Page 127 of This Beautiful Lie
He wore a slate gray henley and blue jeans. Simple. Familiar. The shirt clung in all the places I remembered, sleeves shovedhaphazardly up his forearms, revealing those tanned, corded muscles I’d felt under my palms on too many occasions to count.
But it wasn’t just that.
It was the way he stood—shoulders squared, jaw steady, eyes softening the moment they found mine.
He looked more handsome than I’d ever seen him.
MoreDeanthan he’d ever been.
And the force of it—the sight of him after everything—hit me so hard I had to curl my fingers into my palms just to stay grounded.
His hair was tousled, like he’d dragged his hands through it a hundred times. And his eyes… God. They were raw and pleading and so unwavering on mine that my knees threatened to give way beneath me.
He moved toward me slowly, deliberately, until only a few feet separated us. His shoulders broad, his breath unsteady. “I wanted to do this alone,” he whispers, “But they wouldn’t let me,” he began.
A shaky breath escaped me—something between a laugh and a sob—as I glanced at the crowd behind him. His family. My friends. All of them here… together. For him. For me. Forus.Hope and terror twisted so tightly inside my chest I could hardly breathe.
Dean stepped closer, and that’s when I noticed it—his hands were trembling.
“I tried to call you,” he said, voice roughened at the edges and quiet, “but you blocked me—everywhere.”
A tiny, broken sound caught in my throat.
“So I did the only thing I could think of.” He gave a breathless, almost disbelieving laugh. “I went to your friends.”
His gaze flicked to John then—and something flickered in his eyes. A vow or promise I could feel deep in my ribs.
John lifted a hand in a small salute, and I could’ve sworn he swiped a tear from his eye before he lowered it again.
My chest tightened.
Growing up, people left—and that was always the end of the story. No apologies. No explanations.
No one came after me. No one ever fought for me.
But Dean had brought an entirefamilyhere. He’d crossed miles and pride and fear just to stand in front of me now.
It knocked the breath from my lungs.
It felt overwhelming.
Unreal.
Like someone had cracked open a door to a life I’d never dared imagine for myself.
Before I could open my mouth to say anything, a bark split the air.
I turned just in time to see George let out of the back door by one of Dean’s uncles—tail wagging like a metronome, and a blue bow tied around his neck.
My eyes filled with tears at the sight of him. I dropped into a squat and opened my arms, and he barreled straight into my chest—pressing his snout into my shoulder.
“George…” My voice cracked. “Oh, George.”
I buried my fingers in his fur, while his tail thumped wildly against my side, his whole body vibrating with joy.
I laughed, choking on my own breath. “I know, buddy. I missed you too.”
And that’s when I saw it.
