Licking down the crease of her thigh, I murmured, “Well, I love you more. Let me prove it.”
With a cocky grin, she spread her legs wider. “By all means.”
Chapter Eighty-Three
Alan
I—we—bought the house in Haven Springs we were living in. I wanted us to have a place when we came back to visit family. And my parents could stay there when they came to visit Conor, and of course, Adam and Lainey. But mostly Conor.
The day after Jess and I reconciled, the first thing I did was return the furniture to the Bradbury’s, then we started clearing out her apartment.
The landlord was getting his keys that day, and we were putting that nonsense behind us.
“I can’t believe you were so stubborn that you were going to live here instead of the house,” I told her as we took the last of her clothes to the minivan.
“I wanted to prove I could make it on my own.”
“You proved it. Don’t do it again.”
“Actually… would you mind sending my sister the money I borrowed from her for the rent and deposit?”
I smiled and rolled my eyes as I shook my head at her.
“What?” she asked like she was offended. “I need you, what can I say?”
I leaned down and kissed her ear. “I need you more. And I’m happy to send her the money.”
“And can we go back to the Cape?”
“I’ll give you any damn thing you want, babe. But I’m going to need to stay in Lancastle for a few weeks. I’ve been MIA, and while I have amazing people running things, I need to make an appearance and check in on things. But you can go—I can still come on the weekends.”
She grabbed my hand. “I want to be wherever you are.”
Epilogue
Jessica
We had dinner with Adam and Lainey at Maxfield’s a few nights later. The second we walked in, Lainey jumped up from her seat and wrapped her arms around me.
“I am so sorry,” she whispered then pulled back so she could look me in the eye. “I didn’t know what to do! It wasn’t my place, and it’s not just something you blab about, and—”
“I’m sorry, too. I was embarrassed to be the last to know, but I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt.” I threw a dirty look at Alan. “And he shouldn’t have put you in that position to begin with.”
“Yeah, I messed up,” he replied as he put Ruthie’s car seat on the ground next to his chair. “I owned it; you forgave me, we’re in love. The end.”
“I hope that’s not the end!”
“You’re right. You forgave me, we’re in love, we’re going to have lots and lots of babies and grow old together at our house on the Cape. The end.”
“That’s better.”
That made Adam and Lainey both grin.
“About damn time you admitted it,” Adam grumbled.
Lainey grabbed my hands. “So, does that mean you’ll come back to the bakery?”
I slowly shook my head. “I can’t. I’m moving to Lancastle.”
Her eyes got big. “You are? Congratulations!”
Alan added, “And she’s starting school in January.”
Spoiler alert: I didn’t start school in January.
I was pregnant.
