"Because it's true a lot."
Maddie giggles and whispers loudly, "Daddy is so mushy now."
"I heard that," Dylan calls.
"You were supposed to!" she yells back.
I laugh and help her dig another hole for the petunias we picked up from the garden center. The sun is warm on my shoulders, and the air smells like earth and growing things, and I realize with perfect clarity that this is what home feels like.
Not a place.
Not a building.
But this.
These people.
This love.
That evening,after Maddie is asleep, Dylan and I sit on the back porch with glasses of wine and the stars spread out above us.
"I've been thinking," he says.
"Dangerous," I tease.
"I want to expand the bakery," he continues. "Hire more people. Maybe even open a second location someday."
I turn to look at him. "Really?"
"Yeah," he says. "For a long time, I was just trying to survive. Keep things small and manageable, and safe. But now I wantmore. I want to build something bigger. Something Maddie can be proud of."
"She is already proud of you," I say.
"I know. But I want to show her that it's okay to dream. That it's okay to take risks. That sometimes the best things in life come from the scariest decisions."
I lean my head against his shoulder. "Like asking a stranger to stay for lunch."
He laughs. "Exactly like that."
"I think expanding is a great idea," I say. "And I'll help however I can."
"I was hoping you would say that," he says. "Because I was also thinking maybe you could handle all the social media and marketing for the bakery. Make it official."
I sit up and look at him. "Are you offering me a job?"
"I'm offering you a partnership," he corrects. "If you want it."
My throat tightens. "Dylan..."
"You don't have to answer now," he says quickly. "I just wanted you to know that I see this as ours. The bakery. The business. The life. All of it."
I cup his face in my hands. "Yes."
He blinks. "Yes?"
"Yes, I want to be your partner. In the bakery and in everything else."
He kisses me then, deep and sure, and I taste the promise in it.
