Page 176 of Micah

Bad days happen.

There isn't a damn thing I can do to change that.

But I can stand beside her when they come.

I can build something solid enough that she never has to face them alone again.

Maybe that's enough.

Maybe that's what love really is.

Not grand speeches. Not fairy tales.

Just showing up. Every single day. Doing the work. Making it real.

Choosing the same woman over and over until one of you stops breathing.

That's the kind of man I want to be.

The kind she deserves.

If she'll have me. And if I have to spend the next fifty years proving I'm worth trusting, I'll do it.

Gladly.

She steps out onto the porch wearing my T-shirt.

Her hair catches the morning sun.

She is still smiling when she looks at me.

Just me.

“Morning.”

One word.

One smile.

And just like that...

I know I’m right. Sloane belongs to me.

And I’m hers—wholly and completely.

Chapter 23-Sloane

The ladies are wonderful.

Breakfast somehow turns into an event instead of just a meal. There are bagels and bacon, fresh fruit, eggs, enough coffee to keep a small army awake, and more laughter than I've heard in one room in years.

Bit has a story for everything.

Esme laughs so hard at one of them she nearly snorts coffee out her nose.

I don't realize how much I needed this until I'm standing in Micah's kitchen, barefoot in his T-shirt, laughing with two women who somehow already feel like friends.

For the first time in a long time...