I pull into the parking lot and shift my car into park. I tug at my hair and take another look in the mirror, though I unsurprisingly look exactly the same as I did two minutes ago. I’m a nervous wreck and I’m worried the sleepless nights and late-night Ben and Jerry’s binges have done me few favors. Still, I push myself out of the car and will my body toward the pale stone walkways.

I’ve been here before, a few months ago, on the tour of the law school they had on campus. I hadn’t paid attention to the other schools, hadn’t realized they also had one of the most prominent engineering programs in the country. Because like everything in my life, I had blinders on, only seeing the world through my lens and how it impacted me.

It’s why I had never known that Liam had been saving up to attend Stanford University and enroll in their engineering program so he could follow in the footsteps of his stepfather, who he admired. Because even though he had the GI Bill to cover his tuition, Liam wanted to make sure that he had enough saved to continue sending his nephew to private school. And when Daphni had heard his story at his interview, she had promised him that if he could manage to keep her alive through the tour, she would give his nephew a free ride to any college of his choice. She thinks she may have been drunk, but she remembered how determined and passionate Liam was and she told him that he reminded her of her sister, and that she wanted to help him out.

She had never told me. She had figured Liam would in his own time. He never had, and after replaying every single conversation between us, I realized I’d never asked. I had been so absorbed by my own priorities—my relationship with Daphni, prepping for the LSATs, my own future—that I’d never bothered to learn about the man to whom I’d accidentally given my heart.

It was a wake-up call I desperately needed. And it made me even more resolved to apologize to Liam and to try to make this right. Even if he had moved on and didn’t want to be with me, he deserved to hear how truly sorry I was. And thanks to some stealth stalking skills that I never fully realized Daphni possessed, we were able to call the university and get Liam’s schedule.

Which is how I landed here today. I had spent the whole night concocting elaborate plans to confess my love to Liam. Daphni had enthusiastically endorsed a plan in which I storm into his classroom, holding up a boom box blaring "In Your Eyes" à la John Cusack, even though I had nixed that one immediately. Ultimately, after a sleepless night, I decided I would show up and wait to grab him after his last class of the day. I would finally apologize for every terrible thing I said, and hoped he would stick around long enough for me to confess that I loved him. It wasn’t the most imaginative plan, but it was the best I could come up with, especially after two months of barely sleeping and merely existing in a semi-comatose state. I’m putting myself out there: I'm tired of playing it safe. Playing it safe lost me Liam.

I head into the small coffee shop outside the building where his class is and order a large coffee. Settling down at a table by the window so I can watch for Liam, I open the book I brought to help distract me. I re-read the first line a few times in my head, willing myself to focus. After looking down at my watch and realizing I still have fifty-two minutes to go, I force myself to ignore everything around me and just read. Slowly, without even noticing, I let myself fall into the book, turning each page with rabid fascination as the coffee in my cup begins to cool.

Only when I move to flip the page to start the next chapter do I finally get distracted when a dark shadow crosses over my table. I look up and feel the breath rush out of my lungs when I see Liam. His intense, grey eyes are watching me and under his gaze, I swear it feels like the rest of the world fades away. All I can see is Liam. And like my favorite books, weathered by time, their spines barely legible from all the deep wrinkles, I can read Liam. I can see the hurt etched into the lines of his face, the vulnerability he so openly wears in his charcoal eyes.

And as much as I want to speak, to tell Liam how sorry I am, how utterly and hopelessly I have fallen in love with him, I feel myself freeze. Because I’m still terrified. Terrified that Liam may no longer love me and if I speak the words out loud, I will be damning myself to a life sentence of misery and heartache.

As if sensing my momentary paralysis, Liam slowly pulls out the opposite chair and sits down. He gestures with his chin at my book lying on the table.

“The Fountainhead,” he comments. “Good choice.”

I nod in agreement. “I just started.”

“Personally, I think Rand’s assessment that he is the ‘ideal man’ is bullshit. When he explodes—”

I shake my head and cover my ears. “No spoilers, please!”

When Liam quirks his brow, I explain. “I’ve actually decided to take some advice for once and let life surprise me every once and awhile.”

Liam’s brows shoot up in surprise and he tries to hold back a smile. “Well, whoever gave you that sage advice sounds like a pretty wise man.”

“What makes you assume it’s a man?”

I catch the hint of a spark reach Liam’s eyes and it ignites a flame of hope inside of me.

I force myself to be brave, and before I can convince myself not to continue, I say, “Liam, I came here to tell you something." I inhale a deep, steadying breath before I go on. "I know I hurt you and I don't know if there is anything I can say that will ever be enough to fix that.”

I will my eyes to look up and look at him. He leans forward in his chair, dropping his elbows onto the table. With him closer, I can smell that familiar scent that is unmistakably Liam, the same smell I had woken up to now for two months as I would clutch his sweatshirt in my arms while I slept. It makes me dizzy and in that moment, forces me to fully acknowledge how much I had let myself fall for this man.

I summon every ounce of courage to continue. “Liam, you have haunted me. You’ve captured some part of me that I thought I wasn’t even capable of possessing. Body and soul, you own me. And that literally terrifies me. But I also know it means I get to have you in my life and that makes it all worth it. The fear, the unknown, the possibility you may decide to wake up and leave me one day—it’s all worth it if I can spend just one more day with you."

I feel my eyes brim with moisture as I force myself to look at him. His eyes are locked on me, watching me with intensity. I swallow, silencing the fear still lurking in the deep recesses of my brain. "Liam, I love you," I whisper.

As the words leave my lips, I feel my heart stop. When he doesn’t say anything, I feel a lone tear slowly slide down my cheek and before I can brush it away, I feel Liam’s thumb there, his gentle, tender touch wiping my tear away. He drags his chair next to me, and wraps his large hands over mine.

“Love, you had my heart the minute I laid my tired eyes on you in your sister’s dressing room, that dress in your hands and that hilarious, scared look in your eyes. And when I learned how smart, how compassionate, and how funny you were, I knew you were the woman for me.” He lifts my hands and turns them over, exposing my palms. Placing a gentle kiss on each one, he holds my hands to his chest. “It’s you, Gabby. You’re it for me. I just needed you to get out of your own damn head and realize it for yourself.”

I bite down on my lip, willing every cell in my body not to crumble, not to let the store of tears brimming in my eyes free—willing myself to throw a smile on my face and push away the emotion. But I’m tired of doing that. I don’t want to hide anymore. So I let the tears fall, and with my hands still on Liam’s chest, I grab the fabric of his shirt and pull him toward me, bringing my lips to his. And with his lips on mine, I realize that Liam has become something that I have always wanted: my home.

And while there is still a part of me that is terrified of letting this man in, I know I want to risk it. I want to risk it all if it means that at the end of the day, I can call him mine. So while I may not exactly know what the future holds for us, I finally realize that I don’t care. I don’t need to know, because Liam’s lips on mine and his heart beating beneath my fingertips tell me all I need to know about our love story: it ends with happily ever after.