She takes a deep breath. I can’t tell what she’s thinking. “Is that it? Is there anything else?”
Since she asks, I know I have to tell her. I need to be honest and just lay it all on the line for her. “No, there’s more. I’m falling for you, Lakelyn. I know you’ll probably leave here and break my heart, but I can’t let you do that without at least telling you how I feel.”
Her hands slide up my chest and wrap around the base of my neck. Her fingers feather through the hairs at my nape. “Ask me to stay, Tate.”
She says it so softly, I’m sure I’ve misunderstood. Or maybe I want to hear her say it so badly that I’ve imagined it. “What did you say?”
She laughs and says it again. “Ask me to stay.”
Hope flairs in my chest. “Will you stay in Whiskey Run, Lakelyn? Will you stay with me? I know you’ll need to travel, and I’ll go with you if you want me to. I just want to be with you.”
Her eyes widen in surprise. “You’ll go with me? You’ll leave Whiskey Run?”
I’m already nodding before she even gets the question out. “If I get to be with you, I’ll go anywhere.”
“That isn’t necessary. My agent called with my next job offer this morning. I turned it down. I was hoping you’d want me to stay, but if you didn’t I was going to go home and work with my dad... at least until I could find a way to convince you we were meant to be together.”
“So you’ll stay?”
“I’ll stay,” she says, and I lift her up and spin her around. She’s laughing, I’m laughing, and I know we’re making a spectacle of ourselves, but I don’t care. She’s staying in Whiskey Run... with me.
I stop spinning and set her on her feet. “What were you going to do with your dad? Maybe we can find something here for you to do if it’s something you want to do. I don’t want you to give up your dreams, Lake.”
“I was going to work at his shop. He’s a mechanic.”
I rear back in surprise. “Your dad’s a mechanic?”
She nods and laughs at the same time. “He is, and he taught me everything he knows. My mom was always pushing me into pageants, but I always preferred working in the shop with my dad.”
I cup her face. “Well, I know a pretty good mechanic that could use some help in his shop.”
Her arms go around my waist, and she beams up at me. “Oh, you do, do you?”
“I do.”
I lean down because if I don’t have her lips under mine soon, I’m going to bust. I kiss her and put every emotion I’m feeling into that kiss. We break apart only when the few townspeople start cheering.
“Ahem.” Someone behind us clears their throat.
It’s Kameron, and he’s looking down his nose at the both of us. “Lucky for you, we are done taping. The directors said they got enough. We’re done.”
Lakelyn looks up at me. “Well, it looks like I have the afternoon free. Got any ideas?”
I growl and lean down to whisper in her ear, “Don’t tempt me, woman. I’ll throw you over my shoulder and take you back home and not let you up for a week.”
She’s nodding and smiling. “Okay... Let’s do that.”
So I give her exactly what she wants. I bend down and put her over my shoulder because I need to get her home and back in my bed now.
11
Tate
We don’t quite make it.
My phone rings in my pocket, and I almost ignore it, but something tells me I’d better get it. I look at the caller ID, and it’s Josh. “Shit. I have to take this,” I tell Lakelyn as I put her down on her feet. She puts her hand in mine, and we keep walking. “Josh, what’s up?”
He rambles on so fast I can’t hear him. “Wait. Slow down. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Hospital... Violet…” he says. It sounds like he’s running.
I open the car door, and Lakelyn gets in. I run around to my side. “Is she okay?”
“Yes... we’re having a baby.”
“Mercy Hospital in Jasper?”
“Yes.”
I peel out of the parking lot. “I’m on my way.”
As soon as I hang up, Lakelyn asks, “Is Violet okay?”
“Yes, she’s having the baby.”
I drive as fast as I can to the hospital. It’s thirty minutes away if you’re driving the speed limit. I get us there in twenty-five. Lakelyn is quiet the whole way, and so am I. I’m worried about my sister, but I know that Josh is taking good care of her.
I barely get the car into park, and I’m running around, grabbing Lakelyn’s hand, and we both run to the entrance.
“My sister…” I pant when I reach the information desk. “My sister is having a baby.”