The One Who Waited novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Say It

I looked at him across the counter.

He was already reaching for another wrong scone, like the subject was closed and he was fine with it.

He was always fine with it.

That was the problem.

"Put that down," I said.

He put it down.

I came around the end of the counter.

My apron was white with flour. My tank top was white with flour. There was dough under my ring.

I stood between his knees where he sat on the bench.

For once I was taller than him.

"You don't get to wait anymore," I said. "I'm done making you wait."

He went very still.

"Merry."

"I'm talking."

"Okay."

I put both hands on his face.

His beard was soft. There were crumbs in it. His eyes were gray and blue and wide open, and he wasn't breathing.

"I love you," I said.

It came out plain.

It was the easiest thing I had ever said.

"I love you, Luke Darrow. Not the deal. Not the proxy. You."

"The coffee and the sheets and the dog with no name. I love you."

He closed his eyes.

His hands came up and held my wrists, the way he had ten minutes earlier.

He held them; he was making sure I was really there.

"Say it again," he said, very low.

"I love you."

"Again."

"Are you going to say it back, or am I doing this all night?"

He opened his eyes.

"I love you," he said. "I've loved you since a plastic chair in Ithaca with your blood on my hands."

"I loved you through every Christmas card. I'm going to love you when you're ninety and still bossing around a kitchen."

My eyes filled up.

"That's a lot of talking for you."

"I saved up."

I laughed, and he pulled me down and kissed me.

It wasn't like the paint shop.

In the paint shop he'd kissed me like he was afraid I'd change my mind.

Now he kissed me with everything he had, sure of my answer.

I untied my apron and dropped it on the floor.

A cloud of flour went up around us.

The dog sneezed from his bed and gave us a look of real disgust.

"Not here," I said against Luke's mouth. "Not with him watching."

"Your room or mine?"

I thought about my room at the end of the hall.

The one with the lock. The one where I'd slept alone every night since October second, listening to him not sleep.

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