She traced her fingers over the lines, the pounding in her heart slowly calming, although her smile grew broader.
She carefully turned the page, eager to see what else he’d given her. The second page made her pause until she realized it was an old timetable from the bus schedule. A couple summers after Mrs. Thompson had died, her and Katy had gone away to summer camp, and when they came back, Len had been the one to pick them up.
Just like the little pink notebook, the pages were filled with memories they’d shared long before they’d become intimate. She drew her fingers down the page where he’d tucked a set of tickets from the last May fair. The day Katy and Gage had tricked Len into taking her on some of the fair rides.
Nothing had happened between them, except—something had. She’d felt a zing of excitement beyond normal. A kind of anticipation and hopefulness as they’d laughed together easily, and she’d caught him smiling at her with real emotion.
She turned the pages one after another until she hit about two-thirds of the way through. For the first time the page was blank except for a note in the middle.
There’s room for more memories.
She’d been sitting still in the truck for the past however long it had taken to go through the book, but her heart was pounding as if she’d just finished sprinting.
They had the past. They could have a future.
It all came down to what happened in the next moments, and days.
One more brightly coloured sticky note jutted out a little further down in the book. Janey turned carefully to that page, shocked to find he’d slipped the deed to the house onto the page.
There was a handwritten note attached as well.
I’m not good with talking.
I wrote that down, then looked at the list of all the people I talked to while figuring out how to get you to fall in love with me again, and I realized I can do anything I need to get you back.
Mitch told me not to be stupid and do anything outrageous without checking with you first—he said that was important, and that Anna had taught him that lesson.
Gage told me no matter how long it takes for you to forgive me, or how long I have to chase you for, it’ll be worth it. And he said he’s got proof of that in Katy and Tanner.
And my dad told me no matter how much it hurts to lose someone you love, it’s worth every bit of pain because of the good times and the memories you make.
Katy said you wanted to stay in Rocky Mountain House to be a part of her life and her kid’s life. She also said if I hurt you, she would personally skin me.
Clay had something to say. Troy did. Heck, everyone in town has been telling me shit over the past couple weeks.
But none of that matters nearly as much as what you have to say.
So if you need more time, take the truck home and let me know when you’re ready to talk. But if you know what you want to say, the door’s open.
I’ll be waiting. However long it takes.
Janey looked toward the house she’d grown up in. A faint yellow glow shone from the living room windows, but the rest of the house remained dark. Like when they’d come home from a holiday, tired and yet happy, returning to a familiar place where they would unpack everything that had happened before moving on.
Inside the familiar walls Len was waiting. Could she take the chance and move forward?
The weight of the photo album lay heavy in her lap, and she realized he had been doing one thing she needed. He’d valued her, far more than he’d ever admitted.
And now that he was willing to share what he was feeling—
How could she not take the chance?
Chapter Sixteen
He’d let himself into the house, striding forward to the picture window in the living room to stare at the truck and wonder what was going through Janey’s mind.
He’d done what he could. He was scared shitless right now at having handed over proof of how long he’d been obsessed with her.
He hoped it would be enough.
There in the darkness, he closed his eyes and prayed for strength. Prayed for courage. And then he did the bravest thing he’d done in a long time. He turned away from the window and went back into the kitchen and pulled out a box of matches.
The house looked totally different than it had a few days earlier. When he realized exactly what it would take to get Janey back, he’d asked for help.
Walking the fine line between making a good impression and pushing too hard—he’d spent his life hiding on the sidelines so making some grand gesture seemed far too blatant. But Katy had assured him this was right up Janey’s alley before swearing if he ever talked about it to her she would scream.
So he crossed his fingers and lit the candles that were scattered around the house. Some in the kitchen, more in the living room. The light bounced off the walls and warmed the darkness as the yellow glow radiated hope.
He went down to the bedroom and lit the few he had on his dresser, looking around the nearly empty room and hoping Janey would come and fill it for him. Fill it like only she could fill his heart
He walked back to the living room and waited.
Sharing about his mom and his past had been hard, but not as hard as he thought. Maybe it was true that time heals all wounds. Or maybe it was that when the other choice—losing Janey now—was so devastatingly hard, long-ago trauma didn’t seem nearly so drastic anymore.
He was seated on the couch, staring down at his hands when a single floorboard creaked. He snapped his head up to discover Janey staring, her eyes filled with moisture, her arms wrapped around the photo album he’d been building for years.
She cleared her throat. “I did a damn good job on this floor, didn’t I? Got almost all of the squeaks before I laid the new hardwood.”
Her smartass comment dragged a smile to his lips. “I knew it was quality construction when I bought it.”
She laid the album down on the coffee table and held out her hand. “You need to take me on a tour.”
“I’d love to.” Len accepted her hand, and the two of them stood there in the middle of the living room grinning at each other like fools.
Thank God she put him out of his misery without dragging it out any longer.
“I want to be with you,” Janey said. “And I don’t expect you to change all your ways, because you being the big strong silent type totally does it for me.”
“I just can’t be silent about the important things, right?”
“Right.”
She tiptoed closer, wrapping her arms around him and laid her head on his chest.
It was like his heart had walked back into his body.
Len threaded his fingers into her hair and tilted her head back, leaning over to press their mouths together. Kissing her—it was supposed to be tender and soft, but once they connected he couldn’t stop. He had missed her so much, and her taste was like a drug roaring through his system.
She all but crawled up his body to cling tightly as he made his way down the hallway toward the bedroom. He tried to tell himself he wasn’t making any assumptions, and he really wasn’t. But getting his feet to go in the other direction would have been impossible.
He laid her out on the mattress and joined her, side-by-side as they kept kissing. Janey’s hands rolled over his body, untucking his shirt, short fingernails dragging up his sides.
She pushed him, and he rolled to his back, breaking for air as she stared down. The candles he’d lit reflected off of the picture on the wall, the warm glow showing the hope in her eyes.
With one knee on either side of his hips, she straddled him. Both hands pressed to his chest as she leaned over and dazzled him with her smile. “You know, I once thought of us as playing the game of tag. And right now, I think it’s finally safe to say I got you.”
“You’ve got me for as long as you want me, and even longer,” he assured her. “You’re never getting rid of me. Never.”
She nodded, even as she sat back and stripped away her top, the pale brown fabric of her bra covering her breasts but showing her nipples were already tight.
At least for the second she still wore it, because the material flew to join her shirt on the floor.
“God, you’re beautiful. Every single bit of you.”
Her smile turned a little smug. “You are pretty awesome yourself, and I’m the only one who gets to know exactly how awesome. I like that. I like that very much.”
He had to be the slowest of all bastards that he had to think hard before figuring out what she was talking about.
Admittedly, her breasts were distracting him. They were right there in front of him as she leaned forward. He took total advantage and licked the tip of one, sucking her nipple into his mouth as she peeled her pants off her hips.
Using both hands to hold her, he curled up to get a better mouthful, loving the noises of pleasure he dragged from her lips, awed by the fact he knew exactly how to slip his hand down her belly and between her legs to cup her intimately.
He pulled back until they were resting cheek to cheek, his lips inches from her ear. “And you’re mine from here on. Part of me is glad you had a good time, and part of me wants to go track down everyone you ever fooled around with and remove their teeth with my favourite pliers.”
She laughed, and then he was kissing her, the two of them rolling as he lost his clothing, as he stripped away her pants, and they ended up in the same position all over again. Janey looked down with a sense of power and pride.