“I guess I am,” another pause. “Is that okay?”
“Yes.” The word came out breathless and eager, and I didn’t even care. “Yes, you know I want to see you again.”
“Good,” the relief in his voice was palpable. “That makes two of us.”
I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling my heart flutter beneath my palm like a wild thing trying to escape. This was really happening. This gorgeous, kind, impossibly competent man wanted to introduce me to his friends.
“I’d love that,” I said. And then, before I could lose my nerve, I asked, “What are you doing between now and then? Maybe we could make a day of it.”
His laugh was warm and rich over the phone. “Even better. Let’s make a week of it.”
A week. A whole week with Jameson.
I didn’t even hesitate. I pulled a U-turn right there on the empty mountain road and started driving back the way I’d come.
“What are you doing?” he asked, and I could hear the curiosity in his voice.
“Turning around.”
“Turning around?”
“If we’re making a week of it, I don’t want to waste another minute driving in the wrong direction.”
His laugh was louder this time. “Damn, woman. You don’t mess around.”
“Life’s too short to mess around.” I pressed the gas a little harder, watching the trees blur past my window. “I’ve spent too many years being careful and waiting for things to happen. I’mdonewaiting.”
“I like the sound of that,” he growled.
“Good. Because you’re stuck with me now.”
“Promise?”
The word hung in the air between us, weighted with meaning neither of us was quite ready to name. But I felt it anyway. The possibility of it settling into my bones.
“Promise,” I said softly.
When I pulled back into the parking lot, Jameson was still standing by his truck, phone pressed to his ear, grinning like a fool. He hung up as I parked beside him, and before I could even turn off the engine, he was opening my door and pulling me out into his arms.
He kissed me for the second time today, with the birds singing in the trees and the mountains rising green and verdant all around us.
It was a hello kiss.
A kiss of beginnings.
A kiss that said we hadallthe time in the world.
When we finally broke apart, I struggled to find my voice again, so overwhelmed with emotion. “So,” I asked, “what’s first on the agenda for our week together?”
“Breakfast,” he said firmly. “There’s a diner in town that makes the best pancakes in the county. And then maybe I’ll take you up to Lover’s Ridge to see the view. And after that…” He shrugged, his arms tightening around me. “Maybe we can go see your fancy rental at the Whispering Ridge Cabins.” Then he growled, “If we’relucky, maybe we can break another bed today.”
I smiled against his wool sweater, breathing in the manly scent that clung to him.
Standing there in Jameson’s arms, with the whole day stretching out before us and a whole week after that and maybe something even longer on the horizon, I realized that sometimes the best things in life are the ones you never see coming.
I’d come to the mountains to find myself.
Instead, I found a whole new life… with him.
