My Silver Lining: A Small Town, Fake Dating Romance (Rosewood River Series Book 2)
My Silver Lining: Chapter 34

I’d just hung up the phone with Leonard, the CEO of Luxe, the largest department store in France. He informed me that the launch was beyond successful, and they wanted to double their original order.

I sent a message to Jared and the team, letting them know the good news.

They sent all sorts of emojis and celebratory memes, but it still felt a little empty.

I’d been burning the candle at both ends, and I was tired.

I stared down at the photo on my phone. The one that Henley took of Rafe and me. The one that also sat in a frame on my nightstand. My chest ached. I’ve never missed anyone in my life the way that I missed him. I physically ached for this man.

Rafe and I had continued texting, but we still hadn’t spoken on the phone. He claimed he wasn’t dating and sent me a selfie of him and Beefcake in Magnolia Falls last week.

He’d gone there for Cutler’s baseball game, and the photo actually made me miss him more. I ran my finger over the phone screen as if I could touch his face.

I was stunned to see how bad his hand looked. He’d held up the splint that Emerson had put it in. He told me he hadn’t broken any bones; he just sprained it pretty badly.

We’d been texting even more since he returned home to Rosewood River, and he seemed to be putting in long hours at work. We both were. But I looked forward to our texts every day, like a desperate schoolgirl with a crush.

It was the highlight of my day.

And today, MSL had just had the biggest win since the day we opened the doors all those years ago, and none of it felt like a celebration because I couldn’t talk to the person I wanted to share it with.

So, I sent him a text. I’d made the rule, and it was a dumb rule.

I waited.

And waited some more.

I picked up the phone and dialed. My stomach fluttered with excitement about hearing his voice.

It didn’t even ring. It went straight to voicemail.

It was early in the States; maybe he was working.

Maybe he didn’t want to get on the phone. That wasn’t part of the deal.

I closed my eyes as I listened to his voice message. It comforted me in the strangest way. It beeped, asking the caller to leave a message.

“Hey, it’s me. Lulu. I know we don’t usually call, but I just had something that I wanted to tell you,” I said, and for whatever reason, a sob left my throat. Why did the Universe choose to turn on me at the worst times?

What the actual fuck?

I desperately tried to pull myself together and push the lump away. “I, um, I don’t know what that was. I’m fine. Really good. I have good news. It’s nothing bad. Oh my gosh, you probably think I’m calling to tell you I’m pregnant or something now.” I cried some more because this was quite possibly the worst voice message of all time. “Oh my gosh. No one is pregnant. I mean, someone probably is, but it’s not me. I was just calling to tell you that I had a great day⁠—”

The phone beeped, and I waited for an option to delete the message, but it just said that the message had been sent.

This just went from bad to worse.

I sighed and sent another text message.

I let my head fall against the desk, my forehead resting against my notepad.

I pushed to my feet. It was still light outside, and I could go for a celebratory glass of wine and some dinner.

A few people from the office had invited me to join them, but that was over two hours ago, and I’d still been in meetings.

I waved goodbye to Marissa and Harvey, who were cleaning at the other end of the hallway.

And then I waved to Walt, the security guard who worked nights, as I walked outside, heading for the café beneath my apartment.

I sat at the table where I sat most nights and ordered a glass of chardonnay and a small charcuterie board. I set my phone on the table and willed it to ring.

The sky was just starting to darken, and I broke off a piece of bread and popped it into my mouth. I reached for my glass of wine when my phone vibrated.

Relief flooded. This man always seemed to know what I needed.

There. I said it. That was a step.

I chewed on my thumbnail as I waited for a response.

Three little dots swirled and then disappeared.

Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Crickets.

Was he seriously going to ghost me in the middle of a serious conversation?

Was the idea of FaceTiming me that horrible?

“How about you explain it to me now? I’m starving,” Rafe’s voice called out as he strode toward me, long legs closing the distance between us. He had a duffle bag slung over his shoulder, looking sexy and confident.

I nearly knocked the table over as I pushed to my feet and lunged at him.

“What are you doing here?” I said as tears leaked from my eyes again.

Apparently, I was a big, fat crybaby now.

My inner feminist was appalled.

But my heart was too busy crying all the happy tears.

I buried my face in his neck, and he pulled back to look at me.

“You sounded upset on your voice message. Are you disappointed that you aren’t with child?” he smirked.

“I just left that message,” I said with a half-laugh, half-cry, shaking voice. “You were clearly already here. And not to worry, there are no little Chadwicks in the oven. That was just me being me.”

“I know.” He stroked the hair away from my face and led me back to my table.

I sat down and patted the empty seat beside me. “They sit on the same side of the table here.”

He sat down and studied me for a few beats. “I already love it here. I get to sit on the same side of the table as you.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked as I held my hand up and waved at our server, requesting another glass of wine for Rafe.

“Well, here’s the thing, Lulu. I told you my bracelet broke during pickleball, and I had it fixed. But when I got it returned to me, I had a hard time getting it clasped with my damn wrist being out of commission. So, I was trying everything to clasp it, and it kept falling on my desk.”

“Did you come here to tell me to change the way I make the clasp?” I said, my voice teasing.

He pointed at it on his wrist, showing me his name that I engraved on the rare stone. And then he slowly turned it over and looked up at me.

I love you.

I engraved it on there the day before I left. I wondered if he’d ever notice it, or if he did, whether he’d acknowledge it.

“I came to ask you if you wrote this,” he said, arching a brow in question.

“You flew to Paris to ask if I engraved that on the back?” I chuckled. “Do you think it just came with the stone?”

“I flew to Paris because I was too much of a pussy to tell you that I loved you before you left. So I was hoping you weren’t going to tell me that all the bracelets had this sentiment on them and that you feel the same way that I do.” He smirked, and I smiled up at him because I was the happiest I’d been since I arrived here.

Because everything was better with Rafe Chadwick by my side.

“I wrote it because I love you.” I shrugged.

He put a hand on each side of my face. “I’m fucking miserable without you.”

“Really?” I shouted as our server set down another glass of wine.

“Well, you don’t have to be so excited about it,” he chuckled.

“I’m miserable, too,” I said, swiping at the tears that continued to fall. “I mean, I love it here. The MSL launch was more successful than anyone had expected. But I can’t enjoy it because I miss you.”

I said it. I put myself out there. My heart was his to break.

“I’m so proud of you, Wildcat. You’re exactly where you need to be.” His thumb stroked along my jaw. “But I miss the hell out of you, too.”

“Maybe we can make the long-distance thing work. Maybe I’ll only be here for six months,” I said, desperate to replace a solution. “We could FaceTime every day.”

“You shouldn’t rush home in six months if things are going well.”

“So, we just talk on the phone for the next year and try to visit every few months?” I asked, shaking my head because we both knew that that would never work.

“Here’s the thing. I want to see you chase your dreams, and I can chase mine at the same time.”

“I don’t see how it works.” I sniffed.

“Well, I’m currently self-employed, so I can work from anywhere, I mean, if you know of any good rentals in the neighborhood. This seems like a nice place to settle down for a few months or a year.” He turned and took a sip of his wine as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb.

“Rafael.” My voice was shaking.

“Yes?”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I can crunch numbers from anywhere. I was thinking of renting out my house and spending some time in Paris. It’s the most romantic city in the world, right?”

“You’re moving here?” I whispered, my heart racing.

“If this is where you’re going to be, this is where I want to be.”

“You would move here for me?”

“Lulu,” he said, wrapping a hand around the back of my head and pulling me close. “I would move to the fucking moon to be with you.”

My teeth sank into my bottom lip. “Did you really just say that in the most romantic city in the world?”

“I did. And I meant it. I can do what I’m passionate about while watching you do what you’re passionate about, all while being with the woman I love. It’s an easy decision for me.”

“But you’ve always been in Rosewood River,” I said, not even attempting to swipe the tears away anymore as they clouded my vision. “You love it there.”

“I love you. And I want to be where you are.”

“I want to be where you are,” I whispered. “I love you so much, Rafe Chadwick.”

“Then we’re doing this?” he asked.

“We’re doing this.”

“How about I kiss the girl first?” And he tugged my chair closer, leaned down, and kissed me.

My hands tangled in his hair as I kissed him back.

I kissed him like it was our first kiss.

I kissed him like it was our last kiss.

I kissed him like it was a forever kiss.

Because this felt like forever.

And I was all in.