God, I would never get used to the way those words landed in my chest.
“I love you too.” I sat up a little, shifted to reach behind me, my heart thudding. I’d carried the ring in my coat pocket for weeks, waiting for the right night, the right breath, the right stars. “Eliza.”
She sat up too, her dark eyes blinking, her hair a little wild from the wind.
“I built a life here hoping I’d find someone who felt like home.” My voice shook, but I didn’t care. “Then I met you and realized I didn’t have to keep looking.”
She stared at me, already teary. “Nate…”
I pulled out the ring box and flipped it open. The band was simple and elegant—rose gold with a bezel-set diamond and"Meant for you"engraved inside.
“Yes,” she whispered as she read the words on the band. The sound breaking me wide open.
“I want forever,” I said. “I want all your moods and your mornings and your coffee and your fire. I want you with Tilly and Lois, your cats, spaghetti, late nights, and everything in between. I don’t care about anything else. Just you.”
She was crying, laughing and crying.
I cupped her cheek, my thumb sweeping under her eye. “Will you marry me, Eliza? No more waiting. No more almost. I want forever with you.”
Her breath hitched. Tears spilled, bright and beautiful. “Yes,” she whispered, like she was afraid the word might break if she said it too loud. Then she smiled, radiant and sure. “Yes. God, yes.”
I pulled the ring from the box with shaking fingers and slid it onto her finger. It fit like it had been waiting for her all along.
She stared at it, then at me, and made this soft, broken sound that wrecked me.
I kissed her then—slow at first, like I was savoring the truth of it, the taste of her, the feel of her hands fisting in my jacket. Then deeper, harder, like every second we’d held back was finally catching up with us. She climbed into my lap, curling against me, and I held her there like I might never let go.
We laughed breathlessly between kisses, foreheads pressed together, noses brushing, the cold night forgotten as warmth built between us. Blankets shifted, the truck bed creaked softly,and the world narrowed to the two of us and the stars burning bright overhead.
And there, wrapped in blankets and moonlight and the steady beat of each other’s hearts, we loved each other—slow, reverent, aching with all the feeling we’d been carrying. The kind of love that isn’t just heat, but home. The kind that says stay.
When we finally lay tangled together, breath evening out, she rested her hand—ring gleaming—over my heart.
“You’re my home,” she whispered.
I kissed her hair, her temple, her mouth, over and over, like I couldn’t get enough. “And you’re mine. Always.”
Above us, the stars kept watch. Around us, the night held still.
And I knew, without a doubt, I’d never stop loving her. Love doesn’t always come easy. But when it’s meant for you, it finds you. And it never lets go.
Epilogue
Nate
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since taking over the Pennywhistle Pantry, it’s that nothing truly important in this town happens without two things: coffee and meddling grandmothers.
I was wiping down the front counter after the lunch rush—Nancy had already kicked me out of the kitchen for helping—when the bell over the door chimed, and Grandma walked in with Mabel at her side, both of them bundled in scarves and looking far too pleased with themselves.
That was my first clue.
They slid into a booth like they owned it. Which, to be fair, as Honeybrook Hollow royalty, they sort of did.
“Time for lunch,” Grandma announced. “We’re starving.”
Nancy appeared like she’d been summoned by destiny. “The usual?”
“Yes, please,” Mabel answered.
