“I’m not sure, because you were talking real fast, and in a way I’ve never heard you talk before, but Ithinkyou said you love me.”
“I do,” Ty said. “And maybe it’s crazy, but?—”
“It’s not crazy,” Winnie said. She dropped her chin in that shy way she had that made Ty love her even more. “I was just about to talk to my parents about coming to live with me in Three Rivers.” She looked up and met his eye. “Because I’m miserable here without you.”
“Yeah?” His lips curved up in a smile. “That’s great news.”
“Me being miserable is great news?”
Ty tipped his head back and laughed. “Yes, sweetheart, because it means you’re in love with me too.”
“Hm, I didn’t say that,” Winnie said.
Ty pressed in close to her, resting one palm at her hip against the door. “You don’t have tosayit, Win. You kissed me like it when you left, and when I kiss you right now, I’m going to feel the exact same thing.”
“You think so, huh?” She swallowed, and Ty dropped his head and moved at a snail’s pace, giving her every opportunity to push him away or shoot some other barb in his direction.
She didn’t, and when his lips grazed hers, Winnie reacted the same way she always had. She pulled in a breath, grabbed onto his shirt, and pulled him closer. She kissed him hard for a moment, and then she let Ty take control again.
He savored his time kissing her, finally moving his left hand up her arm and across her shoulder and into her hair.
“Mm, yeah, I love you,” he said. “And you kiss me like you love me.”
“Fine,” Winnie whispered. “Maybe I do.”
He chuckled and touched his lips to her earlobe. “Yeah, maybe you do.”
He pulled back; their eyes met, his smile falling away at the tenderness between them.
Winnie breathed out and then pulled in another breath, and Ty recognized her trying to control her emotions. He took her face in his hands again and kissed her for several long moments until he became aware of voices on the other side of the door.
He pulled away just as Winnie said, “My parents.”
“Yeah. You want to introduce me to them?” he asked.
Winnie grinned, and though her face bore a bit more pinkness, she nodded. She reached behind her and twisted the doorknob and almost fell backward into the house. She tugged him inside with her, and Ty tried to stand as tall and as strong as possible at her side as she said, “Momma, Daddy, this is my boyfriend, Ty, and he drove here from Three Rivers, because he loves me, and I’m not staying here in Redwood, because of him. So we need to talk about the two of you coming to live with me in Three Rivers, where Daddy can have his surgery and I can then help take care of him in the recovery.”
With every word she spoke, her parents’ faces morphed through a range of emotions—first from gentle acceptance, then to happiness, and then to disbelief, and then to pure shock.
“We can’t go to Three Rivers,” her father said.
“Oh, yes, you can,” Winnie said.
“I don’t have a doctor there,” he said.
“I’ve called several,” Winnie said. “And we actually have an appointment in Three Rivers, not this Tuesday, but the next one.”
She glanced at Ty, and he nodded at her, hoping to give her the strength she needed to see this through.
“So we have a week to get this house packed up with everything you need, and then Ty and I are taking you back to Three Rivers with us on…”
She turned toward him, and Ty cocked his eyebrows at her. “Saturday?” he guessed.
Winnie nodded and turned back to her parents. “Saturday.”
“What about the house?” her mother asked.
“Taylor lives here,” Winnie said without missing a beat. “She can handle anything with the house. You guys can come to Three Rivers, where there are renowned back surgeons, Daddy, and you can have your surgery there, and I can keep my job, and my boyfriend.”
