On the Island (On the Island, #1)

by Tracey Garvis Graves

“Yes. She told me to ask myself if my life was better with him or without him.”

The selfish part of me, however, couldn’t fathom not falling asleep in his arms or being with him every day. I needed T.J., and the thought of being away from him bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

“I’ve been in love with you for months. I’m telling you now because I think you love me, too, Anna. You just don’t think you’re supposed to. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I can wait.” I pulled her mouth down to mine and kissed her, and when it ended I smiled and said, “Happy birthday.”

“No. It’s because I would never marry a man who only asked me because he felt he had to.”

“I’ve thought about you all day,” he said. “On the island, I promised that if you just held on we would spend this Christmas together, in Chicago. I will always keep my promises to you, Anna.”

“You were right. I did need to be on my own. But some of the things you wanted me to experience already passed me by, and I can’t go back. I know what I want and it’s you, Anna. I love you, and I miss you. So much.”

“Neither do I,” he said, his expression tender yet resolute. “So let’s make our own. We’ve done it before.”

Is your life better with him, Anna, or without him? I decided, right then, standing on that sidewalk, to stop worrying about things that might never go wrong.

“I never wanted anyone else, T.J. I just wanted what was best for you.” “You are what’s best for me,” he said, cradling my head in his arms, his legs intertwined with mine. “I’m not going anywhere, Anna. This is right where I want to be.”

“I want you to be my wife. There’s no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with. We can live out here, you, me, our kids, and Bo. But I get it now, Anna. My decisions affect you, too. So now you have one of your own to make. Will you marry me?”