“I don’t know where they live.”
“I’ll find out and will text you her address.”
“You can do that?” I stand, already going to put my shoes on. “Are you going to hack into something to get her parents’ address?”
“No. I’m just going to ask Sam.”
“Oh, right.”
“Now go,” Quinn says, holding the phone up so she can glare at me. “I like Rory. Don’t fuck this up.”Gravel crunches under the truck’s tires, and I double-check the address on the GPS. It’s late at night, and the whole town was asleep as I passed through. Silver Ridge is even smaller than Eastwood, and just got a fresh dusting of snow.
Rory’s parents live in a Craftsman-style house with a large, frozen pond in the front yard. It’s set back from the road, with a little section of yard carved out from a wooded hillside. Rory’s Jeep is parked in the driveway, and my heart lurches in my chest.
She’s here, just inside.
And I hope to God she’ll let me talk to her.
I send her a text, not wanting to have a gun shoved in my face when I knock on the door in the middle of the night.
Me: Come outside.
Rory starts typing something back right away only to stop again. I put the truck in park and shut off the engine. She starts and stops typing several times before sending something through.
Rory: I’m not home.
I get out of the truck and slowly walk toward the front porch.
Me: I know. Come outside.
A light upstairs turns on, and I see her go to a window, looking down into the yard. Her eyes meet mine and her lips part, shaking her head. Then the light goes out, and the entire house is still, holding its breath.
Time passes slowly, and I think that this is it. That I fucked things up beyond repair and I’m never going to see Rory again. Pain ripples through my entire body, and I think it would feel better to dive to the bottom of that frozen lake than to realize Rory wants nothing to do with me.
But then the front door opens.
“Rory.” I rush up the cement porch steps. She’s standing in the doorway, wearing sleeper shorts, a baggy sweatshirt, and fuzzy socks. Her hair is a mess and her eyes are red from crying.
“Dean? What…what are you doing here?”
“I want you, Rory,” I rush out. “I want to be with you tonight. Tomorrow. And every day after that because I love you. I tried not to fall, but I did, and the moment you walked out the door, I knew I made the biggest mistake of my life by letting you walk away.”
Tears fill Rory’s eyes and she crosses her arms over her chest, shivering from the cold air.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I’m an idiot and got scared. I don’t want to get hurt again, and I don’t want to hurt you. You are so much more than I deserve, and the thought of disappointing you fucking scares me,” I admit. Damn, it feels good to tell her exactly how I feel with no holding back. “I don’t want you to move back here. I want you to come back to Eastwood…to come back home. With me.”
Her bottom lip quivers and tears mar her pretty face. I bound up the rest of the porch stairs and take her in my arms.
“I love you, Rory.”
She wraps her arms around me, blinking away tears. “I love you too, Dean.”Chapter 38RoryI shut the door and take Dean’s hand, leading him inside. I’m shivering, but my heart is bursting with so many emotions. Dean came all this way to tell me he loves me.
“I love you,” he repeats, cupping his large hands around my face. I slip my arms around his waist and let him kiss me, feeling warmth and desire flood through me.
“Dean,” I pant, breaking away. He rests his forehead against mine. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I’ve never been so sure of anything in my whole life. The second you walked out the door, Rory, I knew I couldn’t lie to myself. I was scared, but losing you terrifies me more than anything in this whole fucking world.”
Tears spill out of my eyes and Dean wipes them away with his thumbs. “I love you too.”
“Come home with me, Rory.”
My head bobs up and down, and a light upstairs flicks on. Oh, right. I’m at my parents’ house. Everything faded away, until there was only Dean—only the man I love—in front of me.
“Rory?” Dad asks. “Is that you down there?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Is someone here.”
“Yes.”
Dad hurries down the stairs, pausing when he gets to the landing. By the way Dean and I are holding each other, it’s obvious he’s not here to rob us or something.
“This is Dean. Dean, this is my dad, David.”