She shakes her head. “Not as long as you’re on this earth. There’s nowhere they can send you that I won’t follow. You … how can I even explain how much you mean to me? You’ve redefined what happiness is. Each night, I climb into bed excited because when I wake, I get to live another day knowing you. And I know I let you get hurt last night, but I swear right here and right now that will never happen again. I won’t allow it, because watching you in pain is a thousand times worse than bearing it myself, and I simply don’t care what gets thrown at me anymore. The only thing that matters is you, Danni. I wanted to become a better person, but you make me good. I don’t think I realized it before, but I do now. I need you, and I need the version of me I become when I’m with you. If I lose you, I lose me, and I will fight for you until I’m broken and bloodied if that’s what it takes.”

I stare at her, completely stunned. “Rose…”

“I love you,” she finishes fiercely, and for just a heartbeat, the world stops.

“I love you, too,” I hear myself say, and it’s the truth. I’ve known it’s the truth for a while now. It scares the shit out of me, but there it is.

It’s incredible, I think, that one day could hold one of the worst, and one of the best, moments of my life, all in one.

She breaks into a grin like sunshine through clouds. “You do?”

“Of course I do.”

She takes a few steps away from me, tips her head back, and takes a shaky breath. “I love you.” She laughs.

“Don’t say it too loud.”

“I love you,” she says again, raising her voice and holding her arms out to the side. “I’m in love with Danni Blythe. I will always be in love with Danni Blythe. Make it the front-page news for all I bloody care.”

The only response is the wind, and no one can hear us but the animals in the woods.

THIRTY-NINE ROSE