“To trust anyone, or me specifically? We have known each other for only a matter of days.”
Instant scowl. “You’re being awfully flippant here, Cameron.”
“And you’re being exceedingly careful, Jeremiah,” I countered. “What do you say we both stop?”
What seemed like eons ticked by as our future hung on the answer to a not-so-simple question. We were either going to start something together or call it quits; to do the former, he had to trust me. I knew it was a huge ask, and it wasn’t fair the decision was solely his, but it was up to him to jump and trust I would never let him fall. I would be his safety net from now to the grave.
I realized that was probably a bit melodramatic, but the fact was our relationship would not approach anything like normal for the foreseeable future. Not only would it be long-distance, but we would be on unequal footing as well, because we were in different places financially and professionally. This was our short-term reality, though; the long-term held all kinds of promise, and I believed we were already far more alike than different.
Beyond that, meeting him was like being struck by lightning, and I knew there were those times in your life, those singular moments when you had to decide to act, to take the first step onto a new and scary path or stick to the one you knew. I had second-guessed myself as well, but by the time I got in the car to return to him, I’d made up my mind. I would turn myself inside out before I walked away. I needed him to find the same resolve.
My heartbeat was loud in my ears, and I was the one who wasn’t breathing now.
“Okay.” I heard the emotion welling in his voice and knew he was struggling with his choice, with something brand-new and completely foreign—faith in someone other than himself.
“Okay?” I forced out past the lump in my throat.
He nodded, and I saw the tears welling in his eyes before he turned his head and wiped them away roughly.
“Look at me.”
He did. Slowly.
“I won’t let you down.”
Quick nod.
“You’ll see.”
He didn’t say a word, but when I leaned in, he took my face in his hands, and kissed me with more hopeful longing than I could have asked for.
He was all mine.
13
Jeremiah
I couldn’t sit on the fence waiting and worrying for something to go wrong. That was no way to live my life. I was either going to jump or let Cameron Gallagher go home and never see him again. The idea of that, of him leaving, was what made me decide to take the leap of faith. Imagining him walking away, of him never holding my hand again or looking at me with those beautiful eyes of his, or kissing me—it was too much. The man was a prize, kind and trustworthy, a rock, and I’d have to be an idiot to let him go.
I had no idea what I’d done to make Cameron ask me into his room, and beyond that, want to see me again and spend time with me and…Christ, now he wanted me to live with him part-time, but what I did know beyond a doubt was that being in the same room with him settled something down deep inside me. I was used to running, filling my life with so much movement I hardly had time to think. Between the restaurant and school and the counseling, I barely slept.
My life had changed overnight, and here was a brand-new reality. I had time to stop and look around now, would wake up in the middle of the night and find Cameron passed out beside me in bed, and that inexplicably felt like the new normal. I had no idea how it happened, but I was determined to find my footing.
In the morning, my new nurse, Francisco, took out my IV, and I got up to shower while Cameron was still passed out on the hospital cot that looked like a medieval torture device. I was careful as I stepped under the water, as there were still a few sharp twinges when I twisted wrong, but I felt so much better afterward, simply being clean.
I was discharged at ten thirty, which was impressive for a hospital, and Cameron promised me pancakes, since I’d declined the hospital breakfast. I was thankful my insurance coverage was good until the