“What are you doing here?” Rylee burst out, not sure whether she should be surprised or angry. Probably both. She hadn’t even taken off her coat.
“I came to talk to you.” Adam got up from the sofa and approached Ryle as well as her mother. Mrs Sinclair looked up at him, a smile on her lips.
“It’s good to see you, Adam.”
“It’s good to see you, too, Susan.” Adam leaned down and pecked her cheek, before she moved on to the living room to get out of their way.
“The reason I came here was to not see you,” she said more determined than she actually was.
“The problem with this is, that you didn’t tell me.” That shut her up. “Look, can we go for a walk and talk? You just disappeared and I couldn’t stop thinking about you, so I had to find you.”
Rylee sighed and gave in. With Adam in tow, she left the house and started walking around the house towards the pond where they used to skate together. She’d spent a lot of time there the last couple of days, because it had helped her think about everything that had happened.
“You wanted to talk, so talk.” Rylee dug her hands in her coat pockets and looked straight ahead while they were walking. She was afraid that she might lose the little resolve she had still left, when she looked at him.
“Okay, but don’t interrupt me, please.” He looked at her for a moment, before he cast his eyes forward. “Back then, when I broke up with you, I did it for you. I wanted you so desperately to come with me, but I couldn’t have asked that of you.” He took a deep breath. “You had your life and your friends here. I wanted you to get happy, do what you love and not just follow me around to make my dream come true. I wanted you to make your own dreams reality.” He smiled wearily. “You weren’t the only one who was hurting after that. I didn’t know how to live without you, even if that sounds foolish or whatever. But I concentrated on hockey and hockey only. I didn’t see anything else for two years or so. When your father told me how much you suffered, my heart broke all over again.”
He could feel her eyes on him, but he didn’t turn towards her. That would encourage her to speak up, and that was what he didn’t want. Instead he sneaked his hand inside her coat pocket and took hold of hers, squeezing it slightly.
“I never got over you, and I still love you, Rylee.” She squeezed his hand back. “I was just afraid to call or come back here and see you and find out that you were in a happy relationship with someone. I wanted you to be happy more than anything, but seeing you with someone else, would have been a horrible experience. I hope you know what I mean.”
“I do,” she whispered, keeping her eyes cast down while they were walking to prevent him from seeing her tears.
“When I saw you, I knew immediately that you weren’t happy. Your smile gave that away. I’ve seen your happy smile a lot of times and you looked tired, exhausted… not at all like yourself. You’ve always been a person that loved to laugh and had a lot of fun, but that there? That wasn’t you.”
He suddenly stopped, making her stop along with him. Gently he put his free hand on her cheek and turned her face towards him. When he noticed her tears, he sighed and leaned down to kiss her nose.
“You know, back then I wanted to marry you. I’ve always wanted to marry you, have children with you, buy a house and get a dog. I still do today.” Her eyes widened, which made him chuckle. “We’ve got time, but for now I want you to know that I want to be with you. I want to be the one who makes you happy and not that whatever his name is. I want you to feel comfortable and be yourself and do what you want to do with your life, not be a wife who’s treated like some kind of property.”
Rylee got on the balls of her feet and pressed her lips to his. She put her hands on his chest and leaned into him. Tears were still running down her cheeks, but she didn’t care.
“Does that mean that you want this as well?” Adam whispered, drawing only far enough back to see her face.
“Yes, yes and yes.” Finally she smiled, making Adam’s heart feel a lot lighter, even close to bursting with joy. “You were right from the start, but I couldn’t admit it. Ben is not as good as people think.” She looked down and bit her bottom lip. “He hasn’t hit me or anything, but told me what my duties were as his future wife, especially in bed. He doesn’t approve of me being myself basically.”
“And we’ll get you away from him.” Adam pushed her hair behind her ear and brushed his lips over hers. “I have to go back to Boston tomorrow, will you come with me?” She nodded her head. “I’ll come with you to your apartment, get your stuff and you’ll stay with Dougie and me.”
“But first of all, we need to tell my parents. They’ll be devastated.” She bit her bottom lip again. She hadn’t thought about this yet.
“Don’t worry about that.” Adam smiled at her, taken her hands in his. “Your Dad already knew that you were unhappy, no matter what you said. He wants you to be happy, no matter who you’re with or what you do.”
That put the second smile on Rylee’s lips, and made Adam so happy that he thought he might burst for certain any minute now.