"Good news?"
Her laugh was short, humourless. "Complicated news." She slipped her phone into her pocket.
"Well, if you ever want to talk about it," I offered.
Brooke's smile was tight. "I appreciate that. But some things are better left in the past."
She walked away before I could respond, and I watched her go, wondering what kind of history could put that look on her face.
By the time I got home, the sun was setting, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. Wyatt's truck was already in the driveway, and when I walked in with bags of groceries, I found him in the kitchen, already pulling out pans and ingredients.
"You weren't kidding about cooking," I said, setting the bags on the counter.
"Figured you'd had a long day." He kissed my temple as he passed by to grab an onion. "How'd the surgery go?"
"Perfect. Brooke's good. Really good."
"That's good." Wyatt started chopping with practiced ease. "You tell her about Maddy?"
"Yeah. She offered to have Jackson show Maddy around school when she starts. They're the same age."
Wyatt's hands stilled. "That's... that's really nice of her."
"Brooke's practical like that. Sees a problem, offers a solution." I hopped up onto the counter, watching him work. "She got a weird text today, too. She seemed pretty rattled by it."
"Yeah?" Wyatt's voice was carefully casual.
"She said it was complicated."
Wyatt's jaw tightened, just slightly. "Lots of complicated histories in a small town."
I studied him. "You know something.”
He looked up, meeting my eyes. "Cal Mercer’s coming back. He was a wildfire fighter before he moved up to management. Brooke used to be—" He paused. "I don't know exactly what happened, but he just up and left after the fire that she was caught in.”
The kitchen fell quiet except for the sizzle of onions hitting the hot pan.
“I remember him, he was a bit older than me,” I said finally.
“Aren’t we all,” Wyatt said flatly as he set down the knife and turned to face me, his hands bracing on either side of my thighs on the counter.
”Yes, you are old, man,” I giggled.
“Pretty sure you can’t tell I’m older.” He winked, and he was right. There wasn’t anything slowing this man down. “And right now I’m thinking about you, and me, and the fact that I get to come home to you every night."
I looped my arms around his neck. “Oh, that was sappy.”
"True though."
"Can't argue with that."
He kissed me, and I let myself forget about Maddy'simpending arrival, about Cal Mercer coming back to town, about the way Brooke's face had gone carefully blank. Right now, at this moment, it was just us. Just me and Wyatt and the life we'd built together, one choice at a time.
When we finally broke apart, Wyatt rested his forehead against mine.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
"For what?"
