FORTY-ONE
Colby wasn’t sure what to expect when he opened the door to Georgia a few minutes later. He and Keats had done what they could. They’d bared their feelings. Put it all out there. But even if Georgia loved them back, they were still asking a lot.
Even so, when he opened the door and saw her face, saw that brightness in her eyes, a weight that had been pressing down on him since he’d left her the day after the attack lightened a bit. He’d worried that when everything set in, she might be overwhelmed by it. That old fears would resurface. Or worse, new ones would come up. But he should’ve known better. He’d seen firsthand how unshakable and brave she’d been that night with Phillip. She hadn’t flinched. Their girl was softness built on steel.
Well, not their girl. Not yet.
Keats sidled up next to him, and Colby could feel the nerves vibrating off him. So much for being tough guys. They were goners when it came to this woman. She could knock them down in one swoop.
“Hey, neighbor,” Colby said, keeping his tone neutral in case she was coming over here to give them the big send-off.
“Hey,” she said, and glanced down at her feet like a nervous teenager.
He shifted his stance. “How’s the packing going?”
She smirked. “Leesha has tackled it like a sergeant implementing a military operation. I am a mere soldier in her plan.”
“You can hide over here for a while,” Keats offered. “We promise we won’t tell.”
She smiled then. “I am kind of sneaking over here. She doesn’t approve of you two hoodlums who are trying to persuade her friend not to go home.”
“We are, indeed, selfish, selfish hoodlums,” Colby agreed. “But we couldn’t let you go without telling you how we feel. Even if you’re still going to Chicago, we needed you to hear the truth.”
Georgia wet her lips. “Well, at least now I know your feelings on hot dog toppings. Tomatoes on hot dogs are awesome, by the way.”
Colby laughed, the unexpected comment breaking some of the tension.
“Sorry, George, I have to take a stand on that one. No tomatoes. Or that electric green stuff they put on there.”
She looked to Keats. “Ever tried it?”
“Don’t need to. I know I wouldn’t like it.”
She gave him a sly smile. “I bet I can convince you otherwise.”
Colby tucked his hands in his pockets, fighting the urge to reach out and drag her against him. “Coming over here to cook Chicago dogs for us, then?”
“No,” she stepped inside. “I was hoping I could buy you the real thing.”
Colby’s brows went up.
“How does Christmas in Chicago sound?” she asked, her tone tentative.
“What do you mean?” Keats asked. Colby was wondering the same thing. Was she inviting them up there for an extended good-bye?
She took a deep breath and released it. “You guys stepped out on a limb for me, and I know that wasn’t easy. So I came over here to tell you both the truth as well.”
Colby braced himself.
“I love Chicago. The city. The culture. The food. I love being close to my family. And I have friends there I miss.”
Colby’s heart was pounding, pounding, pounding. Oh, shit. Maybe she had come over to let them down easy.
She reached out to take both of their hands. “But it’s got one glaring negative that I can’t seem to get past.”
“Yeah?” Colby asked hopefully. “What’s that?”
“The two people I’ve fallen in love with won’t be there with me.”
“George,” Keats said, his voice catching.
“I need to go home to see my family for Christmas. I miss them. And with my sister gone, I think we all need to spend the holidays with each other even more. But I’m going to tell them while I’m there that I’ve met someone . . . someones. I’m going to tell them that I’m in love and that Texas is where I need to be. And I want them to meet you two.”
Colby felt like he was going to break open, the flood of joy and relief like a force of nature moving through him.
“You’re going to tell your parents?” Keats asked, not hiding the shock from his voice.
Georgia smiled his way. “My parents want nothing more than for me to be happy. And you two make me happy. I’ve wanted to tell you that for so long. You both totally broke the rules of the fling—making me care about you and shit.”
Colby chuckled. “Neither of us has ever been very good with rules.”
She squeezed their hands. “I won’t try to predict where this is going. And I know people are going to say we’re crazy. And maybe we are. Maybe that’s okay.”
“It is okay. We can be crazy together,” Colby said, pulling her against him, everything loosening inside him at once.
She gazed up at him, the love in those big brown eyes taking his breath away. “I can’t stand having the windowpanes between us. I wouldn’t survive a thousand miles.”
Keats moved behind her and slid his hands to her waist, pressing his forehead to her shoulder. “God, George, we’ve missed you so much.”
She smiled up at Colby and looped her hand around Keats’s neck. “I’m all yours. No expiration date this time.”
The words soaked into Colby’s soul and lit him up inside. The two people he loved were his now. For good. “We’re all yours right back, gorgeous.”
His hands moved to her face, and he did the thing he’d been wanting to do for so long. He kissed her with everything he had, finally not having to worry that he would scare her away or that she’d slip through his fingers.
This time he had the real thing. Georgia. Keats.
Love.
He didn’t need to take a snapshot. There’d be albums of happy moments to come. Starting now.
He shut the door behind them and locked the world out.
He had everything he needed right here.