Southern Gentleman (Charleston Heat 3)

Julia’s brow curves upward. “And you thought you’d do the same for Charlie Brown and me.”

“Exactly.”

“Grey,” she says. Voice rough with anguish. “I hate how much you’ve beaten yourself up. I hate that you’ve put yourself through hell these past few years.”

“But something needs to change.”

She swallows. “Yeah. Yeah, it does. For us to work…”

I wrap my hand around hers. “And it will. Things are going to change, Julia. No more trying. No more empty promises. I’m making real changes. Big ones. So I can be there for you and the baby the way you need.”

She raises her brows. “Really?”

“Really. I’m stepping back at Montgomery Partners.”

Now Julia’s eyes are wide. So wide I have half a mind to hold my hand out to catch them when they pop out of her head.

“Shut the fuck up! Stepping back? My God, Grey. What does that mean?”

“Means Ford is returning as a full-time employee. We’ve always been partners—technically, anyway—but he’s going to be taking on more work so I can ease up a bit. More than a bit. A lot. Enough so that I don’t have to work nights or weekends. And I’m taking eight weeks of paternity leave. I’ll obviously coordinate the dates with your maternity leave.”

She just looks at me for a full beat. Finally, when I think my heart is going to explode, she smiles. A wide, radiant thing.

“That’s really happening,” she says, more a question than a statement. “Right now, you’re already working on the transition.”

I nod. “Yup. I was on the phone all morning making arrangements. We’ll spend the next few weeks getting Ford up to speed on all our current projects, but he’s already familiar with a handful of them. Plus he’s a fucking smart guy, so. Yeah. Shouldn’t take long at all.”

“You’d do that.” Her voice shakes. “For me. And the baby. You’d change your entire life for us. Everything. You’d change everything, Grey.”

Now it’s my voice that’s shaking. “Of course I would. Y’all are my life now, Julia. I love our life together. I didn’t even like my life before. I wasn’t living. I was just existing. Too afraid—too ashamed—to give myself another chance. I was hiding from the world and from myself. But you showed me the risk to try again was worth it. That taking a chance on myself, and forgiving myself, was so fucking worth it.”

A tear slips down Julia’s cheek. Her smile is in her eyes now. Just how I like it.

I glance around the truck.

Shit, I wanted to do this differently. Make more of a grand gesture in, like, the rain or something.

But now that I’m here with Julia, in the exact spot where this whole thing began, it feels…right.

Mostly.

“Don’t freak out,” I say, shoving open the door. “I’m not proposing or anything.”

“What? Grey, you don’t—”

But I’m already doing it.

I climb out of the car and get on my knees. The concrete biting into them through my jeans.

“You’ve helped me to forgive myself. And now I ask that you forgive me.” I take her hand again, squinting against the afternoon sun. “I’m on my knees, Julia. You and Charlie Brown have brought me to my knees. Please give our happily ever after another shot. Whatever that looks like—wherever we end up—I’ll be there every step of the way. Just let me ask you two questions. First, will you move in with me? We’ll start the house search all over again. Find something that’s you—something you love. And second, will you be my partner? In all things?”

Julia’s crying and smiling and biting her lip, all at once.

“Yes,” she breathes. “And absolutely yes!”

She pulls me up into a hug. I hold her in my arms and hold her tight, kissing her hair, her mouth, her neck.

“You lost your family,” I murmur into her ear. “I will never presume or try to replace them. But let’s start our own family. A new one. Together. In Charleston or Paris or where the fuck ever. We’ll dance to David Bowie and wear our stretchy pants and watch Tony and Carm. As long as you’re there, it will be home.”

She pulls back to look at me. Tired, but relieved now, and happy.

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” she says. “To dance with someone like you. This—you—us—it’s what I’ve been looking for without even knowing it.”

I grin. “Can I make a point though?”

“Of course.”

“I really would like a backyard for Charlie Brown. Bryce lives in Ford’s. We don’t have to buy a house like the one we looked at. But I would eventually like to have a place with some grass.”

She nods. “I hear you. I agree we probably need a new place in the long run, so I’d be happy to undertake the search for one with you. I’d just like it to be something a little closer to what I’d always pictured my dream house looking like.”