“Yup.”
“Now there’s something that can make a man want to move to Eugene.”
Her eyes narrowed while her hands found their way around my neck. “You had better be meaning me and not the cake, right?”
“Hmmm…it’s definitely the cake. But the lemon bars are a nice bonus.”
Before she could say anything else, I kissed her. The booth was not a place meant for make-outs, but I did the best I could, sliding the table away from us to give me enough room to pull her onto my lap.
Chad kicked us out a few minutes later.
We took our chocolate cake to go.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
Tessa
Whistles and shouts filled the little white church in Eugene. White roses and flower petals were strewn all around the aisle. Dusty looked handsome in his black suit and matching cowboy hat. He wore a sweet and contented smile as he kissed his bride, who stood blushing in white satin. Lucy’s dark hair curled loosely around her shoulders. Her eyes were big behind her dark glasses and pert nose, and my heart wanted to burst for my friend who had found such a lovely girl to marry.
After a luncheon, the crowd gathered at Dusty’s parents’ home for a reception. When we arrived at their backyard decked out in white string lights and complete with a moveable wooden dance floor, Logan and I made our way to the bride and groom’s table.
“Congrats, man.” Logan stuck out his hand toward Dusty, which he ignored, pulling Logan in for a hug.
“You up next?” Dusty asked Logan impishly, glancing over at me.
Logan grinned. “I’m still trying to convince her to keep dating me.”
I ignored him and gave Lucy a hug.
“I’m so happy for you two.”
She beamed, fixing her veil. “Thank you. Thanks for coming and for the desserts. I’m just praying I get a chance to eat some of them today.”
I laughed. “Logan and I stashed a container full of everything in Dusty’s truck.”
Her eyes widened. “Bless you.”
A crowd had gathered behind us, waiting to speak to the bride and groom, so I scooted Logan out of my way to hug Dusty before we left them to their guests.
“Have you heard anything from your parents?” I asked as we made our way to the treat table filled with two large chocolate cakes, cookies, brownies, and raspberry-lemon bars I had been hired to make for the reception.
“Nothing yet. You? They’d probably let you know before me.”
“Kelsey was supposed to be giving me real-time updates, but she had to leave her phone with Cade, and for some reason, he’s not texting every thirty seconds like I asked him to.”
“I can’t imagine why.”
Logan had loaded his plate full of raspberry-lemon bars. He would have added more, but I stopped him. “I made you your own special plate, Logan Marten. Don’t eat all of these. It’s bad for business.”
Since the summer and my stint baking for Chad’s restaurant, word had begun to spread around Eugene. I had enough steady business coming in that I was able to drop down to part time at Willow Creek Physical Therapy. And that was enough for me. I realized that I didn’t hate physical therapy; I actually enjoyed working with Nate. But I found that I was the sort of person who needed a creative outlet in the form of baking. I had been saving for a down payment to move into my own house by next spring. My parents had been great, but I would be twenty-five in another week, and I needed my space. Logan had been helping me with the house hunt, and we’d found a modest fixer-upper just outside of town that had everything we—I mean,Iwas looking for.
I wasn’t sure where Logan was at with the whole marriage thing. We certainly acted like we would get married one day, but we never spoke about it directly. With Logan’s past and mine, I hadn’t wanted to broach the subject just yet, but with us talking about fixing up the house and the changes we would make, I couldn’t help but wonder just where he was at in his head.
We spent the next while laughing and catching up with old friends. Logan was resistant when I pulled him toward the dance floor outlined by the glow of white twinkle lights, but when he recognized the tune of a familiar song we had slow-danced to earlier this summer, a soft smile played on his lips while his hand on my waist pulled me closer.
“Maybe I should tell the DJ to add my favorite Nelly songs to this playlist,” he whispered. “To liven things up.”
