“I’m not here to win you back,” I said. “I’m here to tell you I’m proud of what you did, and I’m an asshole for not realizing you never would have missed Theo and Banner’s deadline if you didn’t have a good reason. I should have asked you if you were okay. Something had obviously happened, and I only had the capacity to think about myself. As always.”
She searched my eyes.
“I’m sorry, Gabriella. I’m really fucking sorry.”
“And?”
I arched an eyebrow. “And what?”
“This is your chance to tell me everything. Either say it now, or forever hold your peace.”
I stared at her. Today had been all about speaking my truth. Why not lay it all out there for her, too?
I straightened. “I’m in love with you.”
Her stiff posture softened. “What?”
She hadn’t been expecting that.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m in love with you, Gabi. I have been for a while. I’m in love with your good heart, your mind, your humor, your laughter. I’m in love with how you make me feel, and even more in love with trying to make you feel good, too. Even though I’m not very good at that. You’ve made me a better man. I still have a lot of growing to do, I know that, and maybe when I’ve made myself better, I can come find you. But you deserve someone who can meet you on your level, right where you are now. Someone who knows what you deserve. Right now, that’s not me.”
Her brow furrowed. “Isn’t that my choice?”
“Of course, but—”
“I don’t want someone else.”
I hesitated. “You don’t?”
She shook her head. “I’ve been fighting with myself all week trying to decide what I want. Sure, I could close our chapter and move forward and find someone else, but if I’m being honest with myself, I’d compare every man to you. I’d look for your eyes in his face. I’d listen for your laughter. I don’t want someone else, Jake. And I don’t want to wait for you. I want us. I want you as you are.”
I shook my head. “No, we can’t. I’m not—”
“Don’t you dare say good enough.”
I held my tongue. She’d read my mind.
Gabi moved forward until she was standing so close I could smell her coconut and vanilla body spray. “I choose you, Jake Cassidy. I’ve been hoping you’d come and try one last time because I wasn’t ready to give up.”
“This is crazy,” I whispered. “You should hate me.”
“Maybe I should,” she admitted. “But I don’t. I love you.”
Something inside me broke. A single thread, finer than a spiderweb, that tied me to the old version of myself. I felt it go, and in the wake of the break, I felt reborn. Gabi’s forgiveness washed over me. I held her face in my hands and traced her lips with my thumb.
“I won’t hurt you ever again,” I promised.
She wrapped her arms around me. “I’m going to hold you to that because, mark my words, Jake Cassidy. If you ever talk to me like that again, I will make you suffer.”
I shuddered.
“Got it?” she asked sweetly.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She took my hand in hers. “Come upstairs. We have a lot of catching up to do.”