Everything I Wish For (Lupine Valley #5)

21. Chapter Tweny-One

Chapter Tweny-One

Brad

I suck in a deep breath. Preparing myself for telling this story in full.

“That night, I was with Abigail. We were watching movies at her house. You got stuck at that party, drunk, with those assholes who could give a shit less about you, unless they were in your pants. You called me because you didn’t feel safe.” I pause. Letting the memories bring her back.

She nods. “I remember.”

“Well, Abigail didn’t want me to go. She didn’t want our plans to be ruined and said that I should just make you call someone else. But like I said earlier, I’ve loved you since high school. It probably wasn’t fair to Abigail, but I was the one who was going to come get you. No one else. And I wanted to. I loved you even then. She might have known that deep inside.

“So she ran to the truck to come with me. We were fighting the whole way, I kept asking her to stop so I could focus on the road. It was slippery up where she lived on Shepard’s Pass. But she wouldn’t quit. She just wouldn’t let me focus. When she asked me to pick between you and her. I lost my focus and hit the ice. That’s when everything happened. It all happened because she asked me to pick between her and my best friend, the love of my life.”

“Oh Brad. Tell me you haven’t held that guilt all these years.” She leans into me.

“How could I let myself be with you? How could we get the happily ever after when Abigail was left paralyzed because of me and our relationship? I had no business dating her knowing how I felt about you.” I rest my forehead against hers.

“Brad, she’s married. She’s happy. She might be paralyzed, but it isn’t hindering her life. Sure it did at first, but she’s adapted, she works hard advocating for others who are paralyzed. She has a successful non-profit. It’s not the way she, or you, imagined her life going, but it’s the hands you both were dealt. You can’t keep blaming yourself.”

“I don’t. Not anymore. The night of the wedding I left to call Abigail. I needed to talk to her before I could tell you everything. I needed to tell her how sorry I was for everything that happened and get her blessing for us to be together. I know it sounds dumb, but I had to. I needed to know she was okay with it.” A few unshed tears are building up in my eyes. All this time, and all this guilt. “I promise, L, I’ll never keep another secret from you again. I thought I was protecting you, but all I did was ruin us back then. You’re it for me. Always have been, always will. I never want another day where you aren’t mine.”

“Brad.” Lauren matches me with the tears in her eyes. “I hated myself for saying what I said at the airport. This has been the worst week of my life. I’ve only ever wished for you to be mine and when I had you, I let you go. It was a mistake. Nothing you could have told me about that night would have changed my mind. I love you so much, I don’t think I could survive another day without you either.”

She crashes her lips to mine. Releasing all the emotions of the last week into that kiss.

The TV blasts through the silence, and the lights come on with a symphony of beeping from the electronics and appliances.

Finally, the power is back on!

“What do you say we take this to the shower, then we can ride over to see Darlene at the diner for some coffee and pancakes?”

There has never been a sexier sentence uttered to me. I raise my eyebrows. “Chocolate chip banana?”

Her laughter fills the house, “Yeah. Chocolate chip banana pancakes.”

I stand and her eyes rake down my naked body, taking in every inch of me.

“Like what you see?” A grin tips up on one side of my lips.

“Mmhmm.”

Scooping her up I dash to the bathroom. “You’re about to really like what my body can do.”

I take the steps two at a time, making her squeal with laughter over my shoulder.

This right here is what I’ve wished for, for years. My Christmas wish is coming true. And I hope hers is too.