Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“You made this?” she asks, barely above a whisper.
“Yeah. I mean… over time. It wasn’t—”
“For me?” she adds, finally looking up. There’s no anger in her eyes. No accusation. Just disbelief. And something dangerously close to tears.
“I made it for me,” I admit, my voice quieter now. “I didn’t plan it at first. It just… happened. Every time I missed you, every time something reminded me of you, I’d add to it. It was the only way I knew how to keep you close when I couldn’t actually be with you.”
Her lips part, but nothing comes out. She looks back down at the pages, turning each one carefully, like each memory carries weight. A small, shaky laugh escapes her, and she presses her fingers to her mouth like she’s trying to hold all her emotions inside.
“You’ve been carrying this around?” she asks.
I nod. “It was always with me, no matter where I was.”
“For years?”
“Yeah.”
That does it. My confession pushes her too far, and her eyes gloss over with tears. She shakes her head slightly, as if she’s having trouble processing her discovery.
“I thought—” she starts, then stops. “I thought I knew how much you cared about me, but this—” Her voice breaks just enough to make my chest ache. “This is… something else.”
“I wasn’t hiding it from you. I’d spent a weekend with Hank right before you came back to town and took it with me. I didn’t need it after that because I had you here in the flesh. I was looking for it a while back, but the priority was low because I had the real thing. I’m sorry, baby, if this upsets you. But having this”—I run my finger over the thin spine of the album—“with me on the road, it gave me a piece of home, a piece of hope to hold on to.”
She pulls the item to her chest and holds it there, as if she wants it to become a part of her, which makes sense, because she’s my heart, and that little album is a huge part of me and my love for her.
“This is unreal,” she says, but there’s no bite to it, just wonder. “Do you have any idea what this means to me?”
I let out a relieved breath. “Thank fuck,” I mumble. “You’re not mad?”
Her head snaps up at that, eyes wide. “Mad? Are you serious?”
A nervous half laugh slips out of me. “I mean… I’ve been carrying around a photo album of you like some—”
Before I can finish, her arms fall from her chest, album still in one hand, and she wraps them around my neck, guiding me closer. I go willingly. I can never get close enough to her. The move knocks the rest of the words right out of my mouth.
“I’m not mad at you, cowboy,” she murmurs into my shoulder, her voice thick, but I can hear the happiness in her tone. “How could I ever be mad at you for loving me this much?”
I huff out a quiet laugh, my arms coming up around her automatically. “I love you. So much.”
She pulls back just enough to look at me, still gripping my shirt like she’s not ready to let go. “No one has ever…” She shakes her head, overwhelmed again. “No one has ever loved me like that.”
Something in my chest tightens, but it’s not fear this time. “Good,” I say softly. “Because I don’t think I know how to do it any other way.”
She studies me for a second longer, like she’s committing the moment to memory, before pressing her forehead against mine. She doesn’t pull back right away. When she eventually does, it’s slow, as if she’s reluctant to put even an inch of space between us. Her arms are still wrapped around my neck as her eyes search my face, like she’s suddenly seeing me clearly for the first time.
“You said something to me that first night you made me dinner,” she begins, her voice still a little unsteady. “You said you were going to make me fall in love with you.”
“I made you a promise, and I kept it,” I say, kissing the tip of her nose. There’s a hint of pride in my voice because I’m damn proud to call her mine.
She lifts the album slightly between us. “This?” she says softly. “This is action speaking louder than words. You said that you would show me, and you have in so many ways, but this…” Her voice trails off as she glances at the album again.
My breath catches, the words hitting me harder than anything else she could’ve said. Because I did promise her, and I’m a man of my word, especially where she’s concerned. I was never afraid to put in the work to show her what she means to me.