Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 786(@200wpm)___ 629(@250wpm)___ 524(@300wpm)
It was hard to imagine living here among the noise and millions of people, but if that’s what it took to be near Allie, I’d adapt. Besides, the job stayed the same. It might not be Alaska, but ocean was ocean. And I’d have another shot at requesting Sitka in three years.
Three years was nothing in comparison to how long I’d loved Allie.
I checked my watch and sipped my overpriced cup of coffee, stepping out of the way so other customers could exit the shop behind me. Seven thirty meant I had ten minutes to make it the two blocks to Allie’s place before she left for rehearsal. It also meant I hadn’t slept in about twenty-four hours. Whatever. Sleep was overrated. I breathed in anxiety and exhaled determination.
My phone buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans, and my pulse jumped just like it always did, but it wasn’t her.
Gavin: Win her back yet?
Hudson: Haven’t seen her yet.
I slipped my phone back into my pocket and stepped out into the sea of nameless faces, heading east toward Allie’s apartment.
The last five days had been torture. The Rousseau house had been emptied of all but one occupant. Allie had said goodbye to Juniper. To Caroline. She’d even stopped in at the bar to bid farewell to Gavin. Guess she felt our words at the beach were a sufficient end to whatever we’d become.
I didn’t.
The flow of traffic slowed near the corner, and I stopped with the others walking their daily commute, waiting for the signal to clear us to cross.
I pounded the caffeine, then rolled my neck. It was a long-ass drive down from Haven Cove, but it would be worth it. What Allie and I had wasn’t just rare, it was extraordinary. It had been from the moment we’d met. Soulmate. Love of my life. Whatever terminology there was still didn’t adequately describe the connection.
She existed, and I was hers.
And if it meant moving to New York and begging her forgiveness until my knees were raw, then that’s what I would do. I didn’t have a lot of experience in the groveling department, but I’d be its fucking CEO for as long as it took. She’d loved me at seventeen—
She never said she still loved you.
But she did. I knew it with the same certainty I felt every time I left the aircraft, knowing that I’d make it back in. I understood her like I did the ocean, and its rhythms and waves, its tides and swells. Allie loved me. She said it with her smiles and her laughter. She screamed it with her body. She whispered it in the middle of the night when she covered me with a blanket and kissed my temple. She revealed her fear of it every time she tried to pick an unnecessary fight. She’d spent every spare minute she could with me in that last month, and I hadn’t complained once, because while it may have only been four percent of her day, it was a hundred percent of what she had to give.
Now I was giving her the same.
My phone buzzed.
Gavin: Your speed is less than impressive.
Gavin: I have it handled here at home. Go get your dream.
I finished off my coffee and tossed it in the bin, then lifted my phone to type out a response as the light changed and people rushed forward to cross.
A dog barked across the intersection, and I looked up.
And froze on the edge of the curb.
Sadie trotted at Allie’s side in a hot-pink harness and matching leash, her tail wagging as they crossed the opposite side of the street.
Allie. My heart started pounding erratically and it had nothing to do with the caffeine.
I immediately pivoted, fighting against the flow of people to keep her in my line of sight.
Her oversize sunglasses hid her eyes, but she was dressed in a close-fitted blue T-shirt, leggings, and tennis shoes, and her hair was already tucked neatly into a high bun—headed to rehearsal.
Fuck, I had her schedule wrong.
Allie adjusted the huge tote on her shoulder, and Eva stepped into view on her other side. Fine, if I had to grovel in front of her sister, I’d manage.
“Excuse me,” I said, narrowly missing some guy in a three-piece suit as I walked against the current, desperate to keep my eyes on Allie. “Allie!” I called out, but she didn’t hear me.
Eva talked nonstop, but whatever she said made Allie smile as they approached the studio doors, and I paused at the edge of the curb, estimating my chances of crossing traffic unscathed.
“Allie!” I tried again, only to be lost in a chorus of honking cars.
Everett came through the door and threw his arms around Allie, hugging her tight and lifting her off her feet. Allie grinned as he spun her around, wrapping Sadie’s leash around them both, and Eva chased the pink nylon and grabbed hold so they didn’t go tumbling.