“I’ve been ready for ages.”
“You can’t rush art. Or county inspectors.”
“Maybe, but I was starting to wonder what you’ve really been doing in there.”
He took both of my hands. “You just want me sitting around your house while you’re at work? Waiting for you to get home?”
“Preferably naked.”
“That could be a problem, considering all the spare keys you’ve given to our family.”
I giggled, and he leaned in for a kiss.
“You know I’m kidding. You’ve been working your butt off getting this place ready, and I’m so excited for you.” I squeezed his hands. “I love the name.Roses & Thorns. It’s perfect.”
It captured Grayden perfectly. And not just him. Our lives. All the good and bad that this house represented, along with the house across the street.
Our history. Our childhood.
But also, our incredible future that was ready to bloom.
“If you don’t take me inside to see the mural, I might have to push you out of the way.”
“Alright, alright. Don’t get all worked up. We’re going.”
Grayden walked backward, leading me by both of my hands. His tall frame blocked the view through the doorway at first.
But then he stepped aside, and I saw the wall behind the desk. It wasn’t blank anymore. Wasn’t just some rough outlines either, like the last time I’d seen it.
The wall was a riot of color. It looked like the sketches Grayden had shown me of Main Street, but brought to fantastical life. Familiar architecture, but with trees and flowers growing everywhere. Silver Ridge turned wild.
He’d incorporated the name of his studio into the meadow at the bottom, as if the letters were woven from thorny vines and roses.
At the center was Silver Linings Coffee, and standing out front wasme.
A painted version of Grayden stood beside me, his arm around me as he looked at me adoringly. And Ollie was just to theright of us, doing a trick on his skateboard with his trademark smile.
I put my hands over my mouth as I went closer, admiring all the details. There were more people, plenty of them recognizable. But so many intricate abstract elements too. As if there was another layer to the painting underneath.
It was absolutely breathtaking.
“What do you think?” Grayden asked quietly behind me.
I spun and threw my arms around his neck. “This place should be a town landmark. You should charge an entrance fee just to let people see it.”
“You don’t think the landlady will be angry that I painted all over the wall?”
I pretended to think. “I hear she takes sexual favors, so as long as you put that hot body of yours to use…”
“I’m really glad I’m not renting from Dixie Haines.”
Dixie was a family friend and one of our local real estate moguls. Who was also nearing eighty years old. I snorted and hid my face against his chest as I laughed.
The last couple of months had not been all smiles and laughter. It had been pretty brutal, learning the truth about my parentage and about Zach. While pretty much everyone in town now knew that Bruce Kirby had been my biological father, very few knew Zach had been responsible for his father and sister’s deaths. What would be the reason to spread such a horrible thing around?
But Dillon had told his mom the entire truth. Just weeks after the day Zach died, Dillon and his mom left Silver Ridge and hadn’t been back. I’d texted with Dillon and spoken to him on the phone several times since then, but we had no plans to see each other just yet. Even though I wanted to.
As Grayden knew well, sometimes it took families time to be ready to reconnect. But whenever Dillon wanted to see me, I would be here.
