Chapter 24

 

~ ALLIE ~

 

 

With my windows open, I hear the familiar crunching of gravel that greets me as I turn onto Logan’s driveway. His truck and convertible are parked in front, along with two vans, one marked with the name of a plumbing company, and the other belonging to the painters.

It’s hard work as usual here, I think with a sigh, and I can imagine Logan in there with them, finishing up #5 so that he can get these lovely homes on the market and move on.

He’s been busy, I’m sure. Too busy to email or call or even manage a quick text. I know I said I needed time. But I didn’t really mean I needed dead silence from him either.

I feel a little more like my old self after the week at my mom’s, even though my sleep isn’t quite up to speed. But the late nights I spent sitting on her back porch listening to the quiet of suburban Cleveland gave me time to re-envision my dreams without the foreclosure. There are still dogs I want to save.

My stepdad spent some time on that porch with me, too, telling me about some funding options I should consider that might put me within spitting distance of building a new kennel sometime in the future. He’s not my dad, but I’ve discovered he’s a really great guy and I can learn a lot from him.

I pull my luggage out of the back of my SUV and walk up to my door, knowing it won’t be my door much longer. A vacancy came up in Cass’s apartment building, and I’m planning on signing a lease tomorrow. I can’t take on as many dogs while I live there, but it’s the best I can do right now.

Swinging open the door, I see things the way I left them and I head to the kitchen to get a drink. The summer heat has me parched and I’m planning on spending the rest of the day catching my breath, sitting down by the water. It soothes me, the same way it does Logan, I guess. I just don’t require as much of it.

Something catches my eye on the kitchen counter—a large sheet of paper rolled up and fastened with a red bow. Something for me? I glance over my shoulder hesitantly.

I just stare at it, confused, till I hear the door open behind me and a familiar voice over my shoulder.

“Open it,” Logan says.

I turn and fill my eyes with the sight of him. He looks as tired as I feel, but there’s something different about him. I can’t quite put my finger on it.

“Logan,” I say softly, hoping for some kind of affirmation from him so that I can run into his arms. His presence floods my senses, and I ache to be held by him—the feeling eclipsing any ache I felt when I lost the kennel.

My eyes search his, and I hold my breath, hoping he’ll open his arms or even step toward me. But he just stands in the doorway and repeats, “Open it, Allie.”

It’s only then that I remember the roll of paper in front of me. I look at it again curiously as I pull the bow.

It resembles a blueprint, but it’s on a large sheet of thick white paper. An artist’s rendering shows a building on the left side of the poster-sized sheet and an aerial view of the same building alongside a highway on the right.

I glance at him, bewildered. “What is this?”

“It’s a rescue kennel alongside Rockbridge Highway.”

I shake my head. “There’s no kennel along Rockbridge Highway.”

“There will be in about a year. JLS just settled on that land and we’re deeding five acres of it to your organization. There will be a development adjacent to it, hopefully filled with people who want to adopt dogs.”

The air rushes from my lungs and I raise my hand to my forehead. This isn’t what I wanted him to do, I remind myself. It’s everything that I want, yet I don’t want it this way.

“No, Logan. I’m so grateful—really I am, but this isn’t right. You can’t make your brother do this.”

“I’m not making him do this. I’m doing it myself. I’ve agreed to start working at JLS.”

My jaw drops an inch. “Oh, Logan. Your family must be so happy.”

He smiles. “My dad is over the moon about it. And my brother is… well, relieved to have some help. Hannah’s moving in with him next week. Maybe if I can learn what I need to quickly enough, they can squeeze a good vacation in before the school year starts.”

“But are you happy?” I never pictured Logan as being content behind a desk. Not to mention living with some semblance of permanence here in Newton’s Creek.

“Not yet,” he says, stepping toward me. His hand touches my waist and the other reaches to the side of my face. He traces the line of my cheekbone to my ear and tucks a lock of hair away as he pulls my face closer to his. My heart melts and my knees buckle as he supports me with his arm at the small of my back. Tears fill my eyes and I watch him through the haze of their moisture.

“Now I am,” he says, lowering his mouth to mine and letting his soft lips touch me.

My soul fills to overflowing as I taste him, the kiss soft and sweet till I feel him part my lips with his tongue. I angle my head, letting more of his skin touch me, and feeling myself come alive again.

I feel the tears in my eyes threaten to fall, and he moves his lips from my mouth, lightly kissing my eyelids as I shut them.

“I’ve missed you in more ways than I thought possible,” he tells me, edging out the insecurities that still lurked in my heart. “I’ve wanted to call you every minute of the day, but I knew you needed time. Besides,” he smiles, “I’ve been busy while you’ve been away.”

His gaze falls to the rendering stretched out on the counter, and mine follows.

“Logan, I can’t accept this from you. I need to build my own dreams. I can’t rely on you to do it for me.”

“Why not, when you’ve built my dreams for me?”

My brow creases as I look at him.

“Allie, before I met you, I was a man without a mission. I was just living day to day. For some guys, that would be fine. But for me, it was suffocating. I’ve never lacked direction in my life, and since joining the SEALs I’ve never lived without meaning. But you showed me that risking my life as a SEAL isn’t the only way I can make a mark on this world. I see what you’ve accomplished and I want that for myself.”

I shake my head. “But this is my dream. Not yours.”

“I know. And it’s only a small piece of what I have planned at JLS Heartland. We’re huge, Allie. Hell, even I didn’t know how big we were till Ryan ran some numbers with me this week. We’re solid enough that it’s time for us to do more than just build homes. We’ve started a foundation.”

“A foundation?”

“Yes, and this is one of our first donations to the towns where we build. The first of many, and I can’t wait to tell you all my plans.”

His eyes are filled with an excitement I’ve never seen in him. It’s almost childlike, and it warms my heart.

“It’s already a done deal, Allie. Nothing you can say will stop it, so I’m placing a huge gamble on the hope that you’ll help us make this real.” He taps on the paper. “And make it right.”

I stare at the rendering. It’s a bigger kennel than the bankrupt one I had tried to buy. It’s fresh and new and everything I could have possibly hoped for.

He strokes my cheek. “Will you make this place a reality with us?”

Tears stream down my cheeks and my lips quiver. A part of me—call it pride or stubbornness—tells me I should resist. But I remember what my mother told me about letting others share my dreams, to respect that they can feel the same passion I do, and to learn to share my load along with my joys.

Besides, when someone hands you your dream, you’d be a fool to not grab it.

So I grab.

“Yes, Logan. Yes, I will.”

His smile is bright, framed in his kissable lips. He cocks his head. “You promise?”

He needs me to promise? Seriously? “I promise.”

Relief settles into his shoulders as he takes both my hands. “Good, because there’s something else I need to say, and I don’t want it to influence you one way or the other.”

I feel my stomach tighten up at the sudden nervousness I see etched around his eyes.

“I love you, Allie. I am completely, 100% in love with you. And I know this might be a little too soon for you to hear this—”

My breath catches. No, not too soon at all.

“—but I can’t imagine my life without you. I have plans at JLS, but I have plans right here with you, too. I love you, Alexandra. You are my most important mission now. Building a future with you. Spending the next few months convincing you that I’m not the jaded former SEAL I once was. Making you see how perfectly we fit so that I can drop on my knee in front of you one day and beg you to be mine forever.”

My body presses against him and I cradle his face in my hands. I can barely recognize the pure joy in his eyes as he speaks, and every piece of me wants to get to know this man—just as he is today, looking ahead to the future.

I lean in to kiss him, but he pulls away slightly, pressing his finger to my lips. “I know now that there are things I need to do in this world, but all I keep thinking is how much better it would be if I can do it all with you. Will you stick with me, Allie?” He taps the sheet of paper on the counter alongside of us. “Will you let this be the first of many great things we build together?”

“Yes,” I cry through my tears, savoring the warmth I feel pressed against his body. “Because I love you too, Logan. I love you, too.”

He lifts me into his arms, swinging me in a half circle, and carries me out of the kitchen.

I hope I know where we’re headed, I think as my smile presses against his soft lips and my body aches to feel him against me, with nothing between us.

No, I correct myself. I know where we’re headed. And I couldn’t be happier.