39. Sam

SAM

I pace back and forth across the creaky floor in the wood cabin again. I already tried calling Annie, but her phone rang on her nightstand.

"Where did she go?" I whisper. I don't know anyone here, I don't know how to get ahold of Annie's friend Hannah, though I know this cabin is on her property, but I don't know how to find Annie.

The door swings open and the morning light falls into the cabin and I rush to Annie, pulling her into my arms.

"You left," I say, emotion filling my voice.

"I'm sorry," she answers, hugging me back. "I needed to talk to Hannah about something."

"And you couldn't have left a note? Woke me up and told me that you were going?" I ask. I know I sound frantic, possessive even, but I can't help it. I was afraid she'd left me again, for good. After she was acting last night, I have no idea where we stand.

She looks up at me. "I had to work through some things."

I swallow. This is it, this is where she tells me that she's done, that she can't be with me because she's too afraid and doesn't want to take the risk. But I'm not going to let that happen. "Wait, before you say anything, I have something to say."

She blinks, but doesn't stop me.

"I love you, Annie, more than anything in the entire world. I need you like I need oxygen. For years, I told myself that simply being your friend was better than nothing, and it was, for a time. But now I need you. I love you. I want you. You are my wife. I want to have a real marriage with you. A house with a wrap-around porch, kids if you want them, and to grow old together. We'll be eighty-seven and eighty-nine and I'll still be so in love with you.

"I know you're scared, terrified even. I don't know what the future will hold but I can promise you this, that even if we fight, I'll come back to you. Even if we drive each other crazy, I'll still love you and take you to bed at night and show you just how much I love you. I'll spend every single day for the rest of my life loving you and showing you just how much you mean to me."

When I look at Annie, her eyes are swimming with tears.

"Are you finished?" she asks me, quietly and my heart sinks.

I nod, slowly.

She reaches up and touches my face, moving it so I'm looking at her. Better take this break up like a man, even if it will break me completely.

"I love you, Sam," she says and I let out half a sob.

"You love me?" I ask. She reaches up and wipes away a tear.

"I love you so much. I'm so incredibly, stupidly in love with you. And I fought it for so long. I was so afraid, afraid to ruin our friendship, afraid that I'd end up like my mom. Afraid that I'm too hard to love because too many people have told me that I am."

I cradle her face in my hands. "Loving you has been the easiest thing I've ever done."

Annie grins up at me. "I love you. And I want all the things you want. A house, a family, us growing old together."

I press a kiss against her smile. "I love you, sunshine."

"I love you too," she says and kisses me back. I move us slowly toward the bed, shutting the door behind us and easing her down against the sheets.

"I want to kiss every inch of you, every single freckle. I want all of them," I say reverently as I take her in, scanning her face. She's got so much love in her eyes, it nearly undoes me. "I also can't wait to kiss your tattoo. You got it for me, all those years ago, because of the ring."

She nods. "I want every part of me to be yours," she says and I feel the fear slide away. I lean forward, pressing a kiss on each of her cheeks before moving to her neck and leaving a trail of kisses there.

"You've always been mine, sunshine." I say. She threads her fingers through my hair and lets out a gasp as I nip at her collar bone. It's the best sound I've ever heard. "I can't tell you how happy I am that you finally realized it."