“How I feel about you,” I begin, dipping my head closer. “It scares the shit out of me. Back then, when we were kids, you could’ve called it a crush, sure. Me thinking I’d never seen a prettier girl, never met a funnier or more interesting girl, yeah, go ahead and call it a crush. That’s probably the best word to use in that situation when the other doesn’t feel the same way. Now, we’re all grown up. And my biggest mistake in all of this isn’t agreeing to marry you. It’s not telling you that back in high school, I spent an ungodly amount of time wondering if, one day, if you went from my crush to my wife, if it would feel the same way.”

Her lips tremble just inches from my fingers. “Does it?”

“No.” I drop my hand. “It’s better. It’s better for me, even though I know you don’t feel the same way. But that’s on me. That was my mistake, not yours. You were right. I’m in too deep. And I know you won’t save me.”

I leave it at that, turning to head up the stairs when Parker grabs my arm.

“I never thought you were like them,” she begins, wiping away a tear that’s fallen onto her cheek. “I know you’re not like them, Fitz.”

I shake my head, looking down.

“And I know you don’t believe me right now,” Parker says. “But there’s only one person I’ve ever really trusted and that’s you. And you proved that to me tonight.”

I don’t know what I proved to Parker this evening apart from the fact that I’m a jealous, overprotective husband, even when it comes to my fake wife.

She lets go of my hand steps away to get her bag. Opening it, she pulls out the name tag I left beneath the bleachers and passes it to me.

But then Parker puts something else into my hand, and I never realized how something so small and insignificant could bring everything together. I shut my eyes, fisting the name tag and the missing puzzle piece she’s been carrying around this entire time.

“You were the only one who ever looked for me. Not just when I was gone”—Parker places her hand over mine that’s shaking—“but when I was still around. You’ve always been there for me. And I believe you. I believe you’ve always loved me.”

Slowly, I open my eyes, looking at our hands together. “I was going to kiss you that night.”