Emily let out a quiet chuckle. “I never thought it’d be a problem. I believed in love, and that I loved him.” She shook her head. “But I was an idiot. I don’t know now if he ever really loved me. I was naïve.”
“And now?”
Emily furrowed her brow. “What about now?”
I glanced to the side for a moment before returning my attention to her. “It hurt when you drove me away. Almost destroyed me. I’ve never been married. Plenty of relationships, but none where I really cared that much.”
Emily closed her eyes and shook her head. “I know it hurt, Logan. I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do. I panicked, and I thought he’d be able to take Juniper from me. All I can do is apologize.”
“I’m not mad about that, Emily.” I kept my voice very calm as I spoke. “I understand why you had to do what you did. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m less interested in the past as in the future.”
“What do you mean?”
I took a deep breath. Did I want to risk the beginning of the end? Yes, because the only way I could push beyond this strange quasi-relationship was to risk everything.
“I need to know what we are. What we are doing?” I shook my head. “I know what you said in Japan, but after Juniper got sick, everything changed. Or at least I thought it did. Lionel screwed everything up, but he’s out of the picture.”
Emily stared at me, silent for a long while before finally speaking. “I don’t know what we are.”
“I know some things.” I reached over and took her hand in mine. “I know I love you, and I’m tired of hiding or pretending otherwise. After everything you’ve been through, I know you need a man who respects you.”
Emily bit her lip, her eyes wide. “I’m not sure about anything, but I don’t want to push you away. Can’t we just continue doing what we have been doing?”
I nodded slowly and offered her a smile. Now the truth was out there. I wasn’t sure if she loved me yet, but she wasn’t running away screaming either.
“Stay for dinner,” I sa
id. “That’s not too much.”
“We can do that.”
Hell, I wanted her to stay forever, but that would probably be a bit too much.
After realizing I didn’t exactly have food for three, including a little girl, I added, “Is cheese pizza okay? I can order some.”
Emily laughed. “I don’t think Juniper’s going to complain.”
We both looked out as Juniper ran in circles, her arms in the air, the dogs barking and chasing after her.
Glancing between mother and daughter, I knew then that everything was going to be all right.
Chapter Thirty-seven
EMILY
After we’d finished our cheese pizza, I collected the plates to put in the dishwasher. Juniper rushed into the living room to play with the dogs. If I’d known how much she would have loved playing with dogs, I would have gotten her one years earlier.
“I’m not a big pizza guy,” Logan said, “but that tasted pretty good.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a surprised pizza delivery guy,” I said, laughing. “It was funny how confused that poor guy was.”
I thought back to when Logan opened the door. The delivery guy said the address three times and asked us to confirm, and when Logan confirmed it, the man then asked twice to make sure Logan had actually ordered the pizza. The man seemed convinced the whole thing was some sort of elaborate practical joke.
“He said he’d never delivered a pizza to any house in this neighborhood,” I added. “You really think that’s true?”
“I guess nobody orders in this neighborhood,” Logan said with a shrug. “Never really thought about it. After all, Arla makes most of my meals.”
“Must be not much of a pizza place, I suppose.” I smiled. “Now that I think about it, when I was growing up, my parents never ordered pizza. I’d had it, of course, but I don’t think I actually ordered it until I was in college.”