"How long?"
"I can't give you an exact time and date, but definitely since high school. I was going to say something to you at prom, but you know, our parents happened."
I stare into his eyes, overwhelmed by a rush of emotions. I'm stunned, touched, nervous, even a little doubtful.
But more than anything, I'm elated.
I choke back tears. "Well, it took you long enough to say it."
I grab the sides of his face and smash my lips into his. It's urgent. It's messy. It's very, very wet.
"Is that your way of telling me you're in love with me, too?" he asks.
I smile. "It is, you great oaf."
"We should probably can it with the old-timey speak," he says, his voice thick with regret. "I'm sorry you walked in on that. We really were just messing around, but it was dumb. I shouldn't have done it. For what it's worth, I've been wanting to tell you how I feel for a really long time."
"So why haven't you?"
"Life always got in the way. Which is a weak way of saying I let things that don't matter get in the way of something that does." His eyes meet mine through the rain. "You're the most important person in my life, Buzz. You always have been. You always will be. I want to be with you. For real."
His words settle over my skin like a balm, but there's a light grit beneath them I can't ignore. I've been dumped by five guys for the exact same reason. I can't repeat that pattern with Court. I can't.
"But I'm needy, Court. So needy. Every guy I've ever been with has left me because of it."
He cups my face between his wet hands. "Hey. I'm not every guy. I've never left."
"You've never stayed," I point out, since that's more accurate.
"I am now."
"So you're not going back to Boston once your house arrest in Clovelly is over?"
He blows out a breath, and the warmth of it fans across my face. "There are a lot of things I have to figure out. But those are all solvable problems. The most important thing is this." He gestures between us. "If this is what we both want, we'll find a way to make it work."
"You promise?"
He hooks his thumb under my chin and gently lifts it until our eyes lock. "I promise."
56
2 months later…
Courtland
I pack the last of my stuff, zip my suitcase shut, and flop down onto the bed. I haven't slept in this room for the last two months, not since Buzz and I got together—and both caught a mild cold—after our declarations in the rain.
It's June 1.
I've met the six-monthget married and don't leave townprovision set out in Grandpa Arnie's will. As of today, the inn is officially mine.
I slap my thighs and get up and wander around the empty apartment one last time. As happy as I am about owning the inn, I'm sad to be leaving this place.
Buzz's cozy little apartment holds so much sentimental value. I may have been in love with him for years and years, but it's while we were living here that I finally got the balls to say it.
I take in the breakfast bar he'd sit at while eating breakfast, the counter where I'd sip my coffee, read my paper, and pretend not to look at him, the sofa he'd blow me on, the front door where we'd kiss each other goodbye before setting off on our days out in the world.
But all good things must come to an end, right?
