for lost time. I’m not trying to do that. I am trying to make it
so that we can be happy together and have the best chance
possible of this working. I want to be here with you. I want to
spend time with you. It sucks being back in Tampa when
you’re not there. It’s not fun for me, no matter how much I
have going on there.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Dallas angled in and shifted over so that their knees
were just about touching. “Yes, Quinn. I know this is going to
scare you and I’m not trying to, but I need you to know that I
feel all these things. Things. God. That’s so vague. I need you
to know that I think that I never stopped loving you. I know I
shouldn’t be dropping that word because it’s really fast, but I
do. I still feel it. You were with me all those years that we
weren’t together. You were always in my heart. I think you
were always the one for me, and that’s why I couldn’t move on
and why I couldn’t forget. I don’t know why it took me so
long to come back. I can’t thank your grandpa enough for what
he did. He brought me back when I knew I wouldn’t be
welcome. When I knew it would be hard. I still wouldn’t have
made the choice to look you up, because I felt like I couldn’t. I
felt like there was this huge wall between us that I could never
hope to get over. I’d created it and put it there and I couldn’t
bring it down, but he did. He did, and I’ll always be so, so
thankful for what he did.”
“Do you still have that money he gave you?” Quinn asked
hesitantly. She could feel her eyes starting to fill up with tears
and she didn’t bother to blink them away. Dallas looked a little
misty in the eye department too.
“No. I gave it to those charities that I’d picked out. They