“You see,” he said, this time directly to me, “I suspected I was falling in love with you Carlotta, but when you walked away and I was forced to face the prospect of a future without you, I knew for certain that you owned my heart.”
A round of awwww’s went around the room, mostly female.
“Every day without you was just not as good as all the days with you. The sky seemed duller, the day was less exciting knowing I wasn’t going to hear your laughter, to see you in one of those sexy retro dresses I’ve grown to love.”
“Chase,” his name came out on a longing whisper I wasn’t even sure was audible.
But the small curve at the corners of his lips told me he’d heard me. Loud and clear. “I miss you. I missed you enough that I was forced to reexamine my own ideas and motives, and you know what I realized?”
“What’s that?” Roman’s voice called out from somewhere close to Chase.
“That being with you, that loving you and knowing, or maybe just hoping that you love me back, is worth everything.”
“Even the questions?” I stood and folded my arms because his words were pretty, and the fact that he was saying them here, at the biggest event this town has seen in years, meant something. But what? Did it change anything, really?
“Especially the questions.” He looked around and found the Turner sisters with a smile. “It was good to do something other than work, ladies. You’re right, a man like me should be married to the woman he loves with a house full of babies.”
Babies? Did he just say babies, plural?
“And Mayor Riley was right too, you’re the perfect woman for me in all ways, even more if I pursue politics beyond Carson Creek. Everyone else was right too, we are adorable together in the words of Belle and Bridget. Margot was right when she said I couldn’t do better than you in my wildest dreams, which is perfect because you are the woman of my wildest dreams.” Chase took a few steps forward, and a moment later I did the same. “What I’m trying to say Carlotta is that I’m sorry that my fear hurt you, that it hurt us. I’m sorry that I was too blind to see that the questions, incessant as they are, came from a place of love and well-meaning concern. I’m sorry that I’ve made us both miserable for the past few weeks.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“There’s more,” he laughed and held up hand to the crowd. “Not much more, I promise, but there is just one more thing. I love you Car. I am madly in love with you, and I know that you’re the woman for me. My woman, the one I want to spend the rest of my life trying to impress, to tease a laugh from. That woman is you, and I will do whatever it takes to get a second or third chance to prove that to you.”
My heart raced against my chest as his words sank in and took a firm grip of my heart. I was fully aware of the fact that all eyes in the room were on me, waiting for my reaction.
First, I smiled because Chase had done the unthinkable, he’d professed his feelings for me, in public.
He took a step forward. “Feel free to say something, sweetheart.”
I laughed and took a step forward. And then another.
And another.
Suddenly Chase was right there in front of me smiling at me like I was the reason he woke up each morning. “Have I told you how gorgeous you look in that dress?”
I laughed. “I believe you said breathtaking earlier.”
The crowd laughed and my heart swelled at his answering smile. “By the end of the night I’ll come up with something even better.”
“Promises, promises,” I rolled my eyes, but I could do nothing to stop the silly, little-girl-in-love smile that lit up my face. “Chase, that was really brave what you did, saying all of that in front of the busiest of Carson Creek busybodies.” The crowd laughed, but I was no longer aware of them. All I saw was the man in front of me, his sparkling green eyes and his waiting smile. “I love you too Chase, but are you sure about this?”
He sighed and shook his head. “Hell no, I’m not sure about anything except for how I feel about you. Whatever it takes to make you happy, to make you love me back, is what I’ll do, because the risk of getting out of my comfort zone is worth everything if you and your love is the reward.”
“All I want is to be able to love you out in the open, Chase. Look around, look at how excited these people, our people are, for Pippa and Ryan. Lacey and Levi. Valona and Trey. Me and you.”
The crowd whooped and hollered, whistled and clapped all around us. They were genuinely happy that another couple had fallen in love and did it here in town. “Love me anywhere you want, Car.”
“Perfect,” I whispered and pressed my lips to his for what felt like the first time. It was even more explosive than our other kisses, because this wasn’t just lust, and it wasn’t in private. This was real love, and it was out in the open in front of just about everyone who meant anything to us.
To us.
We were an us now.
“I love you, Carlotta, to the moon, the galaxies beyond and back.”
I laughed against his mouth. “I love you too, even more than I love barbecue.”