I smile. “The day after you sang it. During the snowstorm.”
Her eyes widen. “But you hated me back then.”
I shake my head.
“I never hated you. Not for a second.”
I kiss her, soft and slow.
“I was just fighting myself… because the minute you walked in here looking for a job, I knew there was no going back.”
She pulls me into a hug, holding on tight.
“I love you, Pan.”
I lean down, my lips brushing her ear.
“I love you, Tinker… till the day I die. You’re it for me.”
We stay like that for a while.
In each others arms.
And for once…
everything feels exactly the way it’s supposed to.
EPILOGUE
Six months later…
Alexis
The drive feels different tonight.
Quieter, somehow. Even with the low hum of the engine and the familiar road stretching out in front of us, there is something softer in the air, something that settles deep instead of pressing in. Maybe it is the way Dex keeps glancing at me like he is holding onto something he has not said yet. Maybe it is the way his hand has not left mine since we got in the truck, his thumb brushing slow, absent circles against my skin like he needs the contact just as much as I do.
“Where are we going?” I ask, even though I already know I will not get a straight answer.
“You will see, Tinker.”
Of course.
I roll my eyes, but I am smiling anyway, because there is something in his voice, something steady and certain, that quiets the question before it can turn into impatience.
We pass the turn toward the ranch, the one that has started to feel like home in a way I never thought I would have again, and instead of slowing, he keeps going. The road narrows, trees closing in before opening up again, and then the lake appears, catching the last light of the evening in soft ripples of gold.
My breathing slows without me realizing it.
The truck comes to a stop.
“Come on.”
Dex is already out, moving around to my side, opening my door like he always does, his hand finding mine before I am even fully standing.
And I trust him with everything I have.
The path is short, just enough for something to build inside my chest, something quiet and expectant, and then we step out into the open, and I stop.
