“Thank you.” She rubs her belly, but her eyes stay on me. “What are your intentions with my best friend?”
I hadn’t thought much beyond getting to Tenley and telling her how I feel. I open my mouth to say that but Tenley answers for me. “I want a cozy house on a little bit of land. Maybe next to the Verde River, so Libby can play and swim.”
I wind my fingers through hers. “You want to live in Sierra Grande?”
“Of course. Peyton and Charlie should be with their family. And I kind of fell in love with small-town life.” She grins. “And the rest of the Hayden family.”
“What about your career?” I know she was planning to take a break, but can Tenley really be happy not making movies?
She shrugs. “If I want to go back later, maybe I will. I’ll leave the door ajar.”
Morgan taps her thigh and whistles, and Libby scurries over. “It was nice to meet you, Warner. We’ll chat later.” She takes Libby inside with her.
I lean in and nuzzle Tenley’s cheek. “I met a Morgan once. On the side of the road.”
“Weird.”
“Mm-hmm.”
My lips find hers. Against them, I say, “I love you.” I want her to hear it and feel it.
“I love you too, Warner.”
They are the five most beautiful words I’ve ever heard her say.
Epilogue
“Can we get out of here?”Tenley pounds her feet on the passenger side floorboard. Pearl’s metal construction makes it sound like a drum.
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Tenley so excited. It thrills me to know moving to Sierra Grande makes her this happy.
Morgan and her fiancé, Pax, are standing in front of Tenley’s house. Pax waves, and Morgan looks like it’s all she can do to remain upright. She’s nearing the end of her pregnancy and all she wants is to be off her feet.
I turn the key and Pearl’s engine roars to life. Tenley turns around and sits on her knees, waving. “Call me the second you have a contraction,” she yells at Morgan.
Morgan yells back, but Tenley can’t hear her.
“What?” Tenley yells.
Morgan rolls her eyes and gives Tenley an exaggerated thumbs up.
Tenley laughs and drops down into the seat, buckling herself in. “She’ll call me.”
I pause when the gate closes behind us, using my phone to read Wyatt’s last text and enter the address he sent.
“What’s there?” Tenley asks as my phone starts reciting directions.
“You’ll see.” I’m afraid if I tell her where I’m going, she’ll put a stop to it. Plus, it probably won’t work. The timing has to be just right, and I’m not going to spend any more time on this than I have to.
I slow when I get to the residential neighborhood. It’s mostly single-family homes, and at the end are the apartments I’m looking for.
“I wish I knew what you were doing,” Tenley says, tapping a fingernail on the glove compartment.
“If I told you, you’d stop me.” I give her a quick kiss and hop out. Time appears to be on my side.
The kid is around fourteen. He’s walking a large Labrador retriever and holding a small plastic bag that looks to be in use. This couldn’t be any better.
“Seriously?” the kid asks when I tell him what I want. I hand over the fifty and he shakes his head. “I can’t wait to tell my friends about this.”
