Page 237 of Broken Brothers

I looked up and saw a sign for a rest stop about two miles ahead.

“Let me ask you a question,” I said.

“OK,” Layla said. “You have your flirtatious voice right now, Chance. You have me wondering what’s going on.”

“Oh, just you wait,” I said with a smirk. “Was the rest stop about two miles outside of Lewisburg?”

“Umm… yes…”

I pumped my fist. It was game time. It was time to show Layla how much she meant to me. It was time to prove my lovefor her. It was time to show that I was serious about leaving everything in my life behind except her so I could be with her.

“Why, Chance?”

I knew she was getting suspicious from the sound of her voice. She had to have a feeling of what I was about to do. I gunned the gas, hitting a hundred miles per hour, slowing down only when the on-ramp for the rest area appeared.

“You know how I like to do bold, audacious things?” I said.

And then I saw her. She was standing just by her car, her keys in her hand. She had a look of confusion etched all over her face. I loved it. I loved every single second of it.

“Look at the Prius approaching you.”

I hung up as she did. She gasped in shock, placing both hands by her mouth, as I parked right next to her and got out of the car. I went over to her and put my hands on her.

“Just let me explain,” I said.

She was too surprised to say or react in any fashion. I couldn’t stop smiling. How fucking crazy was this?!? How fucking amazing was this?!?

“I know that the past week, I’ve made some really bad choices,” I said. “I should never have gone out with Sarah on Saturday, and I’m sorry. I should never have sniped at you on Monday, and I’m sorry. But one thing I have said I would always do was pursue the things that I love and fight for them no matter what it took. When you said you were moving to Chicago, at first, I thought that was the death kneel of us working out.”

I laughed for effect, only increasing the confusion for Layla.

“But then I thought, wait, why do I have to stay in New York City? I have the money to go anywhere I want. I can fly back to visit Mom and Morgan any time that I want. I have the freedom of time to do so. So where I stay should reflect what I value most.”

I cleared my throat.

“I saw my mother—my real mother, the woman who gave birth to me—on Tuesday, the day after you said it wouldn’t work out. And Layla, I have never met a kinder woman. My birth father, unfortunately, has been gone five years. But my mother said something about my father. She said that he was always there for her, even when she tried to push him away. She said that he was smart enough to recognize when she really just needed space and when she was genuinely upset.”

Layla’s slow, creeping smile told me that I was on the right path.

“With us, I feel the same way,” I said, trying to make my words as passionate and strong as possible. “I know you have to take this job. No, scratch that. I know you want to take this job. I want you to take this job too. But I also want us to be together. Think of all the shit we’ve overcome, all the things others have thrown at us, all the nonsense we’ve dealt with. You think moving to a new city scares me? It’s nothing compared to Edwin or Craig.”

“Boy, that’s true,” Layla said with a nervous laugh.

“Exactly!” I said. “Look, I’m a billionaire now with Edwin’s passing. I can fly wherever I want, whenever I want. If I miss Morgan, I can see him in one day and fly back that evening. Distance means nothing. But you know what means everything? Love.”

Now I was starting to become emotional, but I held it in check.

“I love you Layla, and I mean it,” I said. “I’ve seen what a loveless relationship looks like with Edwin and Melanie. But I know what a loving relationship looks like from what my birth mother said about her husband, my father. I know what it sounds like. And I know that we match it. I know this is sudden and this is fast. I know that this is kind of out of nowhere. But you know what? You wanted the bold Chance, you got him.”

I smiled as I took her hands into mine.

“I’m here to say that I want you to be my person, to be my one, Layla,” I said, unable to control my grin. “I will climb mountains, drive across states, fly to new cities, and do whatever it takes to be with you. I will never give you a reason to doubt who I’m interested in anymore. I will never do anything other than promise to love you with all my heart and soul from now until the end of time.”

It was all good to say that. But love was a two-way street. And so…

“So what do you say, Layla?” I said, raising my eyebrows.

“Wow,” she said, left mostly speechless. “Wow. Wow. Umm… wow.”