WHEN CADE BROUGHT me to this house the other day, I wasn’t ready to see it. My heart couldn’t take knowing he’d been here in Sutten building a life for himself—a life he hoped I’d be in—while I was miles and miles away believing he never loved me.
I’d been in denial when he first confessed that he loved me. That he’d loved me all along. I’d gone so long believing I was the only one who left heartbroken after our summer together. It was hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I left this town to avoid him because I couldn’t face him not loving me back, when all along he was here, unable to let us go.
Building a house for us.
I look around the kitchen, at the corner where Cade vividly described a breakfast nook would go. I can easily imagine myself writing there.
It’s weird to feel so happy and sad all at once.
I’m happy because the only man who has ever owned my heart wants to spend forever with me.
I’m sad because I worked so hard at creating a life that didn’t involve Sutten—that didn’t involve him—that now I don’t know how to intertwine our lives so we can have our happily ever after together.
But I want to try. I have to try. In the years since, I’ve spent so much time comparing every other man to him. Cade slipped through my fingers once before, but now that I have him and he’s made it clear how much he wants us, we’ll just have to figure out the rest.
I’m opening my mouth to tell him that when my eyes drift to the back of the house and what I imagine is going to be a back door leading to an expansive back porch.
Orange and yellow hues catch my attention. I take a step closer, my pulse humming in my ears as my heartbeat picks up.
“Cade,” I whisper, emotion clogging my throat.
His silence has me tearing my eyes from the scene in front of me to make sure he’s still there.
Of course he is. I knew he was because I could still feel him, like I always have.
He stares back at me, a hint of a smile on his full lips. In his hands he holds a large, folded blanket. He clutches it to his chest.
“How about you go check it out?” His voice is low and rough as he speaks through his own emotions.
I nod, not fighting the tears that fall down my cheeks. Ripping my gaze from his, I run from the kitchen and down a small slope. My feet don’t stop until I’m standing at the edge of the most breathtaking of views.
In front of me is a sprawling field of marigolds.
My vision blurs with new tears at the vivid shades of orange and yellow in front of me. The field is large and beautifully kept. The colors are so vibrant that I can’t look away.
I feel Cade before I see him. I turn to him, my tears hot against my cheeks as they stream down my face. “What is this?” My words come out hoarse.
“A reminder of you,” he answers honestly. His gaze doesn’t falter from mine. His amber eyes stare back at me with an immense amount of love and adoration. “A heartbroken man’s attempt to cling to the love he’d lost.”
“I don’t understand.”
“There’s one more thing I haven’t told you,” Cade confesses.
