“Clark,” she admonished, pushing herself to standing. The more distance between them, the safer she’d feel. “You really shouldn’t…”

“Shouldn’t? I don’t understand. All day you’ve been showing me what it means to love someone and now that I want to, you’re saying I shouldn’t?”

He followed as Kate strode closer to the cliff. Surely, he wouldn’t follow her off a cliff? A hundred possible tactics flew at her and she grabbed hold of the first one she caught. Play dumb. Be obtuse. Deliberately obfuscate.

“You should care about everyone. All of those people—”

“I do care about them, but I don’t… I’m not falling in love with them. I’m falling in love with you.”

She froze at the edge. He stood behind her, not near enough to touch but somehow near enough to reach into her chest, grab her heart and hold it so tenderly the heat of oncoming tears burned her eyes.

“You barely know me.”

“You don’t feel the same way?”

“That’s not the point.”

It was as good as an admission, but she couldn’t even think the words. She marveled at the ease with which she said, “I love you,” and “love ya,” to her friends and neighbors, only to balk now when something real and magical waited just three steps away from her.

“Then what is the point? You love so many people. Why not me?”

“…It’s scary.”

“I know.” He breathed a laugh. “Why do you think I’ve been avoiding it for so long?”

His soft words coaxed some truth out of her, a stammering, hard-to-admit truth, but a truth nonetheless.

“When I love someone, I can focus on them. I can make sure they’re safe and comfortable and happy. I’m very good at loving—”

“But not so good at being loved.” The breath left her body. He soldiered on. “Because that means being vulnerable. Being taken care of. When was the last time someone took care of you, Kate? Or listened to you the way you listened to me today?”

He stood in front of her now, his back to the cliff’s edge and framed by the light of the town below. Still, she stared at her shoes.

“What?” She could almost hear his hand flex with nervous energy. “Do I need to go find some mistletoe for you to look at me now?”

You can just run now. Run into the forest and call someone to come and find you. You could just jump off the cliff. A fall from this height probably wouldn’t kill you. A body of broken bones only marginally less appealing than facing her feelings, Kate looked up.

“I see you,” he whispered.