“You’re right. I should have told you I bought the space across from your donut shop.” WHAT! “I contacted a realtor and looked at it the morning before we left Charleston. After I left Bask today, I knew for sure it’s what I want, so I called and put an offer on it. They accepted about an hour ago.”
“Okay…W-what are you going to do with it?” I’m in shock. I need one of those shiny blankets to wrap around my shoulders.
“Open my own place. You remember the little café I told you about in France? I plan to re-create it.”
I can’t breathe. He has plans. Across from my bakery. Plans, people! He has plans! “A café?”
“A small one. Only a few menu options. It’s the opposite of what I’ve been doing lately, and it’s exactly what I need.”
“Well, GREAT,” I say, but my voice sounds harsh now, too, because I’m feeding off his pent-up anger. I take another step away, but he keeps following me. We’re doing a tango outside the airport. “I think it will be a huge success,” I say in the way that people do when their anger is fizzling out, but they are already prepared for a fight, so they keep their tone angry. “You should have told me about this! Stop keeping me in the dark.”
“Okay, then don’t freak out and run away when I tell you what I’m up to.”
I throw my hands up. “I was running back to you!”
He shrugs. “You can’t do that every time you’re scared. You have to trust me, eventually.”
“I do trust you! That’s why I was on my way back to you!” I make a dramatic sweeping gesture with my hands from the airport doors to where I’m standing. People are beginning to stare, but who cares. “See?! This was me saying I trust you. I was coming back, and you were supposed to hug and kiss me! That’s what happens in the movies. You ruined it, Mr. Darcy, and now we’re breaking up again.”
For the first time, I see a smile crack on the corner of his face. But no. I’m back to hating that smug face. I hate that grin. I hate his dimple. I want to smear a big ol’ cream pie in it. “I think that’s the shortest relationship in history.” He looks down at his watch. “Five hours. Not even sure it counts.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter now, because we’re over.” I cross my arms defiantly. “I hope you’re happy. You’ve annoyed me, so we’re done. It was nice knowing you, Ryan. Good luck with your café.”
He’s got a tilted smile. “You love me.”
“I hate you. H.A.T.E.”
“Love.”
“Loathe.”
Suddenly, Ryan bends down and scoops me up and tosses me over his shoulder.
“This is the twenty-first century, Ryan! You’re not allowed to do this! Stop it, you caveman.” I squeal and kick my feet as he casually strides away from the airport. “ABDUCTION!” I yell while also trying to cover my butt. I’m certain I’m flashing the entire airport.
No one even pays any attention to my squeals. Ryan is nodding as we pass people, and the only ones who have stopped to note our display are awwwwing like kidnapping is the most adorable thing in the world.
“Put me down, you dummy!”
He pats my butt. “Not a chance, June Bug.”
“Ugh. Why are you so horrible?”
I give up and go limp-rag-doll the rest of the way to the truck. My only consolation is an up-close view of Ryan’s glorious butt.
We make it to his truck, and he sets me down beside it. I’m just getting ready to lay into him, but he’s faster and backs me up to the truck and silences me with his mouth. I mean to push him away, I really do. But one of his hands is pressing into my hip, and the other is lost somewhere in the back of my hair, and my body wins the argument against my mind.
I give in and slide my hands up the back of Ryan’s jacket and over his muscles. My eyelids roll closed as Ryan angles my face and takes full control of the kiss. His lips taste faintly of orange and bourbon, making me want more. More, more, more. He’s never won a fight like this before, but I hope it happens this way forever. Because here’s the secret: He thinks he’s winning, but in this kiss, I’m most definitely the victor.
Ryan breaks away, cupping my jaw, breath as ragged as mine. He smiles. “Love.”
I narrow one eye and try not to grin. “Like.”
He dips his head and nips at my lip. “Stubborn, stubborn woman.”
I run my finger over the top of his dress shirt collar, just barely brushing against his skin. “I told you how I felt about you all those years ago when I tipped my chin for you. It’s your turn.”
He pulls away now to look me in the eyes, dark pools hypnotizing me. Tenderly, he wraps his arms around me and settles me against him. “Okay, here it is, then, June Bug. I’m going to lay it all out so there’s no room for confusion. I love you. I always have. Pretty certain I always will.”
I breathe in his words and smile when my lungs are full. I’m not sure what right turn I made in life to get me here, but I thank every act of courage, every broken heart, and every seemingly wrong turn that got me here, encircled by Ryan’s arms. Our life together won’t be perfect. Far from it. We will fight every day. I will salt his ice cream, and he will draw more mustaches on me while I sleep. But I look forward to every bit of it.
I raise up onto my tiptoes to brush my lips over Ryan’s as I whisper, “I win.”
June
One year later…
“I didn’t come for a visit to get caught in y’all’s weirdo cross fire,” says Stacy, the friend from whom I will mercilessly take back the Best Friend of the Year trophy I had made for her.
Yes, it is an actual trophy I had engraved, and I gave it to her ten minutes ago. But don’t think I won’t pry it out of her pretty little swollen fingers if need be.
I narrow my eyes at her. “No more complaining. Snap to it unless you want to say bye-bye to that shiny little trophy.” I extend the brown paper bag in front of me and twitch my head toward the bronze trophy that has a little boy kicking a soccer ball on the top. Oddly, the store didn’t have any trophies with two attractive women hugging on the top, so I had to settle for this one.
Stacy gasps. “You wouldn’t!”
“I think you already know the answer to that question.”
Stacy eyes the paper bag and then snatches it from me. “Be right back. But when I get back to California, I’m telling Logan about how you made me do your bidding, and you will definitely receive a strongly worded text about it.”
