“Earth to Alison.”

I turn around to see my mother leaning on the doorframe to the living room. She’s been watching me for who knows how long while I sit curled up on the sofa watching the sun set.

“Are you okay?” Mom sits beside me and gives me a questioning look.

I grin. “I’m good. Great, really. Just nervous.”

“What about?”

I untwist my legs and sit up straight. Taking a deep breath, I ask the one person that I know that’s been in a healthy marriage for most of her life with the same man. “How did you know that Daddy was The One? Like, I thought Hayden was, but now I know he wasn’t. But how do you know your heart isn’t being stupid?”

“You just know.”

“Gee, thanks, Mom.”

She pats me on the leg. “Are things getting serious with Mr. Landry?”

I nod and her smile widens further. Eventually, a grin tugs at my lips too.

“I really like him. Like, I love him. But I thought I was in love before, and it wasn’t love, so what if it isn’t this time either? I have Hux now; I can’t just go falling in love.”

“The fact that you got into a relationship with him in the first place speaks volumes.”

“How’s that?”

She shrugs. “Look, Ali. You never got involved with anyone seriously since Hayden. Why?”

“Because they weren’t good enough for Huxley.”

“Exactly. But you let your guard down with Barrett.” She takes a deep breath. “You’re a fantastic mother. I’m so proud to watch you with Hux and how you put him before anything and everyone. It just fills my heart with so much pride. I’ll admit, when I heard you were seeing Barrett, I was a little anxious. He has quite a reputation.”

“I know,” I laugh.

“But if you trusted him enough to let him around my grandson, then that’s enough for me.” She considers her next words. “He talks about him. Says he likes him and that he talks to him like he matters.”

“He’s so good with Huxley,” I say, my heart brimming in my chest.

She takes my hand and gives it a squeeze. “You have to trust yourself. Believe in yourself.”

“That’s what I tell Barrett.”

“What?”

“To believe in himself. To know he can do things his way and win.”

“Well, smarty-pants, take your own advice. Believe in yourself and believe in him enough to fight alongside him. Did you ever think that maybe no one has believed in him before?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course they have. He’s supported by everyone. His entire family turns out to support him.”

“Supporting someone and believing in them are two different things, Alison.”

I gaze back at the sunset and think about what she said. The longer I mull it over, the more right she seems.

“I’m going to take off,” she says.

“We need to leave soon for Huxley’s program at school. You sure you don’t want to come?”

She sighs. “I wish I could, honey. But your father will be home shortly and I really want to have a hot meal ready for him when he gets in.”

“Okay.” I watch her walk to the door. “Thanks, Mom. For everything.”

“It’s what I’m here for.”

The door shuts behind her as I curl back up on the sofa. I wonder what life would be like with Barrett. How much of my daily life would change? How would I go about working and going to school if I was living with him?

Could I live with him? Without some sort of guarantee that things would work out? Do I want to be that girl that demands a guarantee?

My anxiety begins to spiral out of control when his name pops up on my phone. I swipe the screen.

“Hey, you,” I say.

“Hey, baby. How’s your day?”

His voice is gruff and I can hear frustration laced through every syllable. It pings at my heart.

“Good. But how was yours? You sound tired.”

He huffs a laugh. “Tired. Pissed off. Frustrated.”

“Why?”

“Well, I made a deal with the devil today.”

“What do you mean?”

I pull the blanket around me, furrowing my brow. It’s not so much the words that bother me, although they’re ominous in themselves. It’s the tone that he’s using, the almost lack of warmth, the void of any sort of energy that has me biting my lip.

“I called Monroe. Made a deal on the Land Bill. It’s done.”

“Oh, Barrett ...” My spirits sink to the floor, knowing just how much he didn’t want to do this.

“I didn’t have a choice,” he sighs. “The poll numbers are too tight.” He growls into the phone and I want to reach out and pull him into a giant hug.

“Why do you sound like you’re trying to convince yourself? Not me?”

He chuckles. “Because that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.”

“Then why did you do it? Why did you go against what you wanted to do?”

“I had to.”

“No, you didn’t,” I implore. “What you want, what you put your name on, that means something, Barrett. That means more than anything else. You aren’t responsible for everyone’s lives. People can find jobs. People will find a way to make it and you don’t even know for sure if that would even happen.”

“You’re supposed to make me feel better about this,” he laughs sadly.

“I’m not enabling your behavior. I’m not going to sit here and pretend like you did the right thing when I can hear in your voice that you don’t think you did.”

“I had to,” he repeats.

I try to think of how to explain what I feel. It’s so hard over the phone, nearly impossible to ascertain what he’s thinking without seeing into his eyes.

“You have to start believing in yourself,” I say, my voice soft. “Don’t you realize how smart you are?”

He snorts, dismissing me. But I continue.

“You are. The people deserve to hear what you think, for you to do what’s best for them, not what you think you have to say.”

“I wish I could,” he mumbles.

We sit for a long while, each of us quiet, each of us processing what he’s done. My heart twists for him, hurting that he’s in some self-inflicted prison. Finally, just as the back door opens and I hear Huxley rumbling through the fridge, Barrett speaks.

“You know the worst part of all of this?”

“What’s that?”

“Hearing the disappointment in your voice.”

“Oh, Barrett,” I say. “I’m not disappointed in you.”

“Yes, you are. I hear it. And if I were there, you’d be looking at me like everyone else looks at me. Like I’m just a fucking idiot for one reason or the other.”

“Barrett, that’s not true. I’m ... I’m disappointed that you feel like you have to do things you don’t want to do. When you’re with me, you’re strong, confident. You’re happy and funny and kind. And then you go to work and you’re still all those things, just with a buffer built around you to make you more ... I don’t know, palatable to the public?”

He takes a deep breath and blows it out steadily. “I need to go catch up on work. I got behind today. Can I call you later?”

“Of course you can,” I whisper. “Anytime. I hope you do. I’m worried about you.”

A long stretch of silence falls over us, but it’s not a lonely type of feeling. It’s swollen with a feeling that’s so heavy, so comfortable, I can barely breathe.

“Ali?” he rasps.

“Yes, Barrett?”

“I love you,” he whispers.

I gasp, the words not at all what I was expecting ... but everything I’d hoped to hear come from his sweet lips.

He stutters at my reaction and I panic that he’s going to recant his declaration before I can get my head together.

“Barrett,” I say, interrupting his bobble of a response.

“Yeah?”

“I love you too.”

The words sound like a song coming from my mouth, a set of words I was prepared to never utter to a man again. But the fact that I’m saying them and not just willingly, but with my entire heart and without a smidgen of regret, makes my heart sing too.

“You do?” he asks, a tremble in the words.

“I really do.”

He laughs a weak, quiet rumble. “Damn it, Alison. I thought you were going to tell me to go fly a kite.”

“Only if that kite is going to carry you over here,” I breathe. “You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“But was it a good surprise?”

I grin until my cheeks ache. “The best surprise of my life.”