“I can do anything I want. I’ve done so many action movies that I could stop working today and be more than fine for a century. All I want is to stay here with you.”

“You always wanted to leave Eben Cape.”

“I always wanted to run away from the fact that you were with an asshole when you could have been with me. I got what I wanted out of LA. There’s nothing left for me there.”

I can’t even fathom it. Going back to my soulless apartment. Sitting through lunches with people who truly only care about money. That’s all fine and good while you’re on the hunt for money yourself, but it didn’t buy me the things I needed. And I need Emily Rochester.

I don’t think anyone saw this coming. Well, maybe Beau did.

“But I might want to stay.” Emily laughs again, and it’s so absurd that we’re having this conversation, it’s so adorable. It’s so perfect. “I might actually like Eben Cape. Most of it, anyway. You don’t want to be one of those couples that comes back and puts down roots like they couldn’t find anywhere better.”

I would be one of those couples if it meant being with her. Emily’s presence in my life transforms everything else. The shit I used to be cynical about is turning out to be wonderful. All the things I worked so hard to get have lost their shine.

“No, I wouldn’t hate to put down roots with you. Are you listening? I love you. I don’t care where we live. We could live here. We could live in Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Paris. Anywhere.”

“I love you,” Emily whispers, her eyes lit up like she’s never been able to say this before.

Paige groans. “Can you hear each other? You’re both saying the same thing.”

“Oh, hey, Paige,” I say, and she smiles at me, tickled at my stupid joke. “Do you think I could hang out here for a while?”

“Why? Do you want to paint rocks with me?”

I want to paint rocks with her in a world that’s not being menaced by Joe Causey. I want to put my arms around Emily in a place where we never have to worry about Joe or his actions again. There are many things I wish were different about this moment, but there’s one I wouldn’t change for anything.

“Yes. There’s nothing else I’d rather do.”

Chapter Thirty

CHAPTER THIRTY

Jane Mendoza

The group at the café isn’t prospective students anymore. It’s not people who might go to Mainland College—it’s people who are going to Mainland college. We’re starting in the fall.