Chapter 36 #2
This time when we sway, it’s more intimate. His hand slides up my back and tangles in my hair. I press my face into his neck and breathe him in.
When the song ends, he takes my hand, and we weave through the festival. His thumb traces circles on my palm and every touch sends little sparks up my arm. When he glances back at me with that smile—the one that’s just for me—I can’t help but blush.
Lucas Jolly is looking at me like I’m his everything. The way he’s always looked at me.
We reach the Ferris wheel and wait in the short line. Lucas pulls me against his side, and I rest my head on his shoulder, fitting against him perfectly like I always have.
“Remember the last time we rode this?” he asks.
“And I kissed you?” I ask innocently. When we were seventeen, I kissed him and he kissed me back. Then I took things too far by sliding his hand under my shirt to touch me. He pulled away and told me no.
“Yeah, that’s what we’ll call it.” He leans in and whispers, “I had a hard-on for a week.”
I turn to look at him. “Proof I’ve always crushed on you.”
“Whatever, I crushed on you harder. Don’t start this argument, you will never win it,” he tells me. “I’ll kick your ass from here to next Christmas with that one, HoHo.”
Laughter releases from me again, and my heart swells. “I tried to kiss you when we were twelve, and you pushed me away. I always made the first move, Jolly.”
“Yeah, because Sammy threatened to kick my ass for having a crush on you, and he was bigger than me,” he explains, and it’s true. Sammy used to tower over all the kids our age because he hit a growth spurt early. “I had to wait until I could defend myself.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I tell him, loving that we have so much history together. “Wait, you told my brother you had a crush on me way back then?” My mouth falls open.
“Don’t act shocked. You knew. You could feel it,” he says.
“I could,” I say as the operator waves us into a gondola.
We climb in, and the safety door clicks shut.
As the wheel starts moving, Lucas pulls me close to his side.
We lift up into the air, and the fairground spreads out below us.
The bonfire is blazing, the Christmas lights are twinkling, and so many people are celebrating together.
It’s beautiful and magical and exactly what I remember.
Almost at the very top, everything stops.
The wheel comes to a stop and our bucket sways in the cold breeze.
I turn to look at him, really look at him. His green eyes catch the light from below and above. His smile is soft now, genuine. “I was hoping we’d get stuck up here.”
He searches my face, and some of that playfulness fades into something deeper. “The view is incredible.”
“It is,” I whisper as he leans in and kisses me. His hand slides up my shirt and across my breasts. I gasp.
“Making up for lost time,” he whispers, kissing my neck.
I laugh, running my fingers through his hair. He pulls away. “What would you have done if that was my response?”
“Oh, I’d have given you my virginity then,” I admit. “It was only ever going to be you.”
He smirks, and I look out at the festival. All of the grounds being lit up like this makes it feel like a dream. Merryville sparkles with Christmas lights. I turn back to him and shiver.
Lucas immediately shrugs his coat off. “Here. Take this.”
“No way. You’ll freeze. Put it back on.”
“I’ll survive. I’m used to this.” He drapes it over my shoulders and pulls me against him. “Just want you warm.”
I snuggle into his side, breathing in his scent lingering on the collar of his jacket. We sit in comfortable silence for a moment, just swaying in the breeze. I can hear faint carousel music from below. Kids are laughing, and someone’s singing “Jingle Bells” off-key.
Lucas stares out at the view, and I watch his expression shift. The playfulness fades and something more serious takes its place. “I’ve been thinking a lot this week. About Nashville. About what you should do.”
“I—”
“Fifteen years ago, I let you leave because I thought it was the right thing to do. Because I thought you needed to figure out who you were without me. So you knew that I was who you wanted. And I lost you because I didn’t speak up.”
“Lucas—”
“This time, I’m not letting you go.” His voice cracks. “I’m so fucking aware that Mary Carter is offering you everything you’ve ever worked for. I know it’s a chance for you to build something that’s completely yours in a city that’s exploding with opportunities.”
Tears stream down my face, hot against my cold cheeks.
Lucas cups my face in his hands. “I won’t be another person who controls you or holds you back or makes you choose between your dreams and your home. You deserve Nashville. You deserve everything. But I want to be selfish because I’m so fucking in love with you that it hurts.”
“I’m in love with you, too.” My voice comes out shaky. I kiss him, pouring everything I have into it. “I’m not going anywhere. I already turned down the offer.”
Lucas goes completely still. “When? You promised you’d think about it. You said—”
“The morning after the contest. I kept that promise, but I didn’t need ten days to know you’re everything I want in my life. You’re it for me, Lucas. I can’t imagine a future without you. That decision was one of the easiest ones I’ve ever made.”
The words hang in the freezing air between us. Our breath fogs in the space separating us. Lucas stares at me like I just spoke a different language.
“You…” The sentence dies before he can finish it.
“I choose you, Lucas Jolly. Because I’m already living my dream. Right now. At this moment.” I take his face in my hands to make sure his gaze stays on me. “I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to build a life that’s ours. You’re what I choose. And I always will, every single time.”
Lucas kisses me so passionately that he steals my breath away. “You’re staying,” Lucas says between kisses and tears, like he needs me to confirm it. “But what about the job opportunity? What about—”
“I already get to create badass recipes that sell out like crazy. Emma’s already agreed to expand the bakery. I wanted people to eat my pastries and love every single one of them. I already have that. And I have you. I can have my cake and eat it, too.”
Lucas pulls me against him so tightly, I can barely breathe. His face is buried in my neck, and I can feel him shaking.
“I love you so much,” he murmurs against my skin.
“You’re my home,” I whisper.
The Ferris wheel lurches back to life and we descend. Lucas pulls back to look at me, and he’s happier than I’ve seen him in days.
“Move in with me,” he mutters against my ear after leaning in close again.
“What?”
“If you want to fall asleep with me every night and wake up to me every morning, you have to move in with me,” he says.
My breath catches. “Really? You don’t think we’re rush—”
“I built that house for us, Peaches,” Lucas says, confirming what I’ve always thought. It was too close to the dream house we planned. “You’re basically living with me now. Make it official.”
“Okay.”
“The door code is zero-seven-zero-four,” he says.
Everything inside me melts. “You chose that date?”
“Unforgettable,” Lucas says. “That day confirmed for me that you were the love of my entire life. It felt right.”
Speaking is impossible. I’m nodding and crying and kissing him. It’s all I can manage.
“Is that a yes?” Lucas asks against my mouth.
“Yes. Gosh, yes. Yes to everything.”
The gondola reaches the ground, and the operator opens the gate for us. We stumble out and he grabs my hand.
“Want to go home?” he asks, like it’s already ours.
“That sounds nice,” I say, not knowing what I did to deserve him.
As Lucas wraps his arms around me, my heart flutters. Excitement radiates off us both.
“Promise there are no regrets?” he asks.
“Not a damn one.”
And I mean it with everything in me.
Being here with Lucas in Merryville, living this beautiful life together, is pure happiness.
This Christmas, I learned that home is love. Home is Lucas. Home is us. And I’m never leaving this again.
As we drive back to the Christmas tree farm, I glance over at Lucas and know, without a single doubt, I made the right decision.