I turned and made it to the living room before they spoke.

“Rachel, we’re sorry. We wanted to do this better. Gentler,” Mom said.

“Did you cheat on him?” I asked her quietly, needing to know.

She looked down at her hands.

“And you just moved out? Gave up? Just like that? You couldn’t even tell me?” I asked Dad.

“I couldn’t stay here. There’s a lot you don’t know,” he replied quietly.

“Yeah. I see that now.” I sucked in a breath. “I think I’m going to leave. You two figure out your stuff, because you’re acting more childish than I ever could. If you want to dissolve our family, that’s your choice. I don’t get a say. But I also don’t have to sit here while you hurl poison at each other.”

Twenty minutes later I pulled out of the driveway in my car, everything I brought home in my backseat. I’d never even unpacked.

It had taken less than twelve hours to upend everything I thought I knew.

I wasn’t sure how long it took to get there, mostly because I didn’t really remember most of the drive. I only hoped I hadn’t run any red lights, and I wished for the millionth time that my cell phone had been turned on. But once my parents informed me that true love doesn’t last forever, there was only one person I wanted to see.

I needed his arms around me, his voice in my ear promising that we’d make it. I needed Landon.

The giant gate at the front of his house never failed to intimidate me.

My parents were comfortable. Hell, my dad had a high-level job at Gremlin. It wasn’t like we were struggling, but this place was insane.

The dressed-in-all-black guard came up to my car and knocked on my window.

“Hi?” I said as rolled it down.

“Is that a question or a statement?” he asked with a smile.

“Both, I guess. I’m looking for Landon?”

The guard raised his eyebrows at me.

“That was a statement,” I clarified, tapping my steering wheel.

“Name?” he asked.

“Rachel Dawson.” For the love of God, I wanted my cell phone. God, what if he wasn’t home? What if he was just generally busy? Was I intruding? It was shades of John Hughes over here with the lack of communication.

The guard pressed the radio at his shoulder. “I have Rachel Dawson here to see Landon?”

The response was garbled, but the guard smiled at me patiently while we sat in the most awkward silence known to man. The radio sounded again, and the guard nodded. “You’re clear. Head on up to the front door.”

“Thank you,” I said and followed his instructions once the gate separated to let me through.

After making my way up the winding drive, I put the car in park just in time to see Landon jump the bottom steps to get to me.

I threw the emergency brake and killed the ignition but didn’t bother to pull the keys out.

“Hey, Rach, what’s going—umpf.” He grunted as I hit him nearly head-on, diving into his arms. They instantly closed around me, cradling my head to his chest in his safe, secure embrace.

I sagged, all the adrenaline and energy that got me here suddenly gone. For a moment, I simply stood there and breathed him in, pretending we were back in Fiji, or even Nepal. Anything but where we were, and he let me, not questioning my need or pushing me.

“I’m sorry I barged in,” I finally said, looking up at him.

“You’re never barging in. You’re always welcome,” he promised, kissing my forehead. “But maybe you’ll tell me what’s got you upset?”

“My dad moved out. They’re getting a divorce.” Saying it aloud made it feel so real.

“Oh, baby.” He brushed my hair back from my face, stroking my skin. “I’m so sorry.”

“I never caught on that they were unhappy. I was home all summer, and the months up until I left for Madagascar. It all happened right under my nose. How did I miss it?”

“Because they didn’t want you to know. Parents do their best to protect their kids, and they probably thought they were doing what was best for you. I’m not saying it was right, but you can’t blame yourself for not knowing.”

“How does that happen? You choose your person, and then one day decide that they’re not your person anymore? I don’t understand how that happens.” Or why I couldn’t stop it—why I couldn’t see it.

“I wish I could tell you,” he said. “I don’t have all the answers.”

“Just tell me that won’t happen with us,” I begged. “Tell me that it doesn’t always end like that.”

He sucked in his breath and gazed at me intensely, like he could see into my soul. “I promise you that I will never cheat on you. I will never lie to you again—I learned my lesson when I lost you. I will be yours for as long as you want me, Rachel Dawson, because you’re the only woman I will ever love. Do you understand me?”

I nodded, and he clutched me to him, tucking my head under his chin as he rubbed circles on my back. “Remember, we are what we decide to be—you and me.”

“You and me,” I repeated, closing my eyes.

“Do you want to come in?” he asked.

I’d already started to nod when a guard leaned over the stone fence that separated the driveway from the house. “Sir, her father is here.”

Landon tensed. “Do you want to see him? The beauty of having security is that I can say no.”