“Our love means something,” he tells me, breaking me. “I’m going to let you go,” he says, looking down and wiping his own tear away. “Just promise me one thing.”

“Yes,” I say because I would promise him anything.

“That before you do anything, you let me know. Before you sign anything or make any decision, you tell me.”

“I can give you that,” I say. He gets up and walks away from me, stopping and turning back to me.

“For my whole life, I’ve loved you. For my whole life, my dream was to be married to you,” he says and looks down. “It was always you. I know that I’m not the whole town”—he swallows—“but just so you know, you have at least one person.” He walks up the stairs and away from me. He doesn’t even come and tell me goodbye when he leaves, and I have to wonder why would he. If he did this to me, I would have stormed out and never looked back. I pack my bag and make one more stop before I head out of town.

I walk up the steps, ringing the bell, and the door opens. “Hey,” Kallie says. “I didn’t know you were coming over.” I look down, and she must see something is wrong. “Let me get Jacob.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Beau

I walk out of the house without saying goodbye to her. I don’t go to her because if I did, I would get down on my knees and beg her to stay. I would wrap my arms around her and never let her go. I don’t want her to stay because I’ve made her feel guilty or because I forced her to stay. I want her to stay to simply stay. I want her to choose me and not have any regrets.

The drive to the office is a blur, and when I walk up to the step, I just nod to Cassie and go straight to my office. I sit down in the chair and go over everything in my head.

I don’t do anything all day. I just sit with my door closed, looking out the window. I wonder where she is or what she is doing, hoping that she knows I’m thinking about her. I pick up my phone and send her a text message.

Me: Just wanted to tell you that I miss you.

I look at it, but then don’t send it. It’s too soon, I think to myself. I watch the sun go down, and when I walk out of my office, I walk to my truck and make it back home. I open the door, and my heart sinks when I smell her. I walk up to the bedroom where I left her this morning and see that she’s taken some of her stuff.