“Don’t you dare tell me you’renotin love with me, Roxanne.”
This time, I cup his face in my hands and kiss him, slow, gentle, and deliberate, but with enough heat that a soft moan escapes him.
“No, I’m not going to tell you that.”
He clears his throat and gives his tux jacket a tug. “Good, oh and I wanted to bring you the other thing you forgot.” He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a familiar envelope.
I take it, but I already know it’s full of all the notes he left me all those lovely mornings waking up in his house. “Thank you.”
“I tucked a new one in there,” he says.
I open it and pull out a few notes stuck together.
I love you, Roxanne.
We’re going to make this work, no matter the miles between us. What we’ve built doesn’t end with summer, it just starts a new chapter.
I bring my hand to my mouth as I’m both laughing and crying. Crying because of what it says, laughing because he drew an arrow and on the back of the note there’s a house with a curly cue of smoke, and two stick figures holding hands with a dog in between them. “The artistry here … your drawing has really evolved.”
“I know,” he says, craning his neck to admirehis fine work.
“I only have one question,” I say, bringing the envelope to my heart.
He wraps his arms around me again. “Anything.”
“Did you bring the chaps with you?”
“I’m wearing them underneath my pants.”
I dissolve into laughter, and he kisses me again as the sound of applause drifts from the stage.
“So what happens now?” I ask.
He grins, that slow smile that made me fall for him in the first place. “Now we write the rest of our story. Together.”
epilogue
ROXANNE
We hadto wait three excruciating days for the contest results. When Priti calls to tell us the results, I start to shake so bad I can hardly hang onto the phone.
“Roxanne, are you sitting down?” Priti’s voice booms through the speaker before I can even say hello.
“No, I can’t sit at all. What’s happening?” I ask, putting her on speaker so Duke can hear.
“You’re about to be very proud,” she says. “Firebird Ranch placed second—right behind the Detroit Garden Project!”
“Duke …” I set the phone down on my counter and Duke throws his arms around me.
“I can’t believe this,” Duke says, his eyes misty.
“This is amazing!” I say.
“So you now you can finally forgive me for sending you to Colorado,” Priti says.
I feign a heavy sigh. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“You should be thrilled. Ten million in grant funding, a national feature, and World Explorer’s going to include Firebird in our fall special. You two have made quite an impression.”
