Emancipating Andie

“They were outside on the sidewalk.”

She nodded softly. “I dropped my purse when I was coming down the steps. I didn’t see them fall out.”

“Well you scared the shit out of me.”

Andie looked at him before she lifted one shoulder in a shrug, and Chase sighed.

“I guess I deserve that,” he murmured. He reached up and ran his hand through his rumpled hair before he asked, “What do you remember from last night?”

Andie lifted her chin off her knees, moving to sit cross-legged. “I remember drinking my body weight in Lemon Drops. I remember standing outside of Ripley’s with you.”

“That’s it?”

She looked down at her hands. “Everything else is a little fuzzy.”

Chase watched her intently as he said, “You told me you didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

Andie’s eyes flitted to his before she looked back down at her hands again.

Chase swallowed, suddenly terrified to ask his next question. “Is that true?”

She licked her lips nervously, keeping her eyes trained on her fingers as she spoke. “You made me feel like this was wrong. And as much as I didn’t want to hurt Colin, I never felt like being with you was wrong.” She took a small breath, finally looking up at him. “So if you really believe that…then no, I don’t want to be with you.”

“Andie,” he said, placing his hands on the bed and leaning toward her. “Do you have any idea what you did to me last night when I thought something happened to you?”

She pulled her brow together and opened her mouth to protest, but he stopped her. “No, let me say this. When I thought you were hurt, I swear to God, I couldn’t breathe. I literally couldn’t breathe. It was like my body wouldn’t work. I couldn’t think at all, and I just kept moving in these pointless circles…” he trailed off shaking his head. “I have never felt so out of control in my life.”

Chase exhaled heavily, ru

Her expression softened before she dropped her eyes to the bed.

“And I couldn’t even sleep last night because I just kept thinking that if this were really the last night you were going to be in my bed, I didn’t want to miss one second of it.”

Andie lifted her eyes to his, and this time they were welled with tears. He moved toward her on the bed, taking her face in his hands.

“I messed up last night. I wasn’t thinking, and I messed up,” he said, swiping his thumbs under her eyes as the first tears fell. “I can’t promise you that I’ll never be an asshole again. But I can promise you that I don’t mean it. And I can’t promise you that I won’t ever make mistakes, but I can promise you that I’ll learn from them and do whatever it takes to make it right with you again.”

Andie closed her eyes, sending two more tears down her cheeks, and Chase brushed them away with his thumbs again. He waited until she opened her eyes before he said, “And I can promise you with my entire being that I don’t think you’re a terrible person. I think you’re the most incredible, selfless, intelligent, brave, beautiful, fu

Her eyes fell closed as a tiny sob fell from her lips, and when she opened them, she was smiling.

“Did you google ‘best groveling speeches’ while I was passed out?”

Chase smiled slowly, brushing his fingers over her cheek. “Can I kiss you now?” he whispered.

She pulled back slightly. “I have puke breath.”

“I love you,” he said, and her eyes flew to his face, her startled reaction making him smile. “I do. I love you. So I’ll take your kisses any way I can get them, pukey or otherwise.”

Andie inhaled deeply, and when she exhaled, her eyes were shining with tears again. “I love you, too,” she whispered.

Chase smiled, leaning into her. “Then there’s no way this could be wrong,” he whispered against her lips.

She closed the tiny distance between them, bringing her mouth to his, and when his arms came around her, pulling her against his body at last, he knew he would never let her go again.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Andie sat in a long line of cars, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. She should have known better than to think this would be a quick trip. She had learned, through many years of trial and error, that the best time to go to her bank was first thing in the morning, but that hadn’t been a possibility today.

Today she was lucky if she had time to breathe.

It was a good kind of busy, though. Earlier that morning, she had gone to the restaurant to finalize a few things with Dana, the assistant manager who would be taking over as manager for the next three weeks in Andie’s absence. After that she had gone to Chase’s apartment in the brief window of time that she knew he would be out meeting with a client so she could pack the rest of his things. She still couldn’t believe she hadn’t gotten caught yet; she’d been packing him little by little over the course of the past few days, taking only those things she was sure he wouldn’t be looking for, things he wouldn’t need on a daily basis, so he wouldn’t figure out what she was doing. But today, she had packed the rest of the things he’d need—his toiletries, his shoes, his favorite jeans—and taken his bag back with her. Because tonight she’d come clean.

Tonight, she’d tell him about the surprise.

But first she needed to go to the bank so she could make a deposit into the restaurant’s account, as well as a withdrawal from her personal one in preparation for the trip.

She could see what the holdup was. A few cars ahead, a woman was obviously making several transactions at the drive-up window and had not taken the time—or consideration for that matter—to fill out the slips ahead of time. Andie could see her leaning on the dashboard as she filled out each slip, slowly and methodically.

And while the cars in front of her tooted their horns and inched impatiently forward, Andie couldn’t find it in herself to be a

She had become one of those people.

Unshakably happy, perpetually content.

Completely in love.

She exhaled softly as she rested her head back on the seat, waiting for the line of cars to move forward. She imagined his face when she told him what she’d been pla

A few minutes later, the woman with the infinite transactions finally finished her business, and as Andie moved forward in line, the new position of her car gave her a clear view of the café across the street that had just opened.

She had never been there, although she had noticed it several times. It looked quaint and interesting, and today it was warm enough to open the outdoor patio; the tables outside were filled to capacity.

We should go there one day, she thought to herself, glancing down at the clock on the dashboard to check her time. And then she froze, her mind registering what she had just seen. Andie lifted her eyes slowly back to the passenger window, but she didn’t need to look again. She already knew.