Page 74 of Finding Gideon

He was looking at me, really looking, like he was memorizing the moment.

“You matter to me, Malcolm,” he added. “More than I ever thought someone could.”

Something in my chest tightened, then eased. I turned my palm to lace our fingers, my thumb brushing over his knuckles.

“That’s good,” I said, my voice low. “Because I’m not planning on letting you go anytime soon.”

His voice was quiet. A little hesitant. “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah.”

He hesitated again, like he was weighing the question in his mouth. Then?—

“Could we… I mean, do you think maybe we could be—boyfriends?”

It wasn’t cocky. It wasn’t a joke. It was a real ask, raw and unguarded, the kind that takes guts when you’ve spent most of your life wondering if anyone would want you that way.

And I knew—God, I knew—he hadn’t had much of the kind of unconditional love you can lean your whole weight on. His brother had been the only one, and he’d been gone three years now.

So I didn’t make him wait.

“Yes,” I said, the word steady and sure. “Yes, we can.”

Something in his face loosened—like a door quietly unlocking—and for a second, I could see the boy he might have been before the losses and the fights and the nights alone. A soft, almost disbelieving smile curved his mouth, and it hit me in a place I didn’t know was unguarded until that second. I’d do anything to keep that look on his face.

He hesitated once more, his voice softer. “Can I call you mine?”

That one went straight to the center of me, cracking something open I didn’t even try to patch.

“Yes,” I said again, firmer this time. “I want to be yours.”

The orchard blurred at the edges. All I could see was him—eyes bright, smile soft, sun catching in his hair like he’d been carved out of light. And in that moment, I knew this wasn’t just yes for now. It was yes for as long as he’d let me.

I let my arm fall gently around his shoulders, my cheek resting against his hair. The scents of apples, grass, and him—all of it rooted deep.

And right there, under the hush of the trees, I made myself a promise.

I’d call my family.

Because if I was lucky enough to have this man choose me, the least I could do was make sure he knew—really knew—he wasn’t a secret.

Chapter 24

Gideon

I hadn’t planned to say it.

Boyfriends.

It wasn’t like I’d mapped the day out in my head, counted the hours till I could ask him, or rehearsed it in the mirror like a line for a school play. It just… happened. The way some things do when you’re not scared anymore.

He said yes.

Not with a long speech. No dramatic pause, no deep, meaningful declaration. Justyes—like it was simple. Like it was obvious. Like maybe he’d been waiting for me to ask first.

And somehow, that made it matter more.

We sat there a while, quiet, backs against the tree, sun shifting higher above us. His arm rested behind me. Not quite around me. But close enough that I could lean just a little and feel the weight of him there. Solid.