1Love Redesigned (Lakefront Billionaires, #1)(104)

She shakes her head. “This isn’t the first time I’ve heard someone tell me that.”

I could find a hundred different ways to tell her I care enough to choose her, but none of them matter unless I find a way to show her.

Pro: She could find my list romantic.

Con: She may reject me anyway after I reveal one of my biggest secrets.

Shut up and show her.

I pull out my phone and open the note-taking app. “Here.”

She grabs it from me and reads over the first few lines of text. “You’ve been working on a pro-con list about me?”

I nod.

“Pro: She sucks at chess. Seriously?” Her nose scrunches.

“Not my fault you started every single game with the queen’s pawn opening. Change it up every now and then.”

She returns to the list. “Pro: I like her enough to attend Stanford too.” She looks at me for a few seconds without blinking. “You chose Stanford because of me?”

“Yes. You liked California, and I liked you, so it made sense.”

She shakes her head in disbelief. “How long have you been working on this?”

“Since sometime after you started competing for the Strawberry Sweetheart pageant.”

She blinks. “That was over a decade ago.”

“I’m aware.”

“But why?”

“Informed decision-making is my thing.”

She scrolls through the list while mumbling to herself. “There are things listed here that I don’t do anymore.”

I know. Unfortunately, I inherited my appreciation for nostalgia from my mother, and I have never been able to outgrow it, which is the only reason why I could never delete the list no matter how many times I tried.

After a few more minutes, she reaches the bottom of the note. “You only have one negative.”

Con: She may never love me back.

“Little by little, your cons annoyingly started making their way over to the pros column.”

Her laugh comes out like a half sob. “That’s ridiculous.”

“No, Dahlia, that’s love.”

“You agreed to a casual relationship knowing your feelings might never be reciprocated?” Disbelief colors her voice.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Some people are worth the risk.”

Her bottom lip wobbles.

“Life without you was a series of pros and cons. Risks and rewards. Black and white with very few shades of gray. But then you came back and flipped a switch inside me, flooding my world with color after a ten-year blackout, and I don’t plan on giving that up. Not now. Not ever.”

Tears pool near her lash line.

“You might not believe my words now, but I won’t stop until you do. So go ahead and try to push me away, but you already know based on our history that I will stop at nothing to prove you wrong.”





CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE


Julian


The trip to Dahlia’s is a quiet one. She spends most of it staring out the window, while I stay focused on the road. Despite the urge to check in with her, I hold back and stay silent, not wanting to add to her distress.

It’s not until I pull up to her house that she finally speaks up, surprising me.

“I’m sorry.”

I blink rapidly. “What are you—”

“I know you’re a good guy—possibly the best guy I’ve ever met—even if you drive me crazy.” She twists one of her rings. “Your list. God. I can’t believe you spent over a decade working on that.”

“Twelve years, but who’s counting?”

Her chin quivers. “Maybe if things were different for me, we could—”

“Stop.”

“But—”

“No. I don’t want to hear whatever excuse you spent the whole drive coming up with.”

Her muscles tighten. “You can’t ignore the obvious.”

“Glad we’re finally on the same page.”

She glances away.

“What do you need?” I ask.

“Time? Some food and a good night’s rest? Honestly, I can barely think straight, let alone talk when I’m this exhausted.”

“Okay.” I can give her that…for a day at least.

Her shoulders fall from her heavy sigh.

I grab her hand and kiss the back of it. “Everything will be okay.”

“So you say.”

“Only because I won’t stop until it is.”

She spares me one last glance before hopping out of my truck and taking off for her front door.

I don’t remember the drive to my house because I spent the entirety of it lost in my own thoughts, sorting through all the things I need to figure out.

Silence greets me like a funeral march as I enter my house and head toward my kitchen to heat up some food. I make it through a few bites before my phone buzzes against the marble counter with a new message from Lily in the Mu?oz-Lopez group chat.

LILY

From lovebirds to jailbirds in a single week.



She attaches a photo of Dahlia and me in the holding cell. Rosa sends a link to schedule a confession session with Father Anthony, while my mother follows up with a heart-eyed GIF and a text.