Page 113 of Rebellious Hearts

“She said so herself,” I said. “I overheard you talking to her. She doesn’t want to be with me and play happy families.”

Amy shook her head, pressing her hand against her forehead.

“You are such an idiot, you know that? Since when does picking up pieces of a conversation constitute a confession?”

“What are you talking about? I heard everything I needed to hear—”

“Or everything youwantedto hear before you decided to run with it. It’s more convenient for you to believe that she doesn’t love you because you’re too shit scared of the fact that you love her, too.”

I stared at Amy. I had no idea how to respond to what she was saying because she wasn’t wrong. Maybe a part of me hadtaken what I’d heard and used it in my defense because I wasn’t ready to admit that I was so in love with Sofia I could barely see straight.

And being in love was a weakness. It meant that all the stuff I was trying to hide would be laid bare, and what if there was something she didn’t want to see? What if what she found just didn’t cut it?

Amy still stared at me, but her face had softened.

“Do you want to hear the full conversation, or are you happy believing that she doesn’t love you?”

I pursed my lips together and shook my head.

“Are you seriously in love with her?” Luke asked. “Like, head over heels whipped for real?”

I glared at Luke but turned my attention back to Amy.

“Tell me,” I said.

Amy took a deep breath and told me the whole conversation. I’d only heard one part of it, and I’d taken that to heart, but there was so much more to it. Amy explained to me how a guy had fucked Sofia over before, expecting her to give everything up, making her feel like she was still not enough.

And that Sofia loved me.

That she was terrified of giving it all up again for nothing.

What hurt me the most while Amy told me all of it was that I’d done exactly that—I’d made Sofia feel like she wasn’t enough.

And if anyone had ever understood how it felt to not be good enough, it was me.

Fuck.

I hated that I’d done that to her. I hated that she’d been the collateral damage to my own disaster.

I hated it because I was in love with her.

And she was in love with me. Which meant that I had to do something to tell her that. I had to tell her how much I cared about her and how much I wanted her in my life.

I suddenly realized that I wanted it all. The wife. The child. The happy home. I wanted a family that was like the one I’d grown up in.

A family that was my home.

Sofia was everything, and I’d been an idiot letting it all slip through my fingers.

Richard had lost his wife because she’d passed away. He’d done everything in his power to show her how much he loved her and they’d done everything they wanted together… until he was forced to keep at it alone, with nothing more than her memory to keep him company.

Sofia was still very much alive, and if I let this go, if I didn’t do the right thing, I would lose what was important to me becauseIdidn’t do the right thing. If we didn’t make memories together and grow old together, it wasn’t because of anyone or anything other than me and my stubbornness.

Alex was right.

Ihadfound my Charlotte—the woman who’d changed everything for me.

And I had to go get her back.