A Lot Like Home

“With Serenity,” Ember offered cautiously, her gaze tight on Havana’s face as if trying to ensure she didn’t miss the blindside headed her way.

Caleb got that look sometimes. What was happening with him—or not happening more like—was definitely her fault. She just didn’t know how to stop waiting for him to show his true colors. There was a reason she always tried to seize control of every situation, including the one that had led to her fall out with Ember—she had a bone-deep need to keep giving herself choices and robbing everyone else of them. Then no one had the power to hurt her.

In turn, she hurt them instead. Not on purpose. But that didn’t change facts. If she wanted to stop, today would be the opportune time to take that first step.

“I’m living in town permanently, to answer your earlier question about what I’m doing here,” Havana said. “I’m staying with Serenity too. That’ll give us a chance to catch up.”

“Catch up?” Ember wrinkled her nose. “As in, so you can figure out which part of my life you need to start running? No, thanks.”

“No, so we can talk like adults who respect each other,” she countered, clamping down hard on the funny squiggle in her stomach that was sending SOS signals to her brain, screaming things like, What are you doing? What if Ember is making all kinds of mistakes? How can you take care of her if you don’t know what’s going on?

But she didn’t say any of that. Because Ember was an adult, and the best thing she could do to show she cared was step back and figure out how to earn her allegiance instead of running roughshod over her sister. The way Caleb did things. He showed he cared by letting people figure things out on their own.

The way he’d done with Havana. That realization settled into her heart, beating along with her pulse as if it had always been there. Caleb cared about her. Of course he did. It was in everything he did, the way he looked at her, how he touched her. The way he’d stepped back when she’d told him to and let her figure out how to be ready for what he was offering.

Caleb cared about her. And he wasn’t going anywhere. These were inescapable truths that had no room to be misinterpreted. What did she do with that?

A little stunned, she surveyed Ember, really opening her eyes to her sister. Ember’s waist-length red-gold looked the same, but her sister’s face had filled out a little, gaining the womanly contours that made her look so much like their mother. She wore a simple sundress that displayed her stunning figure that showed no signs of having carried a baby.

Perhaps she hadn’t. Maybe something terrible had happened, but Havana hadn’t earned the right to ask. Not yet.

This conversation was so far out of the norm she couldn’t figure out what to say next. Flying blind, she tried to think what Caleb might say. His teammates worshipped him, likely because he put their needs ahead of his own. She could take a lesson.

“Is that okay?” Havana asked since Ember was taking her measure just as heavily. “If we start over as adults? You’re right. What happened when we were teenagers shouldn’t affect things now. I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed the support of your family. Give me a chance to do it right this time.”

Ember hesitated for so long Havana thought she was going to say something smart-alecky and tell her off. But then her sister nodded. “I can do that. I’m here for the foreseeable future, so I guess we’re going to have to find a way to get along if nothing else.”

“Really?” Quickly Havana wiped the surprise off her face. Looked like they were both doing things differently. “You’re planning to stay?”

Ember shrugged, her expression nonchalant. “I needed a place to land, and when I got here, Aunt Serenity said the new mayor was trying to make a go of this town as a tourist destination. I figured I could use something to do. So here I am. Looks like there’s an influx of good-looking men around town these days, so I’m calling my timing a win.”

“The mayor is mine.” Havana coughed and cleared her throat. “I mean, you know. In a nonpsychotic kind of way.”

For whatever reason, that made Ember smile. “Don’t worry. His devotion to you was pretty clear when I met him.”

“What? What did Caleb say?” Now Havana sounded like a schoolgirl hashing out her love life at lunch. But really… had Caleb been going around telling people they were a couple or something? And why did that thought please her so much? Better not to examine that. “Never mind. Come inside and say hi to Aria.”

Ember followed her inside the art studio, and Aria squealed the moment she spied their sister. The two hugged and started jabbering, so Havana left them to get reacquainted or whatever. She had no idea if Ember and Aria spoke three times a week or if they’d been estranged this whole time too. Hopefully, all of it would come full circle as Havana and Ember both settled into the concept of home, whatever that looked like.

Maybe they’d both end up Springians. Wouldn’t that be something?

Instead of picking up where she’d left off, Havana opted to cut out early so she could prepare for the presentation to the town that she and Caleb had planned for this afternoon. The likely addition of Ember to the audience ruffled Havana’s nerves for some reason.

Now that Damian’s investors were on board with the six-month deadline to get this town off the ground, the town had to get to work. This presentation was the culmination of what she hoped to convince everyone to do together. The folks had to like it, or she and Caleb would have to go back to the drawing board.

Or give up and let Damian figure out how to get the townspeople to sell. He would too. She had no doubt. And then Havana wouldn’t have a chance to finally settle into a niche that she could call home forever.

Now that she had the chance, and a semireasonable plan for getting it, she wanted it.

The folks crowded into Ruby’s, which had become a makeshift town hall of sorts over the past few weeks. Eventually they’d build a real one, according to her plan that included an entire new section of buildings to house the infrastructure offices that she’d convinced Caleb they needed, including a firehouse, a police department, and offices for city records.

First they needed to start making money in the form of taxes. Never an easy subject.

Havana stood near the round booth in the corner, where Caleb’s friends had already taken their customary seats, with the notable addition of Cassidy. She’d wedged in next to Isaiah, and Ember stood next to the chair occupied by Hudson, though he was studiously ignoring her as Tristan flirted up a storm with the gorgeous newcomer. Cassidy and Ember had been fast friends in high school; clearly they’d continued their relationship since they’d both ended up at Ruby’s together.

Caleb wound his way toward Havana from the back of the diner, stopping every few feet to say a word to someone, share a smile, pat a little one on the head. Basically he was the perfect mayor and man rolled into one, and her lungs hitched as he saved his best smile for her.

“Hey,” he called softly as he joined her. “I haven’t seen you all week. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”