As she went back inside, I stood there for a long moment, toolbox in hand, wondering how the hell I was supposed to concentrate on building a deck when she was inside that cabin, thinking about me, remembering the same kiss I couldn't stop replaying.
***
The morning passed in a blur of measuring and cutting and trying not to look at the cabin.
I failed. Constantly.
Every time I glanced up, I caught movement through the windows. Daisy in the kitchen. Daisy curled up on the couch. Daisy standing at the window, watching me, before she noticed me looking and disappeared.
We were circling each other. Two people caught in the same orbit, pulled together by gravity neither of us could control.
Around noon, the back door opened.
"Lunch." Daisy stepped onto what was left of the deck, carrying a plate with a sandwich and chips. "You need to eat."
I wiped my hands on my jeans and picked up the sandwich. Turkey and cheese, simple and perfect. "Thanks."
She leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching me eat.
"Can I ask you something?" She continued knowing I would agree to anything she wanted. "Last night. You said you stayed away because you had to. Because you were protecting me." She paused, choosing her words carefully. "What did you mean?"
The question I'd been dreading. The one I'd promised to answer.
I looked the woman she'd become. Strong and guarded and so beautiful it hurt to look at her.
"Not here," I said. "Not like this. It's not a quick conversation, Daisy. And you're going to have a lot more questions."
"Then when?"
"Tonight. After Cal goes to sleep. Meet me at the overlook."
Her breath caught. The overlook. Our spot. The place where everything had started and ended.
"The overlook," she repeated.
"If you want the truth, that's where I'll give it to you. Eleven o'clock."
She studied me for a long moment. Then she nodded and stepped back inside.
I stared at the half-eaten sandwich, my appetite gone.
Tonight. I was going to tell her everything tonight. About Cal's ultimatum. About the choice I'd made. About eight years of loving her from a distance while she built a life that didn't include me.
Either she'd understand, or she'd hate me even more than she already did.
Either way, the waiting would finally be over.
***
I worked on the deck all afternoon, laying the new joists, trying to focus on the familiar rhythm of construction. But my mindkept drifting to tonight. To the conversation I was about to have. To the look on her face when I told her that her uncle had threatened to ruin my life if I didn't walk away from her.
Around four, Daisy came outside again.
This time she was carrying two glasses of lemonade. She'd changed into shorts and a tank top, her hair pulled up off her neck, her skin flushed from the warmth of the afternoon.
I tried not to stare and failed spectacularly.
"Hydration," she said, holding out a glass. "It's hot out here."