Chapter 28 No words needed
No words needed
Remi
Somewhere between Mom sneaking the girls matching sunglasses and whispering stories about me sneaking out of the house as a teenager, and Oliver holding up the world’s sparkliest backpack while declaring himself their personal shopping sherpa, something inside me shifted.
It wasn’t a loud moment.
It wasn’t fireworks or revelations.
It was quiet.
Soft.
Real.
The kind of thing you feel in your chest before your mind even catches up.
The girls laughed—full, unguarded laughter that echoed through the aisles—and my brothers played along like they’d known them their whole lives.
When Paige got overwhelmed in the shoe section, Mom sat on the floor beside her and let her choose one pair at a time.
When Payton looked unsure about the clothes in her hands, Matthew told her she could wear whatever the hell made her feel like a badass.
They weren’t just helping.
They were loving them.
And the girls let them.
I think that’s when I knew.
This… all of it… was already mine.
Already a part of me.
And if I kept pretending I needed to protect my heart, I’d only end up breaking it.
Because loving them—and him—wasn’t something I could stop.
Coleman’s face when he got home tonight, the stress in his shoulders melting away the second he heard their voices and saw me standing there beside them… it was like watching the sun rise after a storm.
No words needed.
Just like him.
He’s always been more action than promises. And tonight, so was I.
I pass the girls’ bedrooms on the way to his and pause just long enough to listen to their soft, sleepy breathing. Safe. Home. Ours.
And then I push open his door.
He’s standing behind me when I turn and give him a smile. The shock fades into something else.
That look.
Like I’m everything.
Like this is everything.
Then he steps into the room behind me and shuts the door.
His eyes drag over me, soft and full of something deeper than just want. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t ask what I’m doing here. He doesn’t have to.
I walk to the middle of the room and turn around.
When I meet his gaze again, I see it—happiness, want, need—and it’s everything I didn’t let myself hope for.
I cross the room slowly, and his hands find my waist the moment I’m close enough. He doesn’t pull me in.
He waits.
But I don’t make him wait long.
Because I’m here.
And this time…
I’m not running.