“I missed you more. I’m so happy I’m here with you, and with your mom.”
We walk hand in hand to the trunk, but before he takes anything out, he turns to look at me. “But how are you here? What about your job?”
Surprisingly, I feel no guilt in leaving. The opposite, actually. I feel lighter. Less worried and no longer in a constant state of anxiety since I stepped foot off the plane, knowing I was going to be with Graham.
“Rob told me to go. He could sense how torn I was, being stuck in Chicago while you were dealing with this all alone. I was… not focusing on things the way that I should have, and it showed. Instead of getting upset or angry at me, he told me to go and be with my family because at the end of the day, they’re what matters. And he’s right. I just wish it didn’t take me so long to figure that out. I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, Graham.”
His eyes soften, and he pulls me back to his chest. “Baby, don't apologize. You have been everything I’ve needed and more. Without you...” his voice breaks, “I don’t know what I would’ve done. Without you and my girls, I would’ve fallen apart long ago.”
“I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere. I realized, while I was packing the girls’ things up, how quiet the house was. I hated it, Graham. It’s like everything I used to think I wanted is not what I want anymore, and it took falling in love with you to realize it.”
“Home is wherever you are, Em,” he says, “And where my girls are. And that’s why I didn’t take the trade, because it would’veneverbeen my home. It would have been empty without my family, and that’s not my dream. Hockey isn’t my dream unless I can share it with you, Charlotte, and Quinn.”
Somehow, even when I think I can’t possibly fall any more in love with him, I do. I fall harder for this man. He bulldozed into my heart, made himself at home, and no matter what our future holds, I know that he’s in it.
“I can’t wait to spend time with the girls,” he whispers against my hair. “But I also can’twaitto get you alone.”
His words cause me to shiver, and I pull back to look at him, smirking. “Like I said earlier, Adams… all talk and no action.”
His hand connects with my ass, causing me to squeal. “We’ll see about that.”