Page 100 of Trusting Mr. Sterling
“One more thing.”
He tensed. “Yes?”
“The pink glitter sign.” She bit her lip, holding it under her arm. “Where did you even get that?”
“Knox helped me make it last night. We used craft supplies from his trunk.”
“Knox carries pink glitter in his trunk?”
“Sometimes it’s better not to ask.”
She laughed, really laughed, a sound that filled the whole street, and Gabriel decided that whatever happened next, hearing that laugh was worth every ridiculous, desperate, over-the-top thing he had done.
“I’m keeping it,” she said. “It’s covered in glitter. You’ll find it on everything for years.” She tipped her head back to meet his eyes. “Every time I find pink glitter somewhere it doesn’t belong, I want to remember that you sat on a sidewalk in old clothes with that ridiculous thing and waited for me.”
He pulled her closer, the bag crinkling between them. “I’d do it again. Every day for the rest of my life.”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t let go of his hand either.
They reached her building and went upstairs. She unlocked her door, stepped inside, and held it for him. He followed her into the entryway and set the heavy bag of grovel supplies on her table.
She turned to him and said, “Lucy is going to be insufferable about this.”
“Probably.”
“She’s going to say I told you so.”
“Almost certainly.”
“And Devney is going to cry.”
“She does that.”
She went quiet. Then, softer: “Your mother never liked me.”
He went still. “No. She didn’t.”
“Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, the only opinion that matters to me is yours. I told her that on Tuesday, sitting in her living room, holding a teacup. She didn’t love it. She also didn’t argue. She knows better now.”
Tessa exhaled, long and slow, like she was letting go of something she had been holding for days.
“I don’t know if I can trust you yet.”
“That’s reasonable.”
“But I want to try.” She squeezed his hand. “That isn’t forgiveness. Not yet. But it’s?—“
“A start.”
“Something like that.”
She was smiling. Small and tentative and real, and he found himself smiling back.
“I love you,” he said.
“I know.”
