Giving herself another quick pep talk, she grabbed her purse from the bed and headed down the hall. She went into the kitchen and grabbed the tin filled with what she’d dubbed Mounds of Joy. Cookies made with Ryder’s favorite candy.
She was quick to hurry out the front door and to her car.
Ten minutes later, with the late afternoon sun shining around her, she pulled up in front of the little house he rented on the far side of town.
Joy filled her that he was chasing a new dream, too.
One of reclaiming his childhood home. She was excited for the memories that would be waiting for him there, and she prayed he would find a semblance of peace within those walls. And she hoped she would get to be a piece of that, too.
Snatching the tin from the passenger seat, she climbed out and rushed to his door.
Anticipation hastened her steps.
She rapped at the door, those butterflies flying through her stomach and lighting in her chest.
She was doing this.
She was really doing this.
Dakota frowned a little when a minute passed, and he didn’t answer. Shifting on her feet, she glanced around. His motorcycle was in the spot where he always parked it.
He had to be there.
Besides the bike being there, she felt him. That sense she got whenever he came near. The hum that buzzed in her blood and the way her feet never quite felt like they were on solid ground.
She knocked again, this time louder.
Nerves rattled through her as she waited.
Anticipation.
Excitement.
In it was also a sticky discomfort.
It grew as she finally heard the lumbered footsteps echo from the other side of the door, and the air locked in her throat when the lock disengaged and he pulled it open.
She gasped when he came into view.
His hair was disheveled, his face ashen, and the deepest grief was carved into the gray of his eyes.
“Ryder?” She could barely get his name to form on her tongue. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Blankly, he stared at her before he whispered, “She’s dead.”
The words were hollow, though they tumbled through her with the weight of a thousand boulders.
“Who?” She barely got it out.
Fear clamored through her senses.
Dread thick.
“Amelia.” Ryder heaved it, another stone.
The tin she held slipped from her fingers and crashed at her feet, knocking the lid free.
Mounds of Joy spilled out onto the ground.
Guilt struck her hard in the middle of it.
She had to be the most horrible, selfish human with her heart clattering. Fumbling in a jolt of jealousy with the way Ryder looked absolutely broken.
As if he’d lost a piece of himself.
All she could do was silently pray that the expression on his face didn’t mean what she thought it might.
Through the disorder, she murmured, “Oh my God, Ryder. I’m so sorry. What happened?”
Because she was. It didn’t matter that her spirit squeezed, it was terrible news.
Ryder stumbled back as if he couldn’t stand, and she followed him, taking a single step into the tiny foyer of the house.
“I…” The word clotted off, and he kept blinking as he sagged against the wall, and she was sure he was in shock.
She wanted to erase his pain. Take it away. Give him everything he’d given to her. So she pushed farther into his space, and she set her hand on his wet cheek.
“I don’t know what’s happening right now, but I need you to know that I’m here. You’re not alone. I’m right here.”
“Dakota.” He rumbled her name.
So deep.
He pressed his cheek deeper into her hand.
Like touching her gave him the barest flash of relief in a barren cold.
“Dakota.”
He needed her.
She knew it.
And she couldn’t stop the confession that rushed. “I’m right here, Ryder. I’m right here. I’m right here because I love you. Because I’m in love with you. God, Ryder, I love you so much. I don’t know what’s happening, but what I do know is that I love you. That I’m here for you.”
Dakota felt a surge of relief in finally admitting it.
Laying her heart at his feet. Asking him to hold it in his hands.
She felt terrified. This love she’d held for so long no longer her dirty secret.
That she was offering it at such an awful time.
But she had to believe that he felt it, too.
She had to believe in this.
Had to believe in them.
It couldn’t be possible for it to be one-sided. Not when it was so beautiful and strong.
Ryder emitted a groan.