So right.
And for the first time in what feels like forever, I’m safe.
Safe. Home. Loved.
I’ve had all of those things courtesy of Bea, but now—now, it’smore.
Oliver makes it all complete.
“I think I’m still a little bit of a disaster,” I whisper.
“No, Daph. You’re absolutely perfect. God, I missed you.”
“She hasn’t been sleeping well,” Bea says, closer. A bag rustles. “Or eating well. Here. Eat here, take it to go, whatever works for you. But please eat.Bothof you.”
“Thank you,” Oliver says.
And I giggle through the threat of more tears.
He’s using his manners again.
“Don’t think I’m using them with you,” he murmurs to me, like he knows what I’m thinking.
“Thank you for making sure she got home safe,” Bea replies. “A fortune teller told me a few weeks ago that she wouldn’t come home, and I’ve been a little bit of a wreck waiting for her since she left.”
“I would’ve been too,” he tells her. “Don’t go see fortune tellers.”
“Madame Petty is awesome,” I say into his neck. “We are absolutely going to see her. But maybe not for like, a year. Or five years.”
Oliver laughs.
Bea laughs.
My tears are drying up, and all I have now—it’s all warmth.
Squishy, heart-swelling warmth that comes with a side of glow.
I wipe my face off and sit up, staring into Oliver’s hazel eyes, and I start to smile. “You’re here.”
He smiles back, the worry lines easing in his beautiful face. “I’m here.”
“To stay?”
“To find a house with fewer than seven rooms and get a dog and convince this woman who stole my heart to move in with me and help me make the world a better place.”
Dammit, he’s making me cry again. “You’re gonna love it here. We have festivals every weekend—Bea, what’s this weekend?”
“Cardboard boat regatta,” Bea reports.
Oliver squints one eye at me, then at her, then back at me. “You enter every year, don’t you?”
“Not since the first year when my boat sank before they blew the whistle to start the race.”
“I have pictures,” Bea says. “And video.”
“First goal—build Daphne a better cardboard boat,” he murmurs.
The scent of hamburger tickles my nose again, and for the first time in days, I’m hungry. I grab the bag of burgers Bea made us, then dig into my pocket for my car keys. “Bea?”
