Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
BIANCA
Every single day that I’ve been in New York, I’ve gotten a little gift from Waylon. Dark chocolates. Flowers I’d mentioned to him offhand. Some snacks I loved from Tennessee. Even a special pie Gladys made for me without dairy.
The gifts are sweet and thoughtful, but they aren’t quite right . Anyone can buy me gifts, but I need more so I know he’s serious. I refuse to crack until I’m absolutely sure he’s willing to meet me where I want to be. I owe myself that after all of this.
But the gifts do make me miss him. Even with all the exhausting things I have going on – the move, the spa, the PR mess that’s come from Kyler’s attempt at slandering me – Waylon still pops into my head. Whenever I see a dog on the street or a meme he’d like, the ache for him returns with a vengeance.
“Hey, do you want lunch?” Kaitlyn asks. “We have that meeting soon. There’s that new bowl place down the street that sounds pretty good.”
“What?” I look up from my laptop and blink, scratching Sadie between her ears. As always, she’s on my lap. We’re in the office space we rented since Kaitlyn doesn’t work well from home. “Sure? And what’s this meeting again?”
“With an investor,” she says.
I wait for her to say more, but she doesn’t.
“Okay…? That’s a little vague.”
“He’s great. I promise.” She taps around on her phone and hands it to me. “Here’s the menu.”
I pick out what I want in the bowl and give her the phone back. The spa is the bright spot in my life right now. It’ll still be about a year until we can officially open since we need to get a few more investors involved, like this mystery guy we’re meeting with today. But that means I have a whole year to throw myself into something I care about and let the media mess around me fade.
Time flies and Kaitlyn goes to grab the food from the front desk. When she returns, I hear her voice mixing with a very familiar one.
Sadie leaps off my lap and sprints down the hallway, barking. Only one person could get that reaction from her. My heart starts pounding out of my chest and I look around like I can grab onto something that keeps me stable.
But nothing could keep me stable when I see Waylon again, Sadie content in his arms. He’s in jeans and a button-down, glasses on. Of course, he looks great, but that doesn’t matter as much as his presence. He fills up the space and all the air in it, taking my breath away.
“Hey,” Waylon says softly.
“Hi.” I swallow, fiddling with my necklace.
“Sorry, I had to say he was an investor so you’d see him,” Kaitlyn says, putting down my lunch. “I’ll let you two sort everything out.”
Waylon and I look at each other, not speaking, until the door shuts behind Kaitlyn.
“Am I crossing a line by dropping in like this?” he asks, still standing closer to the door.
I open my mouth, then close it. If it were anyone else but him, it’d feel like that. But I’ve been aching to see him again since I moved. He’s the gift that I wanted, not any of the nice things he sent. Living proof that he’s serious about us and not just trying to pacify me with gifts.
“Good.” He takes a step closer, looking down at his shoes for a moment before looking up at me. “I debated with Jada for days about just coming up here and saying what I should have said before you left. Or at the wedding. Or even before the wedding when I knew I was falling in love with you. But I don’t think sending gifts is enough.”
My heart leaps into my throat. He’s falling in love with me?
“I’m sorry I let the past get in the way of what was right in front of me.” He finally closes the gap between us. My legs are too weak to stand, so he extends that hand that isn’t holding Sadie and pulls me up to my feet. “I knew deep in my gut that you’re different and that we fit together in a way I shouldn’t ignore.
I nod, my stomach doing somersaults. My mouth and brain have disconnected from each other, so I still can’t say anything.
“I want you for you, Bianca. When we’re together, it just feels easy in a way I’ve never felt with anyone else. I have no idea how our relationship would work since you’re here and I’m back in Jepsen, but I want to make it work,” he says. Then, he pauses. “If you want to.”
“Sorry, I…I’m just a little tongue-tied,” I finally say, shaking my head. My whole body is flushed with heat and I want to think coherently, but can’t.
“It’s okay.” He squeezes my hand. “I’m just hoping you’ll say yes.”
“Yes,” I blurt. “I want this. Us. I want to make it work. I’ll live in Jepsen and fly up here if I have to. As long as we’re together.”
“Really?” Relief washes over him, his shoulders lowering, and he beams.
“Really.”
He pulls me in for a kiss, squishing Sadie between us. It hasn’t been that long since we’ve kissed, but I soak him in like we’ve been apart for years. We fit together just right, and feeling him against me is like coming home after a long, exhausting day.
Sadie interrupts the moment, licking both of us under our chins.
“Sadie,” I say with a laugh.
“She’s just giving her blessing, I guess.” Waylon pets her.
“Good, because I wouldn’t want to date someone she didn’t like.” I give him a cheeky smile.
“Good thing Sadie loves me then,” he says. “She’ll be excited to see Duke and Murphy again when you get back to Jepsen.”
“I’ll just have to tell Kaitlyn that I’m moving back,” I say, smoothing his collar even though it’s not rumpled. “How did you get in touch with her anyway?”
“Jada. She follows Kaitlyn on Instagram and connected us.” Waylon runs his thumb along my cheek, looking at me with so much warmth that it almost makes me tear up. “I didn’t want to pull a move the way your ex did, so I figured I’d ask if you’d be open to this.”
“What if we never mention each other’s shitty exes ever again?” I squeeze his shoulder, then his upper arm. “And just think about us in the future?”
Waylon’s smile brightens even more, which I didn’t even realize was possible. I want to imprint the memory of it into a safe part of my brain.
“That sounds like a really good idea,” he says, leaning down to kiss me again.