A Wright Christmas - K.A. Linde Page 0,61

can.”

My jaw dropped open. “You’d move to New York?”

“For you?” He lifted my hand and pressed his lips to my fingers. “Anything, Peyton.”

27

Isaac

Peyton had tears in her eyes.

God, I hoped they were happy tears.

I’d meant every word of it. After Aly had fallen asleep on me on Christmas, I’d decided that I couldn’t sit by and let this happen to me. If Peyton was what I wanted, then I couldn’t let her be the one to have to make the sacrifices. Happiness was a two-way street.

So, I’d booked the first flight to New York for me and Aly, held my nose as I paid the insane hotel price, and purchased tickets to Peyton’s show. I had no idea how it was all going to go down. But I didn’t think Peyton wanted to give our relationship up any more than I did, and if that was the case, then I had a plan to fix what we’d broken.

“We can make this work,” I assured her again. “I really think that we can.”

“What about Aly?” she gasped.

“It’ll be harder,” I admitted. “I can’t lie about that. New York is so much more expensive than Lubbock, and I wouldn’t have the support I’m used to with my parents and Annie. But she’s five. I think she’d adjust just fine here. She’d learn to love the city like you do. And we’ll fly her back to see everyone when we can.”

“Isaac…I don’t know.”

“Look,” I said, pulling the picture Annie had given me at Christmas out of my pocket that I’d saved from the trash can.

She took it from me with trembling hands. “I remember giving this to you.”

“Me too. It was after we went to Ransom Canyon. You wanted me to keep it in my locker. It was a promise.”

She turned the picture over. “Nothing can come between us,” she whispered.

“I still believe that, Peyton. It might be difficult. It might not be what we always envisioned. But for us, for you and I to finally be together, I think it’s worth it. I think it’s all worth it.”

She clutched the picture to her chest with her eyes closed and shook her head slightly. She was going to say no. I could see that on her. All of this was for nothing. It just couldn’t end like this.

“Peyton, look at me.” She shook her head again. “Come on. Look at me.”

She finally opened her eyes, and they met mine with pain in her irises.

“I love you. You’ve always had a piece of my heart, but the last month, when I was with you, was the best of my adult life. It made me realize everything that I had been missing. And that is you. If you feel the same, then please just let us try. Just try with me, love.”

She bit her lip and then sighed. I saw indecision war on her face. But I gave her the space to think about it. It was a lot. We’d said we’d think this through, but she must have thought it wasn’t possible since she’d run.

“Okay,” she finally said.

“Okay?”

“I want to try.”

“You do?” I asked, slightly shocked. I’d been preparing myself so much for her to say no.

“And not just that, Isaac,” she said, taking my hand. “I want to come home.”

“What?” I gasped.

“I’ve been thinking about it nonstop since I got back here. It felt right to be back in Lubbock. I loved being back at LBC. I loved being close to my family. And I loved being with you. When I came back here, everything felt…wrong.” She brushed a wisp of hair off of her forehead. “The dancing is still incredible, but I’d be lying if I said that my knee wasn’t getting worse every time I danced. I don’t know how much longer I have, working on it full-time, even with more PT and my trainer. I don’t want to go out because of a second blown knee. I want to go out on my terms.”

“That makes sense,” I told her. “Your knee is definitely a factor, but, Peyton, you could still be dancing professionally for another five years. I could never ask you to give that up.”

“You’re not asking. I’m telling you that I think if I want to walk when I get older, I can’t continue the way that I am.”

“Okay. Right. Injuries are no joke.”

“And a small fall after tripping shouldn’t cause me two days of pain.”

“Fair,” I admitted.

I couldn’t deny that I was worried about her knee. But