Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“I’m not. I never would have been.” She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck, absorbing the homecoming and safety and completion he’d come to represent. That he would always represent to her. “I would have walked around my whole life loving you.”
His knees dipped. “You love me. You still love me.”
“Of course, I do.” Tears ran down her face. “You don’t think I’d use just anyone’s sweatshirt as a pillow, do you?”
He pulled back slightly, his hand alternating between affectionate strokes of her hair and brushes of his knuckles down the curve of her cheekbone. “I will never make you cry again, Tallulah. I swear to God. I’ve been half alive since you walked out of that hospital room—”
“Burgess . . .” She searched for the right words, the ones that would put them on the right path. The same path. Words that were overflowing from her heart now, like they’d just been waiting for something to knock them free. “Maybe I will cry again. Maybe we’ll shout and get angry or push each other’s buttons. But our love is going to be bigger than the bad moments. And we know what it’s like now. To walk away. To be without each other. So next time we’re going to fight together, instead of apart. Next time we’ll remember our love comes out on top and we’ll skip the indecision . . . and get to making up.”
“Sign me up, Tallulah. I never want to be without you again,” Burgess said thickly, shaking his head while cataloguing her features, appreciating them one by one. “My God, I don’t deserve another chance, but wait until you see what I’m going to do with it.” His lips coasted over hers, drawing her into a slow, winding kiss. “I’m going to take you on adventures, because I live to see you happy. And because you taught me to enjoy them, too. But hear me when I tell you, there will never be an adventure that lives up to you.” He looked her in the eye. “I want to stay on it forever.”
“Sign me up,” she whispered. “But I am not cooking.”
Epilogue
Burgess adjusted the AirPod in his ear as his playlist transitioned to the next song. When the familiar whine of Raskulls came on, he rolled his eyes, but he didn’t skip. No way. He’d enjoy every minute of the playlist Tallulah and Lissa had made for him together. They’d giggled over it for two hours, huddled on the couch with Tallulah’s laptop, and he’d been listening to it on repeat ever since. It reminded him of them. It reminded him of home.
Textbooks on the table. Three people bumping into one another in the kitchen while making ice cream sundaes. The crinkle of a paper bag full of bagels on Sunday morning. A jumble of winter boots by the front door. Mint, sumac, and cumin scenting the air.
Lying on their backs outside on the roof garden and looking up at the night sky, talking about everything and nothing.
Laughter. Music. Dancing.
That was his home now.
And the person who’d come along and created his bright, colorful new world was currently in the brick building to his right, taking her final exam before earning her master’s in marine biology, after which they were going to meet Lissa for brunch at a restaurant adjacent to her high school. Having nearly completed her freshman year, his daughter was now fiercely independent and flourishing. She still preferred reading to socializing, but a couple of times this season, he’d returned from practice to find Tallulah kneeling in front of their coffee table, giving manicures to a handful of high school students.
Yeah, his kid had friends now, but more importantly, she had good judgment. A backbone. A way of looking at the bigger picture, instead of sweating the small setbacks. A lot of that came from her mother, of course—who now came over regularly for dinner with her new husband—but a huge helping of Tallulah’s influence was there, too. And who knew . . . maybe he’d helped Lissa come into herself by transforming at the same time. Becoming someone who embraced change and new experiences, instead of turning his back on them.
A growling rap song drifted into his ears—one Tallulah swore would get him hyped for games—and he sighed into a smile, looking at the entrance to the building. His girlfriend was definitely a hockey fan now. Through and through. Burgess was almost tempted to tack on one more year to his career, just so he could watch her cheering in the family section a little longer, dressed in his jersey. But . . . no. This one would be his last. He’d come back from his back injury and proven himself resilient, a vital member of the Bearcats, but it was time to pass the captain’s torch to Sig.