“Judd,” I say in a whisper. “What are you doing here?”
“You guys know each other?” Preston asks, looking between us.
I nod. “Yes. Wait, do you guys know each other?”
“Judd is the recipient of my family’s research scholarship at FCU,” he says. “Penny wanted to honor him and some of the other students who are working on a new treatment for leukemia since that’s what Rachel’s Kids is all about.”
My eyes widen and I look to Judd. I can’t find my voice. He was the last person I was expecting to see tonight. Why didn’t he ever mention that his scholarship was coming from the Wright family?
“I’m sorry to cut in,” Judd says, not taking his eyes from me. “But I need to tell you something. I’ve been trying so hard to deny it for the past week, but watching you here tonight, I know there’s no use. I am in love with you, Bailey. And I don’t care if Preston hears me say it. He may be the one you’re with, but I can promise you that he will never love you the way I do.”
I shake my head, not understanding or believing what he’s saying. Am I dreaming?
“When you left me that morning, I thought maybe I rushed you. But when I heard you guys were back together, it destroyed me,” he says. “I already lost someone to their ex once and I couldn’t believe it was happening to me again. But watching you tonight, I know that this time is different. This time, I know I can’t just sit back and watch you go back to someone who isn’t right for you. I decided I had to put it all out on the line so that I’d never wonder what might have been if I had simply told you how I truly feel.”
He starts to reach for me, but then pulls back.
I’m so surprised by what he’s saying, I can’t even set him straight about Preston. All I can do is stare at him, trying to understand it.
“Hitting you with the door that day was the luckiest, most wonderful thing that ever happened to me,” Judd says. “Do you know how many days I sat there in the cafe trying to work up the nerve to talk to you? I daydreamed about you and talked about you so much, my friends were about to stage an intervention. I can’t explain it, but when I looked at you, I knew you were mine. You didn’t know it yet, but you belonged to me. With me. And then when you and Preston broke up, I wanted to ask you out so bad, but I saw how devastated you were. I knew I had to be patient. That you were going to need some time to get over him before you’d be ready to start something new. But that day we first talked in the science building, and then a few days later at the bar? I knew that I’d been right about you. About us. We belong together, Bailey. And I’ll wait forever if that’s what it takes for you to realize it.”
My mouth hangs open and I struggle to breathe.
He’d been watching me in the cafe? He’d been coming there for me all this time?
Judd’s eyes fill with tears and he turns away, his chest rising rapidly with each nervous breath.
I watch as he crosses the length of the ballroom and disappears into the hallway. I’m helpless to move or react, but there’s a tugging in my core, telling me not to let him walk away thinking that I don’t love him back.
I exhale and turn my head toward Preston, who is still standing there with his hand on my arm.
He raises an eyebrow and smiles. “What the fuck are you waiting for?” he asks. “Go after him.”
My face breaks out in a smile and I lean forward and kiss Preston on the cheek.
Then, I kick off my shoes and run.