53. Luke
luke
. . .
My stomach drops the second Bailey’s text comes through.
Bailey
Can you come to the house?
That’s it. No heart emoji or explanation as to why when I woke up this morning I was alone in the recording studio, and immediately every bad thought I’ve ever had about myself comes rushing back.
By the time I pull myself together and make my way to the house my chest is so tight I can barely breathe properly.
Because last night felt… Important. Not just sex. Not just finally finding our way back to each other physically. It felt like choosing each other again. Completely.
And now all I can think is maybe I pushed too far. Maybe this morning she woke up and realized loving me again is terrifying. Maybe…
The front door opens before I can spiral any further. Bailey stands there barefoot in jean shorts and one of my old shirts, her hair messy from the wind and sunlight catching against her skin.
And fuck. Just seeing her calms something inside me instantly.
“You gonna stand there all day?” she asks softly.
I huff out a nervous laugh before climbing the steps. The second I reach the porch Bailey steps forward and presses something cold into my palm. I blink looking down.
A… key?
My brain completely short circuits for a second.
“Bai…”
“Yes.” She responds and I should have paid attention to the joy in her voice.
“The door’s never locked,” I say automatically because apparently I’m an idiot.
Bailey laughs softly.
“I know.” Her fingers slide through mine gently. “But we haven’t really put anything into it yet.”
My breath catches. We spent so long treating this place like somewhere temporary. Somewhere grief lived. Somewhere healing happened in quiet moments when we were hiding from the world. But never fully ours… Until now.
I stare down at the key in my hand for a long second before looking back up at her and suddenly I realize Bailey’s nervous too. That alone nearly destroys me.
“I love you,” she blurts out quickly before she can seem to stop herself.
Every thought in my head disappears.
Bailey laughs shakily at herself before continuing. “I know we still have therapy and hard days and all this complicated stuff we’re figuring out but…” Her eyes shine slightly. “I don’t want to keep standing still anymore.”
I move closer automatically.
“I still need to be there for Cole and Iris,” she says softly. “And there are going to be days where this all still hurts.”
“I know.”
“But Luke…” Her voice catches. “I want to live.”
I feel tears hit my eyes immediately and Bailey smiles through her own.
“I want the dream,” Her fingers tighten around mine. “You and me. Music. Our home. Maybe a little chaos.” She laughs softly. “I want all of it.”
I don’t even realize how hard I’m crying until she reaches up wiping beneath my eyes with both thumbs.
“You sure?” I whisper roughly.
Bailey’s expression softens instantly. “So sure.”
Relief crashes through me so hard I almost sway from it. I pull her against me immediately burying my face against her neck while she laughs breathlessly into my shoulder.
“Bailey,” I mutter. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“I sent one text.”
“After I woke up without you this morning.”
Her laughter vibrates softly against my chest. And fuck… I could spend the rest of my life listening to that sound. My hands settle automatically against her waist while my mind already starts moving ahead before I can stop it.
“We should put a room together for Iris here.”
Bailey blinks up at me.
“So Cole can breathe sometimes,” I explained quietly. “Even just for a night.”
Emotion flashes hard across her face. “I’d like that.”
The future suddenly feels real in a way it hasn’t before. Bailey pulls back slightly then, biting her lip the way she always does when she’s trying not to smile too hard.
“So…” she says carefully.
Immediately suspicious, I narrowed my eyes. “What?”
“Rachel got the final details from the label.”
My entire body tenses automatically.
Bailey laughs. “Relax. It’s okay.”
“That sentence has literally never once meant something good.”
She snorts. “They want promo. Interviews. A set number of live performances tied to the album release.”
I groan.
“But…” Her grin turns devilish. “They never specified venue size.”
I blink once. “What?”
“And technically…” Bailey’s eyes sparkle now. “They also never said the tickets had to cost anything.”
Realization slowly spreads through me and then I start laughing. “Oh my god.”
“I know.”
“Bailey Brooks…” I shake my head in disbelief. “Are you trying to loophole your loophole?”
“I am.”
I laugh harder while she beams at me proudly.
“I was thinking…” She steps closer again. “Maybe we go back to our roots.”
The softness in her voice hits me immediately.
“Bars nobody expects us at,” she continues quietly. “County fairs. Fundraisers. Little towns.”
I can already picture it. Just us and the music. Crowds because they want to be there instead of because somebody marketed them into it. Rachel planning routes around getting home quickly.
Around family and real life. Not the machine that almost destroyed us.
Bailey’s fingers slide slowly through mine again.
“Wanna go on an adventure with me, Luke?”
I pulled her against me immediately.
“I’ll follow you anywhere.”
Bailey laughs brightly then.
“Good,” she says.
Then before she can question it I throw her over my shoulder.
She squeals so loudly birds scatter from the trees nearby.
“Luke Carter!”
I grin carrying her through the front door while she laughs breathlessly against my back.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to christen our bedroom.”
Bailey laughs so hard she nearly falls off my shoulder. “We don’t even have furniture yet!”
“We’ve got a floor.”
“Oh my god.” she squeals.
I carry her down the hallway anyway while her laughter fills the house.
And somewhere between the grief and the healing and the years we spent losing each other…
I realized something. Love was never the hard part. The hard part was learning how to choose it every day.
And this time?
We finally were.