God, but she looked so hopeful. “Maddie, baby—”
“Don’t talk, please don’t talk,” she said, and stepped even closer, her blue eyes locked on his. “I have to say this now or I will lose my nerve.”
“So say it.”
She took a deep breath and a rush of words came forth: “I love you.”
Those words knocked the wind right out of Luke. He had wanted to hear them, and yet had believed he’d never hear them.
“I love you, Luke. I do. I love you, I think I loved you the minute you saved me on Sometimes Pass.”
Her declaration slid right into his heart. But it did not make him feel all the things a man should feel when a woman professes love—they made him feel uncertain. Luke pushed his fingers through his hair and tried to process this. He wanted to trust her. He wanted to forget everything that had happened and sweep her up in his arms. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it, because he knew, deep down, that nothing had really changed between them, except that her words now hung between them.
“That was not what I was expecting you to say,” he admitted. “I don’t even know what to say to that, Maddie. I’ll be honest, I have felt so disappointed the last couple of days.”
“I know. And you don’t have to respond,” she said quickly. “But I had to say it. Because, Luke, you opened up a whole world to me. You’ve shown me things I never knew—” She paused, like she wasn’t sure what else she should say. “You taught me how to let someone in and it feels so perfect and right. Do you know for the first time in my life, I know what love is? I am full of it, full of love for you.”
She looked so sincere, and Luke’s heart went out to her. He touched her face, and she turned her head, kissed his palm, and pressed her cheek against it, her eyes closed.
Luke felt the same way about her, of course he did. But he couldn’t say those words out loud, not now, not knowing she would go back to Orlando. He was afraid what those words opened him up to, afraid of what would happen if he actually said them a second time in his life. Especially to Madeline, especially her, because she meant more to him than anyone ever had. If he said I love you to Madeline, it should mean something more than good-bye. It should mean that this was it, they were going to be together forever, they were going to make it work. It should not mean good-bye.
And that was all it would be, because he was fairly certain that nothing would keep Madeline from leaving.
Madeline opened her eyes, big blue eyes gazing up at him, full of raw emotion like he’d never seen in her.
“If you feel that way, then stay,” he said, testing her. And he held his breath, a tiny pinprick of hope in him.
Madeline’s face fell. “I can’t,” she said softly, and all his hope evaporated. “I have to go back to Orlando. There’s my work, and my mom.”
He started to glance away, but she caught his arm. “Luke, I made a phone call to a guy I work with. He is willing to take you on.”
“Take me on for what?”
“To be an architect. He has a firm there, and he said he would love to talk to you. He builds these big office buildings.”
“I don’t design office buildings.”
“Right.” She nodded. “But you could.”
“And you could sell houses here,” he pointed out. “Or in Denver.”
She bit her lower lip.
He already knew her answer, he’d known it all along. At least she’d been honest about that. And he guessed that he’d known his answer, too. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his body and kissed the top of her head. “Madeline Pruett, you put the I in irony. For someone who fears being left… you sure do a lot of running.”
“It’s not that. You don’t understand my work or my mother—”
“I’m not talking about just Orlando,” he said. “I’m talking about your life. You run, Maddie. You ran from Stephen. You ran from me after we got together in Denver. You just told me you loved me, and yet you’re about to run again.”
“I’m not running, Luke! I’m trying to take you with me.”
“But, Maddie, you knew before you asked me that I wouldn’t come.” He interlaced his fingers with hers. “Here’s the thing, baby. You can’t live on your little island waiting for things to be perfect. Relationships, families—they come with lots of flaws and nothing is ever going to be perfect. And if you are going to stand around, hoping that all the kinks and hurt and messy stuff will go away, you’ll never know the joy of any of it. You’ll be waiting alone for a very long time.”