A tear slipped down her cheek.
“Just come home, Honey.”
For a suspended heartbeat, neither of them moved. The courtyard faded to nothing but the fountain roaring in her ears along with the thundering of her own pulse.
Then she exhaled and bent to tug off her shoes. She let them drop against the cobblestones as she stepped to the fountain’s edge.
The cold water soaked through her pants, the fabric clinging to her legs as she waded toward him. Ethan’s mouth parted, but he just stood there, staring at her like he didn’t dare believe she was real. She waded toward him. Every step was a choice. Every breath a promise, until shestood before him, water swirling around their legs, heart hammering so hard it hurt.
“Okay,” she whispered.
Ethan hauled her against him like a man who’d waited a lifetime. One hand cradled the back of her head, and the other anchoring her tight at the waist. He kissed her with the force of everything he’d held back, dipping her low.
Somewhere behind them, a cheer went up. Then another. Until applause broke out across the square, and the sound swelled around them.
But Honey only felt Ethan, only heard the echo of his wish in her bones.
Because at last, impossibly, he was hers.
Chapter 38
Honey
“What if a serial killer moves into your apartment?” Ruby asked, rolling paint up the wall.
“I’m sure you could handle them,” Honey said with a smile, though her chest pinched a little. The room echoed with their voices now that the furniture was gone and had been carefully loaded into the back of Ethan’s truck.
While Ethan was getting everything settled back at the orchard, she and Ruby had packed up the last of her things and boxed her city life into neat, labeled memories. Now they were painting the front room a soft, sun-soaked yellow.
Honey never thought she’d be the one moving out of the city. She’d stayed as others left—grad school flings, neighbors turned nomads, jobs that dried up. But she’d remained, clinging to rent control and routine. She never imagined she’d be the one standing in a mostly-empty apartment with paint on her arms and goodbye in her chest.
“Maybe I’ll come with you,” Ruby said, dipping her roller back into the tray.
“You could,” Honey replied. “I’m sure there are plenty of messes to be cleaned up in Brim’s Hollow.”
Ruby wrinkled her nose, and a drop of yellow paint landed on the floor. “I don’t know. Starting over in a new town and all that.” She wiped the paint splotch away with the bottom of her sock.
“I think you’re stronger than you know,” Honey said, setting down her paintbrush and grabbing a towel.
“Hmm.” Ruby tilted her head.
She laughed. “It would suit you.”
Ruby gave a smile. “You think so?”
“Yes,” she said simply. “Brim’s Hollow has a way of welcoming people who need a fresh start.”
“Something to think about,” Ruby said.
Honey would miss her. She’d been her neighbor, her accidental confidant, and, somewhere along the way, her closest friend.
Letting go of this apartment meant closing a chapter she hadn’t even realized she was writing until it was almost done.
But it also meant trusting there were better ones ahead. Chapters with muddy boots at the door, a kitchen full of noise, and love that terrified her with how much it might give back.
A stampede of small feet thudded in the hallway. Honey’s lips curved before she even turned, and then the door burst open.
“Respect communal spaces!” Ruby mock-scolded, her voice lifting in a pitch-perfect imitation of Honey.
