Love on Lavender Island (A Lavender Island Novel Book 2) (31 page)

Fifteen minutes wasn’t quite enough for the good-bye he’d envisioned.

But it would have to do.

It was long enough for a guy’s heart to break anyway.

CHAPTER 29

“Adam!” Paige let out a breath of relief when she spotted him jogging in her direction, looking around—she hoped, for her.

He looked amazing. He had on a black tuxedo with a crisp white shirt, the collar held around his neck by a soft-blue tie that was the same color as his eyes. The crispness of the shirt came around his neck in an oddly containing way—not how she was normally used to seeing him. But rather than look uncomfortable with the containment, he simply looked gorgeous.

As he turned near the boxwood maze, Paige stepped back to try to wave to him, but she lost her footing in the planter and toppled into a hydrangea bush.

“Oof,” she squealed. She landed sideways in the shrubbery.

She pushed against the leaves, her hands poking through the spindly branches and giving her no leverage, then tried to shift to one side to maybe roll out. But finally she managed to get her feet underneath her and back out, her bottom jutting in the air.

“These things always thwart my getaways, too.” Adam’s voice was suddenly right behind her.

She glanced over her shoulder. He stood, with his hands in his pockets, and watched, amused, as she backed her bottom out.

She finally straightened. “Thanks for the help.”

“I guess I was too busy enjoying the view.”

Her cheeks heated as she dusted herself off.

He was looking her up and down. “You look stunning.”

His eyes had already told her that. She had to glance away.

“It needed a little greenery,” she said, picking a few leaves out of the fluttery sleeve of the dress.

A silence filled the space between them while he shoved his hands in his pockets and seemed to calculate what he wanted to say next. “Paige,” he finally ventured, “I need to say a few things.”

She shook her head. Her heart was pounding. “I have a lot to say, too, Adam. And I think I should go first.”

The music trio led into a livelier tune—designed to encourage people to find their seats now—and they both turned toward it nervously.

“Can we go somewhere else?” she asked. “Quieter, maybe?”

“I’m not sure we can find a quiet corner on this ranch today.”

“Maybe back here?” She grabbed his arm and pulled him back with her about ten feet; then she thought twice about that spot and moved him another ten feet toward the orchard. It was getting quieter and quieter, so she kept tugging at his tuxedo sleeve. Pretty soon they were in the center of the orchard, in the middle of the cameras and camerapeople and wires that had been reconstructed for the documentary. The music slowly rolled into the traditional “Wedding March.” Paige let the familiar notes shatter her a little, wishing she could have had the gift of Adam falling in love with her.

As the “Wedding March” hit its louder notes, the camerapeople looked up at once. “Are they
starting
?” someone gasped.

Bodies went into frantic motion—cameras were wheeled back, lights were killed, grips jumped up from the ground. Paige and Adam pressed themselves back within the whirlwind, steeling themselves against one of the still-standing apple trees to let everyone by.

When the frenzy dissipated, Paige looked up into Adam’s eyes.

“I don’t want you to miss the wedding,” he said.

“This is more important.” Paige swallowed around the sudden feel of cotton in her mouth. She stared at the spared rows of orchard grass for a few more seconds and inhaled the sweet scent of apples as she gathered up her nerve. “Adam, I wasn’t entirely truthful with you earlier.”

He lifted his eyebrow and stared down at her. “There’s more?”

“Yes. I left another part out.”

He nodded slowly and stared at the ground. “Go on.”

“The part I left out is”—she took another deep breath—“I love you.”

The words came out in a whoosh of air and fear and honesty. They hung there, between them, as Paige watched Adam’s face change from surprise to relief to something that looked more like disbelief.

“You
love
me?” he asked.

She nodded slowly. She could hardly stand up.

“But how . . . how could you
love
me?”

Paige frowned. “What do you mean, how could I love you? I could love you because you’re a wonderful person. You take care of everyone on the ranch, even people and animals you’re not responsible for. You are kind and giving and generous. You try to fix everyone’s problems. And for the problems you can’t fix, you find someone who can. You’re sweet. And funny. And you love old movies. And you ride a horse like a Western hero. And you make a mean salsa. And you make me see stars when I come.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “I heard that was an important requirement.”

“You make me laugh. You make me happy. You love Amanda and Denny and Bob and Gert. You’re smart and handsome, and you make me stare at your body every minute I’m with you . . .” She looked up into his eyes. “How am I doing?”

“You’re doing okay.” He smiled, but then his eyes took on a solemn hue. “But I don’t hear the word
trust
in there, Paige.”

“
Trust?
Of course I trust you.”

“If you trusted me, I don’t understand how you could have kept your secret from me all this time.”

She gulped. Her eyes filled with tears again. He would never be able to forgive her—her worst fears realized. “Adam, I’m
so sorry
. I feel sick about what I did. I just—”

He held up his hand. “No. I forgive you for that, Paige. I really do. I forgive the young Paige for trying to point out the injustice of what she saw as unfair finger-pointing. I get that. But what I can’t get around is that
now
—in this time we’ve spent together—you didn’t trust me enough to finally tell me. What did you think I’d do?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Did you think I’d rail? Like my dad? At
you
? You know I’d never—”

“No! Adam, no. I don’t think you’re like your dad at all.”

His shoulders visibly relaxed. “Okay. That’s a start. What, then?”

“I thought you’d hate me, and that you’d end everything we had together. And even though, at first, all we had was FRED, I didn’t want that to end. But then, as we grew closer, I was more and more afraid of what I would lose. I was afraid of losing you. But I finally realized that if I couldn’t be honest, I’d lost you anyway.”

“Afraid of
losing
me? Paige, you weren’t in danger of losing me. I was falling. Hard.” He stepped closer. “Fast.”

Falling?
Adam was
falling
for her? She couldn’t quite reconcile what he was saying with what she’d always dreamed, and then what she’d feared losing.

“But,” Adam said as he stepped even closer, “if we want to have anything, we have to be able to trust. You have to trust me. It kills me to think you can’t.”

“I do,” she breathed out. “I trust you. But I realize I have to open myself up, also. I had to tell you the truth about being in love with you, too. I was learning to be honest with the details and actions of the past, but still not quite able to open up about how I
felt
. But now I am. I love you, Adam. And even if you can never forgive me, I want you to know that everything I did was out of love. And fear that you wouldn’t love me back.”

He stared at her for the longest time, as if trying to assemble the pieces in his head, then smiled. “I guess this isn’t like Ted?”

“Who?”

“Ted. The guy with the frame.”

“Todd.”

“Todd. Whatever.”

“No . . . not like Todd.” She tried to inhale.

But maybe it was. Only she was the one rushing to the declaration. But now she could understand where it came from. It came from a raw opening of your heart, a total throwing of caution to the wind. Total trust. A moment of being completely honest, and putting yourself out there to maybe get hurt, but knowing you needed to say it anyway. It came from feeling the love intensely and wanting to give it back. It felt wonderful. And free. And honest.

She looked up at him and tried to catch her breath again.

“I love you, too, Paige,” he said quietly.

She stared at him and blinked.
Did he just say . . . ?

No. He couldn’t have.

“What?”

“I love you.” He quirked a grin and wrapped his arms around her. “Too. Paige.”

She shook her head to force everything to make sense. “But you can’t.”

“I can’t?”

“We were being FRED,” she said.

“We were. And I didn’t want to change the rules on you. But things changed for me.”

Her heart continued its erratic pace as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. “When?” she asked.

“Maybe when I saw your backside stuck in that window.”

She smiled. “But that’s when you first met me.”

“Exactly. I can be slow.”

“But you have . . .
summer
women. Who you meet all the time.”

Adam frowned. “Where did you hear that?”

“My mom. She’s a pretty reliable source.”

“Paige, you are so far in another league from anyone I’ve met before, I can’t even begin to tell you.”

“When . . . when did you start to feel this way?” Her voice was coming out breathy. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Adam
loved
her?

“Things started to feel different the night I got home from the dude overnighter.”

She managed a weak smile. “Right before we got caught by Amanda wrestling with the paint cans in the hangar?”

“Yes, but you’re ruining my Hallmark moment here. When I got home from the dude overnighter, I came across the meadow that night and scratched Denny behind the ears, and I saw the lights on and knew you and Amanda were inside. And it scared the hell out me, Paige, what I was feeling right then. Because it felt like I was coming
home
. To you. It felt right that it was you.”

She brought her hand to the front of her neck as if to loosen the words that suddenly seemed lodged there. “Why haven’t you . . . why haven’t you
said
anything? Why did you agree to FRED?”

“Maybe the same reason you did.”

She gave a weak smile. “Fear?”

“Yep. Or maybe because I’m an idiot,” he added. “And then, later, when I realized you wanted to leave, I didn’t want to hold you back. I wanted to ask you to stay with me and Amanda, but I can’t ask that of—”

“Yes!”
she said.

“What?”

“
Yes
, I’ll stay!”

“But what about the island? You don’t like the island.”

“I’m finding a lot of things I love about it—the hangar is becoming a special place.”

He smiled. “I hear ya there. But what about the small-town nature and the rumors and all that island stuff you hate?”

“I’m realizing that, despite the gossiping, when push comes to shove, these islanders are here for one another. I forgot about that sweetness, but I saw it again when the meadow was in trouble—when
we
were in trouble. They came to help.”

“It took me by surprise, too.” He nodded. “It’s good to be reminded. What about the scorpions and raccoons and snakes?”

“All right, I’m still not used to those. But if you take the girl out of LA, maybe you can teach her. So did you really mean that? You want me to stay?”

“Absolutely. But the most important consideration is that I didn’t want to get in the way of your dreams. You need to pursue what’s important to you.”

“What’s important to me is you.”

His face softened. His arms grew tighter around her. “What about the Dorothy Silver role?”

“I’ll find another way to make my dreams happen. But my first dream, always, was you. I’ve dreamed about you since I was thirteen and saw you kiss Samantha, and wondered if I might turn into a sophisticated girl like that—someone with Veronica Lake hair and a mysterious Ingrid Bergman smile. I wanted to be that kind of woman from then on. I wanted
you
, Adam. I have since I was thirteen.”

He stared at her for a long minute, then reached up into her hair and cupped her cheek. Staring into her eyes, he gave her a serious look. “For the record, I’m not an Ingrid Bergman fan.” She smiled. His kiss was warm and gentle, full of love and adoration and trust and care and protection and, most of all, longevity. It was the most romantic kiss she’d ever experienced. Until something hard hit her head.

“Crap! What was that?” She brought her hand to her head and saw an apple roll into the dirt.

Adam smiled and brought his finger to his lip, glancing at the blood on his fingertip. “I think you bit me.”

“Sorry. An apple just fell on my head.” She twisted to look for the culprit.

“Paige Grant, I look forward to a long, exciting life with you.”

She kicked the apple into the grass with her high heel and touched his lip where she’d bit him. “Are you sure you want to take your chances with me?”

“Absolutely.”

“You’ve been forewarned—there will be crazy calamities.”

“I look forward to that.” He smiled and leaned down to give her a long, toe-curling, albeit slightly bloody, kiss. “Now, we have a wedding to rush to.”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the apple orchard.