Home.
He called it home.
That doesn’t sound like a man with any intention of pushing me away, right? Locked in?
No, he said see you at home. Like he wants me there with him. Like he might want something permanent, too.
Oh fuck, my heart. The way this man can derail my entire thought process with a single word… I’m hopeless.
Hopelessly and irrefutably in love with Zach Macomb.
Falling hard and fast with no safety net, here I come.
With the way he is so protective and involved with his daughter’s lives. The way he would burn the world to the ground to keep them safe and healthy and happy.
The way he steps up for me, too.
All the little ways that are probably silly… yet can mean so much in those quiet moments that no one else gets to see.
It’s practically impossiblenotto fall head over heels for this man. I mean come on; did I ever really stand a chance?
Absolutely not a snowball’s chance in hell.
He’s sexy, obviously, but… it’s so much more than just physical attraction. Did it start that way? Probably. The man is beautiful with a capital B.
But now?
Now… as silly as it is… I can see the way our lives could intertwine, if we let them. The roots that could find purchase, the beauty that could grow if we both nurtured it with care and gentle hands and open hearts.
A springtime wedding, here in the garden. Something small. Just our favorite people in the sunshine.
I shake my head, rolling my eyes. I’m being ridiculous even thinking about a wedding or a marriage to a manthat’s not even divorced yet, Louise.
Honestly, even thinking about the L word is insanity.
But Joel’s right. I can’t—and won’t—let this man push me away.
Forty-Seven
Louise
“Ohmygod, I’m so tired,” Tessa groans, sinking into one of the Adirondack chairs out on the patio. Darci fired up the tabletop fire pit, and we’ve settled around it, glasses of wine and boozy cider clasped in our fingers. The garden is closed, all Trunk-or-Treat vehicles have left the parking lot, and it’s just the six of us, now.
Tessa’s fairy wings are discarded somewhere on a nearby table, and Sienna has taken off the blue wig, letting her chestnut brown hair fall loose around her shoulders. Grandma Jude’s pinstriped fedora is on the ground next to her chair.
I step out of the big crinoline underskirt beneath my dress, draping it over another chair. My legs feel so much betterwithout all that extra poof and scratchy material, and I sit down, letting the full pink skirt cover my legs against the slight chill in the air.
I can’t wait to show Zach the thigh-high stockings and barely-there mini skirt hiding beneath everything, later.
One drink, a little catch up for the night, and then I’m out.
I have a boyfriend to go see about a punishment.
I havea boyfriend.
I smile behind the glass of spiked cider in my hands.
Grandma Jude kicks her foot out, knocking into mine beneath the skirt. I look over at her, and she’s smirking, the golden glow of the fire in front of us illuminating her face.
