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"Your fa, Marcus" She sat on a cracked bench "I’ot to meet them all There was so much love in your mother’s backyard"

He didn’t move to sit beside her, but went to his knees in the dirt before her She let him take her hands, utterly unable to push him away one more time Not with her hands, anyway

"Did youin love withfear that she ht not actually love him She shouldn’t admit that she still did

But she had to

"Yes," she said softly "I love you"

"Thank God"

"No," she said quickly, "I’ve done a lot of thinking since last night" She sed hard, shook her head, tried to fight back the tears that were right there, waiting to fall "I can guess why S you about me, about what it would be like to date me, for real, out in the open, wasn’t he?"

"What you and I are doing is none of S he said to you about the circus of lives like ours is true"

"I’ve always liked the circus"

She wanted to throw her arive up everything for her But she knew she’d never forgive herself for being so selfish And, ultiiven up so ive up even ht," she confessed "I looked you up online I read all about Sullivan Winery I sa nificently you’ve done with it and what an important role you play in your community You deserve to have a ho can support you in all that you do, one who can be an equal partner in it all Not someone who’s on a different plane every week to another state, another country, another hemisphere It didn’t take me more than five minutes with your family to see that you’re not like Smith or Lori or even Ryan You’re not about the party You don’t need everyone to want to take your picture You don’t need to use your charm and charisma to try and impress people Who you are at your core is what’s ie or a crowd to know your oorth"

He opened his mouth to interrupt and she put her hand over his lips before he could say so is, I know h it soo out like a noro see afor a little while I want to be around twenty years fros that millions of people want to listen to"