” I replied.
“Don’t lie,” Kenna lectured from behind us. “You know you can’t find those bagels you love in Washington, or wherever it is you two live right now.”
“You know damn well where we live,” I retorted as we approached the center seat where Caroline sat with Gavin and Anne. Hudson had been stationed at Cape Disappointment for the last two years, and it was our favorite so far. Though I often missed our house in Alaska too.
“This is us, baby.” Kenna pointed to their seats, then did a double take at her husband. “I know you are not texting work right now. Tell them I don’t care who needs to be cut open—you are mine for the evening, Matthias.”
“Just checking in with the sitter, Ken.” He tucked his phone in the pocket of his suit coat, unbuttoned the top button, and sat. “He’s fine, by the way.”
“I know that because I texted her from the lobby.” Kenna took the seat next to him, and I left one empty before sitting beside Hudson. “She probably thinks we’re insane.”
“Or just overprotective parents,” I countered.
“No date?” Hudson leaned forward and looked past Caroline and Anne to Gavin.
“Eh.” He shrugged. “Mind if I borrow yours?”
“Yes.” Hudson sat back and slipped his hand onto my thigh. “Where are Miles and Tyler?”
A teenage girl with red hair startled in front of us as she saw me, then quickly turned around and took her seat.
“Ty’s backstage with the girls,” Caroline answered. “They’re all nervous.” She looked my way. “Did you get to slip backstage?”
I nodded with a grin. “She looks fantastic, and super calm.”
“Miles has a deposition in Boston.” Anne smiled and color rose in her cheeks. “But he’ll be home tomorrow. You guys want your room, right, Allie? Because that’s the one I made up.”