Southern Attraction (Southern Heart 3)

She smiles. “You know why I’m not happy here?”

I shake my head.

“I miss you too. I realized that I’m not really home unless I’m where you are.”

I let her word sink in. “So, you said you were moving?” I question, working it out in my head. “You were coming to me?”

“Yeah.” She smiles. “I’m coming to you.

“I can’t let you do that. Your dream job.”

“Funny how life works. The job isn’t what I thought it would be. Then again, my heart isn’t in it. I left my heart in Kentucky.” She takes my hand in hers. “I was going to leave here in a few hours and drive all night. I wanted to be there at your doorstep when you woke up tomorrow.”

“What does this mean?”

She laughs. “It means I’m moving to Kentucky. I need to find a place to live, but Whit has always said I can stay with her, and Liv offered—”

“You can come back to our place.”

“Our place?”

“Yes. It doesn’t feel like just mine anymore. I see you everywhere. It’s lonely without you.” I lean in and kiss her. “Are you sure, baby? You sure this is what you want?”

“Positive. My parents want to travel, so they won’t even be here. I never let myself work it out the way I should have. I kept thinking that one of us would have to give up something to be together, but I was looking at it all wrong. I’m getting a lifetime with you. No job is worth that.”

“That’s why I’m here. I came to the same conclusion.”

“Your situation is a little different. You have roots. My job is just that—a job. It means nothing if I can’t come home to you. I already have a lead in town. Mr. Warren called a college friend of his and put in a good word for me. I meet with him on Monday.”

“In Kentucky?” I ask her.

“Yes. It’s about twenty minutes from your place, so not a bad drive.”

“Our place.” I lean in and kiss her again.

Pulling away, her green eyes are sparking. “Please tell me you drove the truck.”

“I did.”

“Good. We can hopefully get it all in one trip. My lease is up in two months, so I’m just going to let it go. I’m leaving the furniture for the next person. It was all secondhand anyway.”

“We can go buy new furniture. Anything you want.”

“I like your house the way it is. Maybe some paint, a pillow or two.” She winks.

“Our house,” I remind her.

“Our house.”

“We’re really doing this? You’re moving to Kentucky? You’re moving in with me. Not just for a few weeks, but for a lifetime?”

“We’re really doing this,” she assures me.

I kiss her quickly and then stand from the couch. “What’s left to do? What can I help with? Do you need more boxes? What do you want me to do?”

She laughs. “I’m pretty much packed. I was going to hire movers to bring it to me, but since your truck is here, I think we can get it all. I just have to clean out the kitchen and pack it up. Then I’ll be done aside from the toiletries I’ll need tomorrow.”

“Yours are still at home, in the shower where we left them,” I tell her, heading toward the kitchen.