Maybe I’ll do that.
And maybe I won’t.
I glance up at Pap. His chest is all puffed out as he nearly bursts with pride at seeing me in his lobby.
“So,” I say, feeling him out even though I know the answer. “You think you have a job opening around here?”
He grins. “I don’t know. What do you think, Dottie?”
Dottie pretends to consider my request. Her head cocks to the side as she wraps her hands around her coffee mug. “Maybe, but I have some parameters.”
“Shoot them my way,” I say.
She smiles. “You have to be on time. Every day. And I’m not calling you ‘handsome.’” She looks at my grandfather. “Did you know he wanted me to call him ‘handsome’ on his first day?”
“I did not,” I tell her. “You called me ‘handsome.’”
“Well, you are pretty handsome,” Sophie says, resting her head on my arm.
Pap shakes his head as he sets down a piece of paper. “Well, if there aren’t any objections from the boss, Dottie, then I guess you start Monday. Be here when Dottie tells you to. Leave when she tells you to. And don’t expect me in for two weeks.”
“Wait. What?” I ask, suddenly confused.
Pap just laughs. “Hell, if you’re gonna be around, I’m heading back to Florida. The boat is fixed, and the captain assured me there will be beer on board. There are fish out there calling my name.”
We laugh, our conversation changing to Grady’s dog and pies. And it hits me how strange this all seemed not that long ago, but how it now feels like it’s just the way it should be.
I squeeze Sophie’s hand again. She has to wonder why I keep doing it, but I like the confirmation that she’s there.
I grab a seat on one of the chairs in the lobby and pull my wife onto my lap. We listen to Pap and Dottie tell us a story about a man who brought in a pregnant goat yesterday. Apparently, it had a thing for crayons.
Sophie leans back and rests her head on my shoulder. I keep her as close to me as I can.
We sway back and forth as we listen to my grandfather. My mind ventures off into a time and place that feels like forever ago—the night I told her she’d have to act like she loves me.
Little did I know that would start a fire that neither of us would be able to stop. That it would spark a love story that we’ll pass down to our children and grandchildren.
She reaches back and touches my thigh.
And if she doesn’t quit, we’ll get started on that sooner than later.
EPILOGUE
SOPHIE
One week later
Talk me down.”
Liv storms into the kitchen and plops herself into a chair. Her hair is unruly, her cheeks red, and it’s all I can do not to laugh.
But I don’t. Because when Liv is this fired up, someone is in trouble.
Usually her.
“What happened?” I ask, brushing against Holden as I walk by the stove. He reaches for me, but I leap aside just in time. I was a half of a second from getting caught in his arms. That’s a place I find myself often these days. But I’m not complaining.
We’ve melded easily into each other’s lives over the past week. He makes breakfast, and I make dinner. We do our own laundry. Evenings are spent watching a movie or reading out loud from romance novels or taking walks around town. He even has taken an interest in the Honey House and has been helping me pick out the new gazebo design.
I don’t know what the future holds for us. That conversation hasn’t really come up. I just take it day by day and hope it continues like it’s going.
Because this life with him is the life I’ve always dreamed of.
“I think I hate my new boss already,” Liv whines.
Holden looks over his shoulder. “I thought he starts next Monday.”
“He does. But I got my first email from him today, and he’s a dick.”
“Why?” I ask.
She sighs dramatically. “He’s so . . . bossy.”
Holden snorts. “Well, he is your boss.”
“Like that matters.” Liv shimmies up in her seat. “He could be a little nicer and realize that I’m the one that’s kept that office running for the last six years. He’s going to come here and screw up all my systems. I know it.”
I walk past Holden at the stove. He reaches out and pulls me into him. His hands lock around my middle, and his chin rests on top of my head.
He does this a lot. If we’re in the same room, he’s touching me in some way every few minutes. It’s almost a game at this point: How long can Holden go and not brush against me or reach for me? Thankfully, not long.
“You two were cute at the beginning,” Liv says, her nose wrinkled. “But it’s annoying now.”