No More Waiting, She Chooses Love

Chapter 270



He let me turn his face towards me, continuing, "Do you even realize what you were saying?"

"I have no clue. It's all just nonsense you're making up," I denied, unwilling to admit to the embarrassing things I supposedly did.

"You even said it was like 'sealing the deal.' You kissed me, stamped your claim, and declared I was yours to marry when you grew up. Insisted that I couldn't be with anyone but you," Ernest said, suddenly looking down.

"Licia, I've followed your 'orders,' living well into my thirties without so much as dating, never giving another girl a second glance, let alone holding hands. I've been waiting for you, so you've got to take responsibility," Ernest's words were laden with a sense of being wronged, as if a 'no' from me would be a massive letdown.

All this time, I believed Conrad was my childhood sweetheart, but I was wrong. It was actually Ernest who filled that role, the kind that's brief yet lasts a lifetime.

Only, I was too young back then, leaving all the sweet memories for Ernest to hold on to alone.

"Alright, I'll take responsibility," I said, standing on tiptoes, reaching up to bite gently at his appealing jawline.

He let out a soft hum, and I laughed, "A new seal, a deeper one, so any girl who wishes to like you will think twice."

Ernest laughed, a restrained, gentle laugh, "You're as bossy as you were when you were little."

I bossy? I've always thought of myself as too soft, especially around the Wagners and Conrad,

full, and though I can't

and we had quite the catch, a hefty fish weighing over

Ernest's offhand comment made me believe his

day of the accident, my mom had promised to make me grilled fish for dinner.

I'd stopped eating

Ine

Conrad, and Dustin thought I disliked fish But

At that moment, I felt a

was my

and my

too, perhaps a sign from

grilled fish was just like my mom's, bursting with flavor, as if she

to cook fish, having grown up by the lake and being an expert in

had lost my mom for ten years, and now her love

dinner, Ernest didn't

couch browsing on

while he worked on