It wasn’t much later that the kids started drooping. They were both asleep as the last bottle rocket exploded high in the sky.
“Follow us home?” Josh whispered, leaning over the sleeping boys.
“Yes.” She was smiling as he kissed her—a light, tender brush of his lips to hers.
They woke up the kids, rolled up the blanket and said good-night to their friends and relatives.
Dillon fell asleep in his booster seat as Riley followed Josh’s taillights to his place. Halfway there, she thought of TJ suddenly, of how much she had loved him, of how good their life was until that day in the mountains.
The tears came. They streamed down her face—but in a good way. The best way. She rolled down her window,and the night air tossed her hair around. She was smiling and sobbing as she accepted the truth. She wouldn’t give up the few years she’d had with TJ, not even if she’d known the outcome in advance.
You couldn’t cheat fate. There would always be loss and endings. The whole point was to live well and love deeply in the meantime. How else could you hope to make the losses bearable?
They turned off the highway, and she followed Josh along the narrow, twisting road to his place. When they got there, she eased to a stop behind the crew cab and turned off her engine and lights.
Josh emerged from the pickup door. His boots crunched on gravel as he came back to her and leaned in her still-open window. “Hey…” He was smiling at first, but the moon must have shown him the tear tracks on her cheeks. “What happened?”
“Just got a little emotional, that’s all.”
“So…you’re okay, then?”
“Never better.” And she kissed him.
“All right, then,” he said when she pulled back enough to meet his eyes. “Let’s get these kids inside.”
“I’ll get mine,” she replied. “You get yours.” When he looked at her doubtfully, she wrinkled her nose at him. “What? Just say it.”
“You’re not going to try to carry him, are you?”
“Uh, yeah. I kind of was.”
“Forget it. Not good for you—or the baby.”
So they woke the boys, who grumbled as they trudged up the stairs. Dillon had a toothbrush waiting in the kids’ bathroom, and he’d left more than one pair of pajamas in Shane’s dresser drawers.
Riley tucked the boys in. They were asleep when she turned off the light.
Josh and Roger were waiting for her at the top of the stairs.
The dog wagged his tail and gave her a happy whine of greeting. She knelt to give him lots of scritches and to tell him what a good boy he was.
“He’s missed you.” Josh stood above her, his hazel eyes gleaming. “I’vemissed you. So damn much…”
“I’m here now,” she said.
“Are you staying?”
“For as long as you want me.”
“Good. You’ll be staying forever.”
“Deal.” She rose.
He took her hand and pulled her into his arms. That kiss… It curled her toes and lit a fire inside her.
“Is this really happening?” he asked when he lifted his head.
She nodded. “I love you, Josh Bravo. I want to make a life with you and our children. I have so much to tell you, I hardly know where to start…”
