we need to work on your grasp of scientific theory.”
“I want to be at your side for all of it. Every sunset, every low tide, every day of your life, as long as I’m alive and breathing on this earth.” His own voice was a pleading croak now, equally choked, and he didn’t care. “Give me a chance to prove it to you, älskling. Please.”
When she drew back from him and stood, his muffled sound of grief should have humiliated him, but he was too bereft for pride. Too bereft to keep speaking, keep arguing.
Instead, numb with misery, he simply watched her reach for her purse.
He’d missed his shot. Lost the point, the game, the set, the match.
He’d lost everything.
Rather than taking her purse and leaving, though, she unzipped it and dug inside.
“I’ll forward the e-mail confirmations to you later, but I printed these at the resort business center this morning. I wanted some sort of concrete physical documentation to show you. Feel free to call me old. I can take it.” She handed him a folded sheaf of papers, and he fumbled to hold them. Struggled to read them through wet eyes. “I need to be at school as much as possible this year, but I can take several long weekends if I prepare far enough ahead of time.”
When he simply stared at her, too overwhelmed to piece together what she was saying, what she’d handed him, she stroked his cheek. “The plane tickets are nonrefundable. I’m coming to see you at least three times this fall, whether you want me or not.”
“I do.” It was barely a sound, and as much as he could articulate. “You know I do.”
Another stroke of his cheek, tender and warm. “I know.”
After more digging in her purse, she produced something small. Removing the papers from his grasp, she laid them on the coffee table and deposited a key in his palm.
When he closed his fist over that silver key, the movement sudden and fierce, she bit her lip. “I’m not ready to say you can move in. But I went to a hardware store on the mainland today and made you an extra key for my house, because you’re welcome there, and I want you with me, and I want us to figure out how a daily life together could work. Because I love you.”
He bowed his head and fought for control.
“This isn’t practical, you know.” Her palms cupping his face tipped it upward, until she could meet his blurry gaze. “Not something a reasonable forty-year-old woman would do.”
He nuzzled into her hands. Rested there, content. “But?”
“I trust you.” Her lips courted his, clinging for a sweet moment. “I trust myself.”
“We can make this work,” he said against her mouth. “We will make this work.”
It was a declaration. A vow made with the force of everything he held dear, everything he’d dreamed, everything he was.
“I agree.” She smiled at him, her hazel eyes bright and warm and more beautiful than he could express in any language. “Let’s prove it.”
Epilogue
Lucas’s shot whizzed over the net to Tess’s side of the court, but getting to it would require running. An intense burst of speed, culminating in a dive for the ball and a frantic swing of her racket.
Nope.
Instead, she leaned on that racket and watched the ball pass by, then turned back to Lucas. “Nice shot.”
“I didn’t mean to hit it that hard. Sorry.” In the partial darkness of the late-evening tennis court, the gleam of his grin shone from the shadows. “I got distracted and forgot what I was doing for a moment.”
The sight of her in a sports bra tended to have that effect on him. At least she hadn’t whacked him in the nose with a ball yet, although the night was still young. Unlike her.
As of tomorrow, she was forty-two. Back to fourteen years older than her boyfriend, instead of thirteen. She was also back to the gorgeous island where they’d first met.
A fair tradeoff, in her view.
She shook her head. “You know I’m always going to suck at tennis, right?”
“I know.” He strolled toward her. Bending over to rest both elbows on the net, he regarded her with amusement. “You know I don’t give a shit, right?”
“I know,” she said.
Jesus, she was sweaty enough to singlehandedly keep any local desalinization plants in business. How had she forgotten the muggy heat of the island, even after such a long absence? Far enough away from the breezy shores, every breath felt