She shrugged. “Well, it’s what I know.”

He walked over to the bars. “What the hell are you doing here? You were never supposed to set foot in a place like this.”

“I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you either. But here we are.” Her eyes went glassy with tears.

“Oh. Yeah. Here we are,” he said.

“I found what you left me. I appreciate it, but I don’t need it. I’m staying here. Unless they move you somewhere, and then I’m following you there. I’ll get a teaching job wherever you’re at. I’m in this with you. For the long haul.”

“No,” he said, reaching out and touching her cheek. “Honey, I burst into your life. You didn’t ask for this. You didn’t ask for me. And you deserve better. So damned much better.”

“No,” she whispered. “I deserve love. And so do you. We deserve it. It isn’t our fault that we started out with so much hurt. But it’s our choice what we do with it now. You were brave enough to face this head-on so that we wouldn’t spend the rest of our lives hiding. And I’m brave enough to face these consequences, whatever they are.”

“I didn’t want you to.”

“I know. But it’s not your decision. Not only your decision. It’s mine too. And you have to respect that. You have to respect me. My strength. Enough to know that I can make this decision for myself. You bring together all these pieces inside of me... I love you.”

And he wanted to do the most unmanly thing he could think of and break down in tears. He hadn’t cried when a bullet had ripped through his flesh, but these words from Tala made a man want to break down.

“I love you too, baby. I really do.”

“We knew from the beginning that we were never going to get perfect, Clayton. Because we never thought we’d have love either, but now we have a chance so let’s take it. That’s the real gift. That’s the real miracle. Not perfect. Love.”

And he would love to say this wasn’t how he imagined this moment. How he imagined someone professing their love for him. While he was in a prison cell. But the fact was, he had never imagined anyone loving him. Had never thought, ever, in a million years that he would ever have that. And it made this moment feel perfect. Whatever else lay in front of them. There was this. And in so many ways, behind bars, his life was better than he had ever imagined it could be.

And then his lawyer did appear, behind Tala. “Well, Mr. Everett, I think we have some very good news.”

IN THE END, Clayton didn’t serve any jail time. His brother was found and arrested quickly, and he testified against him. Which ended up bringing down an entire ring of dangerous people who had thrived for far too long. And Tala couldn’t be prouder of him.