Juliet says something else to him I can’t hear before Gray’s legs reappear beside me. Then his torso as he sits back down again.

“Are we about done here?” I ask pointedly.

“You don’t have to pretend you didn’t hear what I said.”

“You should work on your communication skills. I get why you didn’t tell me you were coming back, but you should have told your parents.”

“That wasn’t the part I was talking about.” He blows out a sigh. “I didn’t call you because I didn’t—I wanted to talk to you in person.”

“There’s nothing left to say.”

“I have things to say.”

“You said everything you needed to say when you never called again.” I stand and kick a stray pebble into the bushes. There’s too much simmering inside for me to sit still and discuss this calmly.

He stands too. “It wasn’t that simple, Evie!”

I step forward and shove his chest. It feels good, so I shove him again. “It was exactly that simple! It’s a fucking yes or no question, Gray! You don’t sort of love someone. Maybe love someone. Consider loving someone. Either you do or you don’t. And I should have known your answer. I should have seen it coming. I would have, if you hadn’t blurred the lines right alongside me. You said it was sex, and that was fine. But you knew. You knew I had feelings for you! I thought I knew what I was getting into. And I would have if you hadn’t taken me to Beaufort with you and called me and made it seem like it all meant something to you. Like I meant something to you.”

He takes a step closer. “Evie, I—”

“No. I’m done. I can’t do this, Gray. Please. If you—if you ever actually cared at all, then just go.” I turn away. “Just go do whatever the hell you want to do until you leave again.”

“I’m not leaving.”

My muscles freeze so I’m physically incapable of moving any farther away. “What?”

“I’m not leaving Charleston. I’m back to stay. I asked to be permanently assigned to the base here. I’ll have to take some shorter trips, but ninety percent of the year, I’ll be here.”

I look back at him. “What?” I repeat, disbelieving. “Why—why would you do that?”

Gray holds my gaze. “Because you’re here.”

It takes me a solid twenty seconds to speak after that. “But you didn’t…” I’m worried those three words will be hard to recover from. And then he keeps talking.