Chapter Twenty-Three #2
Rob looked like hell. His face was puffy and the dark circles under his eyes spoke to a serious lack of quality sleep. He looked a lot like she felt, actually.
“What can I do for you?” she asked, surprised and pleased that her voice sounded steady.
“You’re leaving.”
“Yes.” She’d sent the notice to the main campground email address, neither knowing nor caring which of them would read it. “I made my decision so there’s nothing left to keep me here.”
He flinched as if she’d struck him, but then he took a deep breath. “I’m glad you made the decision.”
“I’m not going to change the format and Erika’s probably going to leave the podcast for greener pastures.” She waved her hand. “Not that you care.”
“I care.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at the ground for a long time. When he lifted his head again, his eyes were full of raw emotion. “I lied.”
The look on his face was shredding her heart, even though she didn’t know what he was talking about. “What did you lie about?”
“I lied when I said we were a summer fling that had run its course. I used those words because Erika did and they hurt me. So I used them to hurt you.”
Tears welled in her eyes and she shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I love you.” He said the words with certainty, looking her in the eye, and they were like a punch to her chest. “I didn’t want to tell you that because you had so much on your plate already and I didn’t want to add to it because it would be hard.
My family and my job are here. Your family and your job are all the way across the country.
But those plans... I couldn’t ask you to stay.
But now you’re leaving and I didn’t want you to go thinking I didn’t care because that’s a lie.
I love you, Hannah. That’s the truth and I just wanted you to know it before you go. ”
He gave her a sad look, and then turned to leave. Hannah ran his words through her head over and over, trying to understand—trying to take in the one thing that made sense.
He loved her.
And she loved him. That was also the truth.
“Rob, wait.” He did not wait. With his hands shoved in his pockets and his shoulders bowed, he kept walking. “Rob!”
He paused for the space of a breath, and then with a small shake of his head that shouldn’t have had the power to break Hannah’s heart in two, he took another step. Then another.
She was afraid if he turned that corner and disappeared behind the trees, nothing would ever be okay again.
“Bobby!” she cried. And then in little more than a whisper, “Please wait.”
When he stopped walking, she sucked in a breath and held it, practically willing him to stop—to understand what she was trying to say. And more than anything, to turn around.
And then he did, and she saw the hope burning in his eyes. “People who really love me call me Bobby.”
“I love you.” Tears streamed over her cheeks, but she didn’t care because Rob was walking back to her. “That’s the truth. I was afraid to tell you because I didn’t know... I was a mess and wasn’t sure what I was doing with my life, but I was sure I loved you.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “When I was in your camper, I saw your notebook. You had plans and pros and cons and things to consider and I didn’t factor in anywhere. My name wasn’t on that page and it broke my heart.”
“I was using that page to sort how I felt about things and I didn’t write your name down because I didn’t need to sort my feelings about you.” She smiled through her tears. “That was all noise, but under it all, there was you. I didn’t need to write your name for it to be imprinted on my heart.”
He kissed her, fiercely, and she clutched his shoulders as his arms slid around her and tightened as if he was never going to let her go again.
Then he rested his forehead against hers. “I’ll go to California with you if you ask me.”
A sob escaped her and she curled her fingers into his T-shirt. Helping his brothers make this campground a success meant the world to him, and she couldn’t take that away from him. “You can’t leave your brothers.”
“I can’t leave you.”
“I love you so much,” she said, her heart filled with the joy of saying it out loud. “But I was drawn here for college. I was drawn here when I was at a crossroads in my life. I was drawn to you, and I want to be here with you.”
“But your family. I don’t want to take you from them.”
She stroked his cheek. “We’re going to make our own family, and mine will be there whenever I need them. We can talk on the phone. FaceTime. There are planes. Campers. They’ll be happy for me, Rob.”
He picked her up off her feet, swinging her around while she laughed. He was laughing, too, when he set her back on her feet. “Do you forgive me for not telling you I love you like a month ago and saving us the heartache?”
“Do you forgive me for not telling you a month ago?” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again.
What could have been one minute or ten minutes later, when the kiss ended, he looked into her eyes. “What’s next?”
She looked over her shoulder at the camper she’d been preparing for the road. “Do you think they can live without you for two or three weeks?”
“As much as it pains my ego to admit it, I think they could keep things together without me for that long.”
Hannah leaned back enough so she could tilt her head back and see his face. “How do you feel about a road trip?”
“I’m up for anything as long as we’re doing it together.” He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek, his thumb lingering on her skin.
“We can take our time heading west and maybe see a few things along the way. You can meet my family.” She chuckled when he made a mock-terrified face.
“Then we can pack what I absolutely need into my car, sweet-talk my mom and sister into shipping the rest to me and then head east again. We’ll be back in plenty of time to help get the campground ready for Steph’s wedding. ”
“Road Trip of Doom,” he said, giving her that Kowalski grin. “Let’s do it.”