Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Reid
What the fuck was she doing?
Jacob was not right.
Well, maybe he was.
In theory.
But screw theory. It didn’t matter.
Avery stepped away from me and toward her douchebag cousin. She was going to confess everything in front of the entire town, and I refused to let her throw away everything she—no, we —had worked so hard for.
She stood at the front of the crowd, her hands clenched at her side, her chin lifted in that stubborn way that left no room to guess what she was about to do.
The audience of shoppers and nosy townspeople were silent, hanging on every word, waiting for her to confirm everything Jacob had been saying all along—that our marriage was a lie. That she tricked them all.
And I was only an innocent bystander in this mess.
Like hell I was.
Before she could open her mouth and say the words that would destroy everything, I moved.
“No.” My voice rang out, cutting through the gloomy mid-morning air, through the weight of her guilt and right through the distance between us.
“Reid.” She turned and looked at me, her eyes imploring. “Don’t?—”
“No,” I repeated, firmer this time, looking straight at her—not the crowd; not Judge Baker, who I thought I saw from the corner of my eye, pushing his way through the crowd for a better view; not Jacob, who was no doubt fuming and purple in the face.
It was just her. I only had eyes for Avery.
“You don’t get to do this,” I told her. “You don’t get to take the fall for something that isn’t a lie.”
Her breath hitched; her shoulders rose and fell in despair. Her lips parted but I didn’t give her the chance to speak. Because I needed to say this. I should have said it ages ago. Hell, I should’ve said it a long damn time ago.
“You want to tell them our marriage was fake?” I shook my head, stepping closer, eyes locked on hers. “Then explain to me why you’re the first thing I think about when I wake up. Tell me why I catch myself looking for you whenever you’re not near. Why every single time you smile at me, it feels like my world makes sense, even if it’s only for a second.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd, but I didn’t hear them. I only saw her—Avery, the love of my life, standing there, looking at me like she couldn’t decide whether to run away or throw herself into my arms.
Jacob stepped forward, trying to interrupt. “This is ridiculous. You’ve just admitted it was a fake marriage. You’re in breach of the conditions of the will. You’ve?—”
“Shut up, Jacob,” I snapped in his direction. It only took one look from me for him to shrink back. “I’m busy right now, but I will shut you up myself if I have to.”
A few people laughed, but I didn’t care about that either.
I refocused on the only thing that mattered and took another step toward Avery, my voice dropping, softening. “You drive me crazy, Avery. In all the best possible ways. You’re a menace with a shovel, and I’m not sure you’ll make it as a painter.”
Her lips twitched a little, but still, she didn’t smile.
“But that’s one of the best parts of you. You don’t care if you’re the best at it…you just want to do it. You will do everything and anything it takes to bring the inn back to life because you care so much that you can’t imagine any other option.”
I saw the way she sucked in a breath and her hand pressed flat on her chest.
“But what you don’t see is that you’ve already brought it back to life,” I continued. “Yes, it still needs some more paint, and the gardens are a mess right now and there’s an endless list of things we still need to get to, but none of that matters. You’ve already achieved what you set out to do, no matter what happens, Avery. You did it. The moment you set foot in the Tamarack Inn again, or more specifically, the moment I shoved you through the window,” I winked and finally, she smiled, “that was the moment that place came back to life.”
A single tear slipped down her cheek. I wanted more than anything to go to her and wipe it away, but I needed to finish.
“You are all warmth and light and without a doubt the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. And you’re pretty cute, too.” I smiled at her because that’s what she did. She brought it out in me. “You make me a better man, Avery. Just being in your presence makes me feel good. You walk into a room and people feel it. It’s an energy that gives people hope. Like this world isn’t as hard as it felt a second ago.”
“Reid, I don’t?—”
“You do.” I took her hand in both of mine and held it against my chest. “You see the best in people, even when they don’t deserve it.” I jerked my head to the side where I knew Jacob must be fuming. “You see possibilities where other people see nothing but rubble and ruins. And somewhere along the line, your sunshine slipped through the cracks of my grumpy crust and lit up something inside me that I didn’t even know needed to see the light of day.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face if I tried. My heart pounded, and I was sure she could feel it, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t trying to hide anything from her.
I was completely and totally lost to her. I was hers. In every way. I just hoped like hell she’d let herself be mine.
“I love you, Avery.” My voice was rough but steady. “Not because of this mess we’re in. Not because of the inn. Or because of anything else but the simple fact that I cannot imagine waking up in a world where you are not beside me. I love you because you are the sunshine and second chances and everything I never knew I needed in my life. And I will spend every single day of the rest of my life proving it to you, if you’ll let me.”
“Reid.” Her voice hitched. Tears streamed down her face now, but I refused to let go of her hands.
“I don’t want to just be the man who helps you rebuild the inn, Avery. I want so much more than that. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I don’t care because I want to be the man who gets to build the life you want. The life you deserve. I want to be the man who gets to love you for the rest of our days.”
“Reid…”
“Tell me you want the same thing. Tell me I’m not crazy and I didn’t just make a fool of myself in front of half the town.”
She exhaled sharply, and the smile I’d been missing for the last few days, finally, mercifully returned to her face, filling my heart with the love that’d been missing since she walked away from me outside of the Sprout n’ Shout.
Avery didn’t answer me. Instead, she pulled her hand free of mine, grabbed the front of my shirt, and pulled me down into a kiss that was anything but pretend.
The entire world fell away as I pulled her close, taking everything she was willing to give me.
The crowd erupted, cheers and gaps filling the air around us, but it barely registered over the pounding of my heart. Avery let out a breathless laugh, her hands still gripping my shirt like she was afraid to ever let go.
When she pulled back, her eyes were shining, but they were no longer filled with sadness. I vowed to never let that happen again. Not if I could help it.
“Reid?”
I dipped my head in a nod and waited.
“I love you, too.”
The words melted the little bit of doubt still left in me. I cupped her face in my hands and used my thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me, sweetheart.”
“You don’t have to. I can see it on your grumpy, handsome face.” She laughed, dropping her head back. “This is not how I saw today going.”
I laughed. “Me neither, to be fair. But I had full intentions of not letting you walk away from me again without making sure you knew exactly how I felt about you.”
Her hand slipped to the back of my neck. She held me firm as she looked into my eyes. “Well, I know now.”
“Good.”
“You don’t really think this is going to fix anything though, do you?”
“Unfortunately, no. But whatever it is that’s going to happen next, I’m not going to let you face it alone.”
She threw her arms around my neck and hugged me again.
I meant it. I didn’t know what was going to happen. If it meant she lost the inn or I lost the wood shop, as long as we didn’t lose each other, Avery was all I needed.
I closed my eyes and let myself savor this one moment with my girl before reality crashed back in. It wasn’t long enough before a strong voice broke through.
“I can tell you what will happen next.”