The Choice (31 page)

We spend the majority of the day outside watching JT. The look of unconditional love and pride that crosses over her eyes when she watches him grips at my heart in a way I can’t describe. I can’t believe I get to spend my life with this woman.

When Debbie arrives later on in the afternoon, Sophie looks over at me with a nervous smile of adoration.

“You okay?” I ask, pulling her over to my side.

“Yeah,” she says after brief consideration, a small smile growing over her face. “I think I’m just about perfect.”

“I agree,” I smile as I
lift her chin to kiss her gently on the lips.

“I wish
Matty would hurry up,” she says. “I’m freaking starving and I want to tell everyone!”

“Nobody’s heard from him yet?” I grin at her excitement before she shrugs.

“My phone is still on the charger in your truck,” she says. “Ana? Have you heard from Matty?”

Patting her pockets, she rolls her eyes at herself.

“I left my phone inside,” she says. “I’ll go see if he called.”

“I’m sure yours is done charging by now, Baby,” I say looking down at her. “I’ll go grab it for you.”

“Okay,” she smiles before standing on her tiptoes to kiss me. “Thanks, Lover.”

“You’re welcome,” I smile. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

I make my way across the wide lawn to my truck, pulling my jacket off as the sun makes an appearance. It’s unseasonably warm today and for that I’m grateful. As I glance back at Sophie watching JT grip the monkey bars, the grin wide on her perfect face revealing those rogue dimples of hers, I can’t help but smile.

It took us a while to get here, but we made it.

Against all odds, Sophie’s
mine
.

My heart clenches with emotion as I pull the door to my truck open and reach in for her phone. Glancing down at the screen, I see that she’s missed over forty calls from Matt and my heart drops.

Nobody calls forty times if everything is okay.

“Sophie?”
I hear Ana shout from the porch, her voice weak and shaking.

When their eyes meet, I’m completely overwhelmed with sadness when I see the expression on Sophie’s face.
She clenches her stomach, the emotion causing her to slump against the huge oak tree she’s standing in front of.

My girl
’s completely petrified.

Before I even realize it, my feet are moving towards her at a rapid pace
.

“Baby?” I call out, watching as she
slowly turns her head to face me, her eyes shimmering with fresh tears.

I try my best to take in everything around me, but I can’t bear to take my eyes from hers. Ana is still frozen on the front porch, shocked by something she’s not made clear yet.

“Sophie?” I say, gripping her shoulders as I reach her. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t
know, Chase. I’m not…” she shakes her head in confusion before she stops speaking completely, looking past me to the commotion coming from the driveway.

As Ana’s scream sounds across the lawn,
I hear the glass bowl in her hand drop, shattering against the ground below her. I turn to see what they’re both looking at behind me and instantly regret the choice.

My heart
isn’t ready for what’s coming.

***

Looking after Chase as he walks toward his truck, I’m swept up in the adoration my hea
rt feels for him. I glance through the window to see Ana laughing at something Lucy’s saying, picking up a bowl to bring outside with her as she collects her phone. Drake is watching JT swing with excitement from the monkey bars, smiling at the way he sticks his tongue out in concentration. My Aunt Deb is busy snapping pictures of everything, her laughter contagious and warming me to my core immediately.

A year ago, I’d have never thought this day was possible. Now, though? With the people I love most in the world here with me and the last one on the way, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

I want you to be happy, my Beautiful Girl
.

Jack’s words sound gently in my
head and I feel a knot of emotion form in my throat. Blinking the moisture away from my eyes, I can’t contain the small, teary smile when I whisper back to him.

“I am, Jack.”

I glance over to Chase again and as he turns, I see the concern in his eyes. My attention is torn from him though when I hear the screen door swing open, finding Ana still gripping the bowl in one hand, her phone in the other. She’s staring down at her phone, the look on her face a complete contrast to the delighted expression she wore just seconds ago.

“Sophie?” she shouts from the porch, her voice a mix of confusion, fear and anguish.

Matty
.

I try to answer her, but I can’t. My lungs feel as though they’ve been completely stripped of air, my heart beginning to feel heavier in my chest.

Please not Matty
.

I barely register the feel of the rough bark a
gainst my back as I stumble into the old tree behind me. Needing to hold myself up, I grip my stomach, somehow thinking this ordinary action will save me from the torturous heartache that feels inevitable.

“Baby?” Chase calls out from across the lawn.

Using all the energy I can find, I turn to see him hastily making his way to me in a panic. His eyes never leave mine as he rushes to my side, gripping me by the shoulders.

“Sophie?” he says softly, the worry still very clear in his voice as he tilts my head up to look at him. “What’s wrong, Baby?”

“I don’t know, Chase,” I say, my voice shaky with fear as I hold his gorgeous, aqua gaze. “I’m not…”

When I hear the bowl in Ana’s hand shatter and her piercing scream, my heart falls further. Following her gaze to the driveway, I notice
Matty’s car for the first time.

Taking a step away from the tree,
Chase’s hands slowly fall from my shoulders. I look around him and everything I thought I knew about my life shatters, completely irreparable.

His six foot frame is more muscular than the last time I saw him. His sandy brown hair is shorter and his olive complexion is the darkest I’ve ever seen it. As he calls my name midstride across the front yard, his voice is deeper, more gravely than it wa
s the last time I heard it. He looks and sounds like he’s aged every bit of the time we’ve been apart.  Lifting me into his arms, the contours of his body are still familiar, but he’s hardened without a doubt. As he presses his lips to mine, the taste of him comes crashing back, but I’m still so stunned, I can’t even process it.

If this much time had passed between seeing almost anyone
else, I may not recognize them. However, the blue green of his eyes and the lopsided smile I’ve cried for over the past two years are unmistakable.

A hundred years
… a hundred lifetimes could pass and I’d know that smile
anywhere
.

“Jack?” I choke out in shock
as he pulls away from me slightly, gazing at me lovingly.

“I’m ho
me, Baby,” he whispers with happy tears in his eyes as he sets me down in front of him, resting his hands on my cheeks. “I promised you, Soph. I’ll always come back to you.”

“Son of a Bitch,” I hear Chase say from behind me.

And then the world goes black…

*****

My husband, Sean, for believing in me no matter what.

My parents for being the best parents I could ever ask for.

My brothers for loving me unconditionally.

My nieces and nephews for giving me hope in humanity.

My friends for making me happy every day.

Jennifer Culbreth, for being the best yeti sister. Ever.

Anyone who helped me promote this book. I couldn’t have done it without you.

My street team for kicking ass, taking names and having my back through everything.

My characters for choosing me to tell their story.

Anyone who ever made a promise and chose to keep it.

I love you.