Just One Year(79)

And I was about to prove that to her.

“If I told you I always knew we’d end up together, would you believe me?”

“You mean from the time you met me?” Teagan brushed her hand along the hairs on my arm as we lay across from each other on the bed.

“Not quite that long. But when I left Boston to head home, I knew we’d be together again. At the time, I just didn’t know how to make it happen.”

She laced her fingers with mine and stared down at our wedding rings. “I don’t think I had as much faith as you did. But I was definitely in love with you when you left, and that wasn’t going to change.”

“You said you found the letter I left you in the makeup drawer. I assume you never found the other one.”

Her eyes went wide. “There was another one?”

“Yes. But you weren’t meant to find it.”

I stood and walked over to the corner of the room. I moved the carpet and lifted one of the floorboards. There it was—the letter I’d hidden the day before I left Boston. Teagan had been showering when I’d snuck the letter into its hiding place, but I’d spent the previous week scouring the room for a secret spot. When I happened upon the loose board, I figured it was my best bet.

I waved the envelope in the air.

“Oh my God. That’s been there the entire time? Under the floor?”

“Yep. Guess I picked a good place for it, eh?”

She hopped up and ran over to me. “What does it say?”

I opened the envelope and unfolded the paper before reading her what I’d written.



Dear Teagan,



If you’re reading this, one of two things has happened. Either we’re together again, and I’m personally delivering this letter (which is my hope), or by some twist of fate you found it before I got to you. If it’s the latter, I’m sorry. It means I haven’t found my way back to you. That wasn’t my intention.

Of course there’s always the chance my plan was foiled—maybe something happened to me and someone is finding this years later, after you’ve moved out. That would be unfortunate. If you’re reading this and you’re not Teagan Carroll, please see that she gets this, wherever she is. She needs to know I’ve always loved her and never intended for us to be apart forever.

In the event that I’m lucky enough to be with you right now, Teagan, I hope you can see this letter as proof that even as I was gearing up to break your heart and go back to England, somehow I knew we’d be together again. I just needed to fix my messed-up parts before I could give you my all, because you deserve every part of me.

I hope you see this letter as evidence that I’ve always believed in us. And I’ll never stop.

As I write this, I may be about to venture “home.” But from probably the moment you held my hand while I freaked out in that dodgy theater, I’ve known that home would always be wherever you are.



Love, Caleb



P.S. Not bad for a love story that started in the loo.





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