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“I do. Part of my heart is in one place, and the other part is somewhere else.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “Maybe we can fix that.”
His brow lifted. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Well, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to live on the beach.”
His face lit with cautious hope. “Are you saying what I think you are?”
“I am,” she said.
A joyous smile overtook his rugged face. “That’s fantastic. What changed your mind?”
She took a breath, trying to keep the emotion at bay. “You remember when you said that after my car accident, everything just snapped into place for you?”
“Yeah,” he said softly, giving her a tender look.
“Well, that’s exactly what happened to me.” More tears rushed to her eyes. “When Luke was trying to keep you breathing, and we were waiting for the paramedics … even in my groggy state, everything became clear. I realized that as hard as it’ll be for me to leave Fort Worth and my parents, there’s one thing I can’t live without—you.”
They held each other’s gaze as a deep understanding flowed between them. They were in this together for the long haul.
“Okay,” he finally said. “If that’s the way you feel about it, then there’s only one alternative.”
“Oh yeah?” she teased. “What’s that?”
“We make it official.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Official?”
He took hold of her hand, his voice regaining its strength. “Jules Sterling, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she blurted. “A thousand times yes.”
He pulled her down for a long, breathless kiss.
A giggle tickled her throat. “Wait until I tell my dad—he’s going to be ecstatic that he’s two for two.” She tipped her head, her voice going musing. “I might even insist that you keep the house.”
He groaned. “I told you—and Clayton. I don’t want that stupid house. I only want you.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I know. But I might as well make Dad work for it a little. You know, so he’ll think he got the better end of the bargain.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You’d do that to your poor old dad?”
“Mm hm,” she murmured. “He gave Tippin a guitar. I think a house is only fair. We’ll keep my bungalow and sell the house so we can put the money towards a nice place on the beach.”
“My little cottage not good enough for you, princess?” Brock asked with a sly grin.
She pursed her lips. “It looked rather small from what I could tell when we did our video calls.”
“Oh, really?” Laughter warmed his eyes to gold.
“But I suppose I’ll have to see it in person to decide.”
“Maybe we should take it one step at a time,” he chuckled.
“One step at a time,” she echoed.
“As long as we have each other, I’m up for the journey.”
“Me too,” she smiled.
He gave her a look that said more than a novel’s worth of words could convey. And in that look, she caught a glimpse of eternity.
Not what she’d planned.
But something so much better!