“Don’t cry,” He laughs, “Your tears are gonna freeze.”
I wipe them with the sleeves of my jacket.
Hanna stayed over the night I was in the hospital, and she tried to talk to me about it, but I blew her off. I was hateful as hell and told her I didn’t want to talk about anything. I had no idea she was trying to tell me that my feelings were valid. Relief bubbles in my chest.
“Soooo,” he drawls, “Where do we go from here?”
My head spins with about a million different thoughts, “I still can’t give you everything that you want, E. I’m not even sure that I want all of the things you want. I told you I don’t know how to do the whole love thing.”
“The most important thing I want is you, Jolene. It’s just you. The rest? We can figure it out later.”
I shake my head, “what if you change your mind?”
“I won’t.”
“What if I never stop leaving my bras on the couch?”
He shakes his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“I love you.”
My heart swells, and tears sting my eyes. “What if I rearrange your underwear drawer?”
He laughs, “Still gonna love you.”
“What if I steal all of your clothes because they’re more comfortable?”
He grabs my biceps, “Damn it, Jolene. I’m gonna love you no matter what, and we both know that you’d be stealing my clothes because you didn’t do laundry.”
I wrap my arms around him, squeezing him tight. “I love you, Eric.”
He pulls me into a kiss. One that feels familiar but also brand-spanking new. He pulls away, his lips still brushing mine. “I love you.”
“Forever?” I question.
He grins, looking around us at the snow, then at the ocean.
“Forever. No matter what, I’m your constant.”
“Just like the waves?” I ask.
He rests his chin on the top of my head as we both stare out into the water, “Yep, just exactly like those waves.”
EPILOGUE
ERIC
Christmas Eve
A year ago, if you had told me this is where I’d be today, I would’ve laughed in your face because this morning, I took Hanna’s engagement ring back to the jewelry store. She gave it back to me when she and Jameson, of all people, bailed me out of jail.
I didn’t mean to hit him in the hospital, but I’m not gonna lie. It felt good to get a good right hook in on the guy. I felt like I owed him one.
Everything was good now, though, we weren’t besties by no means, but we weren’t exactly enemies either. It was almost like an unspoken truce, like when you and your cousins beat the shit out of each other with boxing gloves and then go back inside and play five seconds later. We were good.
After all, I finally understood Hanna’s feelings about him because I felt the same way about Karly.
And Jameson was cool and understanding about my spending time with Ellie. She was definitely his, but somehow she still felt like mine. Ellie even had a sleepover here and called us Aunt Karly and Uncle Eric. It was the cutest thing ever and made me feel like there was a possibility I truly could still be a part of her life like I had been for the past three years.