“Is Michelle’s death the reason Sherlock doesn’t like thunder?”
His slow nod tore at her heart. “There was a storm the night Michelle died. Before she was killed, she radioed in to say Sherlock had been shot. When the responding units arrived, he was lying across Michelle’s chest, trying to protect her.”
Hot tears filled Natalie’s eyes. “Did he ever go back to the K-9 unit?”
“No. He was too traumatized by what happened.”
Natalie held onto Gabe’s hand. “I don’t know what to say, except thank you. It must have been hard being on the mountain.”
“It would have been worse if we’d lost you. Which is why I’m not going back to Brooklyn. Not yet, anyway.”
“But your agent—”
“Eric will have to make do with the phone and the Internet. I still have to write the last chapter of my book, anyway.”
“And after that?”
“It will take a couple of weeks to do the edits before Eric sees the manuscript. Once he’s read it, I’ll change anything he finds before it’s sent to the publishing house. They’ll suggest more edits before it’s ready for the next stage.”
“It’s a long process.”
Gabe nodded. “Mistakes can slip through, but we try to minimize them. Are you okay with me staying at the cottage for a few more weeks?”
“You can stay for as long as you like.” She took a deep breath. “I wanted to talk to you about the cottage. I’m thinking about making Sapphire Bay my permanent home.”
Gabe seemed surprised. “I thought you’d go back to Italy.”
“I’m tired of living so far away from mom and my friends.” She wanted to add, ‘and you’ but she wasn’t sure how he would react.
“Brooklyn is a long way from Sapphire Bay.” Gabe didn’t seem happy with the thought of a long-distance relationship, either.
Natalie knew they could make their friendship work—it just depended on how much they were willing to compromise. “We both have jobs that can be based anywhere in the world. If you’d like to spend more time with me, I could live in New York City for a few months of the year. But I don’t want to live there all the time.”
“You don’t like big cities?”
“I never have. They’re too noisy and polluted.”
“What if I said I could live in Sapphire Bay. Not in the cottage, but in a place of my own. I’d have to fly back to New York City once or twice a month, but most of the time I’d be in Montana.”
Natalie’s heart pounded. “You’d do that?”
Gabe held her hand tighter. “I want to spend more time with you. I can’t do that from two thousand miles away.”
More tears stung her eyes. “I want to get to know you, too.”
“That’s good because I think I’m falling in love with you.”
All of Natalie’s doubts and worries melted away. She leaned forward and kissed Gabe gently on the lips. “You aren’t the only one who’s falling in love. Do you think Sherlock will be happy in Sapphire Bay?”
“He’d be happy wherever we lived, but Sapphire Bay is special. He’s found his home, and so have I.”
Natalie’s heart was bursting with joy. From desperately wanting to leave Sapphire Bay as a teenager, her life had come full circle—and she couldn’t have been happier.
* * *
Two days later,Brooke stood in the doorway of Natalie’s cottage with a bunch of flowers in her hand. “Welcome home!”
Natalie smiled. “Come in. How did you know we were back?”
