Page 191

"I'm not going to Alaska," she says—loud. Clear.

My hand freezes.

My heart stops.

The whole world pauses around me.

Air shoots from my lungs, and my brow knits together. "You… aren't?"

She shakes her head, sinking her fingers further into mine.

"No. I want to stay. I want to be here with you and be close to my family. I want the life I'm building here that I'm really starting to love."

I inhale a slow breath.

"With the boy that I still love so much," she adds.

"I love you too, Lenny," I rush to say. "I always did. I—"

"I know," she interrupts, her lips curled. "But it wasn't just your assumption that broke us back then, Jace. It was my silence too."

The words hit me hard, but I instantly feel lighter—like the weight of everything has finally left my shoulders.

"I could have told you I didn't want to go," she continues. "And you would have been hurt, I'm sure. But you would have understood—for me. For us. It was me being too afraid to leave. And too afraid to tell you. But now?" She grips the hem of my jersey in her hands, clinging onto the fabric like she's afraid to let go. "Now, I want to be brave enough to stay."

Her voice trembles slightly, but my shoulders fall from my ears, my knees weak beneath me with relief.

Lenny closes what's left of the gap between us, swinging her arms around my neck. "I'm tired of running."

My eyes sink shut as I drop my forehead to hers. "Are you sure?" They slowly open. "Because this is your dream."

Lenny's skin brushes mine as she shakes her head, a hushed laugh escaping her perfect lips. "Alaska isn't the dream, Jace. You are." She slips her thumb under my chain and runs it along the base of my neck. "This. Us. It always has been."

I inhale what feels like my first full breath since all of this started—this conversation, these last few weeks. These past six years we've been apart.

Her words replay in my mind, and the corners of my lips tug upward. "I still don't think I actually asked you," I admit.

She smiles sweetly, and my whole body lights up in the way it only does around her. "You didn't have to," she says. "I already decided."

Six years disappears in an instant.

My whole world—this sold-out stadium—shrinks down to the way she feels in my arms. Warm. Real. Fully mine again.

For good.

I yank her in and kiss her—hard.

Harder than I probably should considering this game's about to start.

But then, I pull back.

"Wait." I pause, searching Lenny's face as her eyes flutter open. "What about Alaska? Don't they need someone? And work—what are you gonna do if…" My voice fades off as reality sets back in. "You love nursing. And you're so good at it."

Her smile doesn't falter. In fact, it grows.

"Dylan's going," she says simply, dropping her arms.

I blink, trying to understand.