Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69266 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Then, just as it had started, the song ended.
And West met my gaze. Regret in every bit of those big blue eyes. He smiled at me. Everything I’d gone through these weeks without him. All the pain I’d endured in his absence. One song couldn’t possibly fix it all. And yet something cracked inside of me, and the tears spilled down my cheeks. This was what I’d wanted. It was all I’d wanted.
The rest of the band filed backstage, and Campbell hopped off to meet me. He wrapped his arms around me tight, whispering in my ear, “Just hear him out, shrimp.”
I laughed hoarsely. “I thought you’d hate him for this.”
“I only ever want the best for you. If he’s it, then that’s what I want. I’m sorry for ever making you think otherwise.”
He kissed my forehead, ruffled my hair—to my dismay—and then followed the rest of the band out of the barn, leaving West and me all alone.
He stood from the piano and dropped down off the stage. “Hey.”
“Hey?” I asked through my tears. “Weeks of radio silence, and now, you say hey?”
“I missed you,” he said, walking carefully toward me.
“You can’t miss me.”
“I did. Every minute.”
“Why are you here? How did you convince Campbell not to kill you?”
“Apparently, he already knew.”
I sputtered, “What?”
That didn’t make any sense. Not a single ounce of sense. Campbell had made West worry that he wouldn’t even be accepted into the band. How had he known and just let it pass?
“I was as surprised as you are.”
“Oh, I doubt that,” I told him. As happy as I was to see him, I didn’t forget the last three weeks of misery that easily.
“I deserve all of your wrath. I do. I can completely understand how you’d be furious with me.”
“Good. Because I am.”
“But I’ve been miserable without you, too.”
“Good.”
He laughed and nodded. “I deserve that. I earned it in fact. I pushed you away and made you think that what I felt, what we both felt, wasn’t important. And for that, I’ll never forgive myself. I spent the last three weeks in LA, where I was supposed to be living my best life, wanting nothing more than to have you there with me.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. I wanted so much to give in to him, but I needed more than an I’m sorry. More than an I deserve that. It wasn’t enough.
“I tried to be happy in LA without you, Snickers, but it wasn’t possible. I don’t want this life if I can’t share it with you.”
“You’re the one who picked this,” I said, my voice cracking.
“I know. And I was wrong. And I’m trying to do everything I can to fix this. I invited Campbell to the studio, and I played him your melody. I told him about us. He laughed and told me he already knew because he wasn’t an idiot.”
I laughed softly. “That sounds like him.”
“He said that when he found out, Blaire came with him to confront us. She said that if he respected me as much as he did, then he should be happy that we were together. Not try to tear us apart. He wasn’t planning to listen to her, but you know what changed his mind?”
I shook my head. “What?”
“You did.”
I blinked. “Come again?”
“He saw how happy you were. The happiest he’d ever seen you was when you were with me. And he wanted that for you. He wants you to be as happy as you were when he saw you with me.”
I sniffled at that. “I was happy.”
“And I ruined it.”
“Yeah, you did.”
He took another step forward until we were nearly touching. “I hate what I did. I was seeing things in only one way. I couldn’t find a way to make this work.”
“So, how do you know it’ll work this time?”
His hand dropped to my chin and lifted my head to look up at him. “Because I love you.”
I melted at those words. The words I’d been so desperate to hear for so long. Words I’d never thought I’d hear. Not after how everything ended. Not after he walked out without ever uttering them.
“You do?” I asked, wanting so bad for it to all be true.
“I always have. I loved you when you refused to let me into my own house because you’d redecorated. I loved you when you crawled around on the ground as a delirious drunk. I loved you when you trusted me enough to take care of you. I loved you here, and I loved you in LA. I’ve always loved you, and I always will.”
A tear spilled down my cheek. He swiped his thumb across my cheek to capture the tear.
“I love you, Nora Abbey.”
A laugh burst from my chest. “You’re back.”
“I really am. I’m here for you. I refuse to be separated from you ever again.”