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“Listen to me.” I rotate so I’m facing her. “You had absolutely nothing to do with why your dad and I broke up. Any pain between us, we caused ourselves. I don’t ever want you to question that. You hear me?” I stare at her until she nods in understanding. “And even if we never get back together, I still want us to be friends. You mean a lot to me.”

She nods but doesn’t look convinced. “Hey, tell me what you’re thinking. I can’t help make it better if you don’t talk to me.”

“He says we have to move. He said I’d get over it because I’m still young, and that he can’t take your house from you.”

I let out a low breath, drop my head into my hand, and rub my eyes. “I told him I’d sell him the house. I don’t want you to have to move.”

She shrugs. “He doesn’t care.” She looks up at me with so much sadness in her eyes. “Why can’t we all live together?”

“Come here.” I pull her onto my lap and hug her tight. “Give me a chance to fix this, okay? This isn’t what I want, please believe that.”

She nods and lets me hold her until her tears dry. Once she’s calm, we load up and head back to the house. All I can think about is finding Matthew and changing his mind. I can’t be responsible for breaking little Emmie’s heart.

Emmie runs inside before me,leaving the front door wide open. Matthew and Rosie are in the kitchen arguing, and Emmie runs into the middle of it before I can stop her. I don’t catch enough of the argument to know exactly what’s being said, but I hear a few keywords that let me know the subject matter. Moving. House. Mistake.

“Daddy, I don’t want to move.” Emmie cries and I freeze at the doorway. I don’t belong in the middle of this conversation. This is Matthew’s family, not mine.

“Emmie, we talked about this. We can’t stay.” He sounds so exhausted. All I want to do is wrap my arms around him and tell him it’ll be okay.

She stomps her little foot and balls her hands into fists at her side. “But she said we could stay. Why won’t you listen to her?”

“Emmie, enough.” His voice is firm, almost angry.

Emmie’s shoulders sag in defeat. “I hate you, Daddy!”

She turns on her heels and runs past me. Matthew’s eyes meet mine, just now realizing I’m standing here.

Rosie sighs and shakes her head. “Will you two please figure this out before you completely break my granddaughter? I’ll go get her and take her home with me. I don’t want to hear from either of you until thisthingbetween you is resolved.” She turns to Matthew and pins him with an angry stare. “Do you understand me?”

He gives her a single nod, then she rushes past me. Neither of us make a move until Rosie has Emmie in her car and is starting down the driveway.

Without a word, Matthew rushes past me and heads up the stairs. A few seconds later I hear a door shut. My shoulders slump as thereality that he’s doing this for me washes over me. For the first time since we reached adulthood, Matthew is choosing me. Even over his own daughter’s happiness. He’s willing to break Emmie’s heart to give me what I always wanted—my home.

I can’t let him do this.

I slowly ascend the stairs and make my way down the hallway to the closed door at the end. I rest my hand on the doorknob and hesitate. If I open this door, it means I’m choosing him. Am I ready for that? To let the past go and welcome whatever the future has to offer. Because once I open this door, there is no going back.

I take a deep breath, and whisper, “Yes. Yes, I am.”

When I open the door, Matthew is sitting on the opposite side of the bed with his head in his hands. I make my way around the room and drop to my knees in front of him. He doesn’t move or give any indication that he knows I’m here, but I notice a slight increase in his breathing.

I reach for his hands, and pull them away from his face. His eyes are red, and his cheeks are wet with tears. My heart breaks all over again. Matthew and I have shared so much over the years, but I’ve never seen him cry. Knowing these tears are for me creates a shift inside me not unlike an earthquake opening the ground and changing the landscape.

I wipe his tears away before I cup his face between my hands. “Matt, don’t do this.”

He covers one of my hands with his and slides the other around my neck. He pulls me to him. Every ounce of my being trembles, but I welcome his embrace. “I’m not living in this house another day without you.”

His words are the final catalyst to completely break me apart. My entire world has been under constant pressure, just waiting for the moment an eruption so significant and powerful hits, that it changes everything. This is that moment. Every bad thing that happened over the past fourteen years was nothing more than warning tremors, minor disruptions in the flow that was my life. Everything inside me tumbles around before it settles into a new place. A better place.

I lock my eyes on his and lightly brush my lips across his mouth. “Okay.”

His hand tightens around my neck and his eyes widen slightly. “Okay?” He repeats as a question.

I swallow hard, my nerves sending a lightness through my entire body that makes me feel like I’m about to fall. But Matthew removes his hand from mine and wraps his arm around my waist as if he knows. “I know we have a lot to work through. It’s going to be hard at times. But Emmie has stolen my heart.” His arm tightens around me, and he sucks in a breath. “And you,” I kiss him again. “You have always owned my heart.”

A sob escapes him, and more tears run down his cheeks. I pull him into my arms and hold him as close as I can. The quake inside me draws him in, takes all his pain and love and hope and combines it with my own. My own tears break free at the way this man is crumbling in my arms. We tumble together, letting it all go until our souls reunite as one. We hold each other, neither of us speaking, until our tears slow.

He lightly kisses my shoulder blade, then my neck, and upward until he finds my lips. It’s a slow, gentle kiss filled with so much love and intention. With every brush of his lips and light stroke of his tongue, he’s telling me how much he loves me. And for the first time in years, I welcome that love and the promise of the future it brings.