He was holding a leash.
Connected to my big mutt.
Huck’s head jerked up, and a series of deep barks ripped through the stillness of the late morning. His huge body lunged forward, tugging the leash from Simon’s hand.
Simon turned and froze.
He looked like hell. Tired. Ragged around the edges. He was barefoot, wearing khaki cargo shorts and a black T-shirt. His hair was shaggy, curling around his ears in a way that suggested he’d had more important things to worry about than making time for a barber. Several days’ worth of beard covered his jaw. He was still gorgeous, but once again, I was faced with a different Simon than I’d ever seen before. His expression gave nothing away. And it certainly didn’t fill me with hope.
Huck trotted—without limping—toward the fence. He whined and pawed and licked my hand through the bars.
I scratched behind his ear, and he leaned into my touch. “Missed you, too, baby,” I whispered.
Simon took his time crossing the lawn. When he finally came close enough, I could see the dark circles under his eyes.
“Hi.” It was the lamest opening line, but I didn’t know what else to say.
Simon stopped in front of the gate and watched me. He didn’t reply.
I’m not sure how long we stood, just staring and trying to guess what the other was thinking. The seconds ticked by in almost painful silence.
I remembered the last time we’d played emotional chicken. It seemed I’d have to swerve first this time, too. “I—”
He spoke at the exact same moment. “I waited at the airport yesterday. For four hours. When you didn’t show up, I thought you’d decided to keep running.”
I swallowed. The time had finally come for absolute honesty. “I thought about it.” A flash of anguish arced across his features, but I pushed on. “I probably should have. It probably would have been better for you in the long run never to see me again.”
He laughed humorlessly and gripped the back of his neck with one hand. He looked skyward. “Don’t do me any favors, Charlie.”
“Trust me, I’m not. I don’t see the upside for you in this. I pretty much see nothing but downsides on your end. Being with me is a bad deal. The secret’s out, and unless I run and hide and become someone else again, everyone will know who I am—the daughter of a thief, and a liar in my own right. That’s who I’m going to be for the rest of my life. Anyone who stands by me is going to be ruined by it.” I took a deep breath and cut to the heart of the matter. “But it turns out I’m not strong enough to walk away from you again. This time, you’re going to have to tell me to go. Because otherwise, I’m not leaving.”
At some point during my speech, Simon had moved closer to the gate. He gripped one bar in a white-knuckle hold. The muscle in his jaw ticked, and I braced myself, hoping like hell I hadn’t said too much. Hoping like hell I hadn’t finally convinced him that I wasn’t worth it.
“I’ve spent all day trying to figure out what I was going to do if you’d decided to run. How I was going to deal with the fact you might not be coming back.”
A shaft of pain lanced through me. Had he already started trying to figure out how to cut me out of his life? “Simon—”
“No. You’ve said your piece. It’s my turn.” He reached a hand through the fence and toyed with a lock of my hair. “Because there’s still one thing you don’t seem to get: I don’t care who you are. I don’t care if you’re Charlie or Charlotte or Lee, or anyone else. Because all that matters is that you’re mine. I wasn’t going to let you go without a fight. If you’d run, I would’ve chased you. Just like I have since the beginning.”
“But—”
He cupped my face with his hand and ran his thumb over my lips to silence me. “If you’re going to tell me one more time how bad you are for me, I don’t want to hear it. The only thing I want to hear coming out of your mouth is you telling me that you love me.”
His thumb moved away from my lips, and the words tumbled out. “I love you.”
Simon leaned against the fence and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. A smile stretched across his face, and his eyes met mine.
“Welcome home, Charlie. I missed you.”
He pulled his hand back through the bars and reached for a button to open the gate. As soon as there was enough room, I left my bags on the sidewalk, slid through the gap, and launched myself at him.
Simon’s strong arms caught me and lifted me off my feet. I wrapped myself around him. This man was mine, and I was never letting him go again. He pressed his lips to my hair, and whispered, “Missed you so fucking much. Not letting you out of my sight for a goddamn year.” My only response was to hold on tighter.
When he finally set me down, the lightheartedness left me, and my expression turned serious. “How’s your mom? Is she going to be okay?”
Simon’s smile didn’t fade. “She’s going to be fine. A lot of therapy, but she’s going to be just fine.”
“And your decision not to campaign … was that because of me? Because I—”
Simon cut me off. “No. I’d already decided that before the Fourth of July. You just didn’t stick around long enough for me to tell you about it.”
Heat flared up my cheeks. “I knew if I wanted a chance with you, I had to make things right.” I looked down at the ground and the toes of my ratty Chucks. “It just didn’t exactly work out like I’d planned.”