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He looked up at her, and her eyes were glistening with tears.

“I wish there was something to say to fix everything, but I know there’s not.”

Part of him ached to say everything was fine and do anything to make those unshed tears in her eyes go away, but an even bigger part of his was still holding up the wall he had around his heart. It was a flimsy wall at best, one she had the power to decimate. But he wasn’t quite ready to let her do that yet. So, he just took another bite of the cookie.

She hung her head, shook it, and wiped away a tear that tracked down her cheek. Lifting her head, she looked at him with unfamiliar determination. “I’m going to make this right. Even if it takes as long as I was gone, I’m here. I’m going to be here, trying to fix things, starting with this house. But, Asher, if you can let me back in, I want to fix things with you, too. We belong together. I never stopped believing that.”

“Really?” he huffed.

“Really. I know that is probably hard to believe, but I always planned on coming back.”

“You know, Sunny, there is a thing called a phone.”

She wiped away another tear and nodded. “I know . . . I wish I had a good excuse. I just needed to get away, and by the time I was ready to come back . . . I guess I was just too ashamed.”

“Sunny . . .”

“No, Asher, let me get this out. I watched living without my mom kill my dad. I watch him drive himself into exhaustion and madness, trying to figure out life without her. It was like I could feel that same madness settling in on me. I was so scared, and I had just lost my mom and then my dad and everything. I was a mess.”

“You say that like I didn’t lose both my parents in that same car crash.”

Her head fell again, and another tear slid down her cheek. “I know. You deserve so much better than me . . . but you’re still my mate.”

His gaze hardened on her. “You think I don’t fucking know that?”

“I know you do. And I know you know what that means. I fucked up and made a big mess of things. I hurt the one person in this world who was always on my side, and it makes me hate myself.”

At that, his gaze softened. Even in all his anger, he never wanted her to hate herself. His wolf was pushing him to go to her and pull her into a hug because he wanted to trust her, but he just wasn’t there yet.

“I know it will take time to be open to it, if you ever are, but I just want you to know. I’m back for good, and I want to make this work.”

He nodded and took note of the way her hand started to reach for his before fisting and returning to her lap.

“Okay,” he said before standing and taking another cookie.

“Okay?” She also stood.

“Okay . . .” Nodding, he took a deep breath. “I can’t make any promises. You broke my fucking heart when you left, but I’m willing to put it behind us. I don’t know what that means . . . but we both know I don’t have a fucking choice.”

“Asher . . . I?—”

“I’m going to go,” he said as he turned to leave.

“Wait.”

He put his hand on the banister and turned to look at her, feeling the beam wobble.

“Someone really needs to fix this. It’s not safe.”

She just nodded, and he headed for the door.

He carefully stepped down the deathtrap of a porch and approached his truck. Turning back, he looked at the house.

The squeaking screen door called his attention as Sunny came out with a Tupperware container of cookies.

“Be careful!” he called.

Smiling, she made her way down to him, then handed him the cookies. “Here.”