“Not necessarily a hardship, lost girl,” I say. “But I’ll go with it. And if I win, you let me take you on a date.”
“A date?” she stammers, and I know I stunned her a bit.
“That’s what I said, isn’t it?’
“Yes, but how? You live in Alaska, in case you forgot, Easton.” She laughs like I’m kidding. Not in the slightest.
“I always knew you were smart,” I gloat. “If I’m gonna visit Timber Heights, I’m staying longer than a day, Collie. This is my excuse to see the city that made my girl who she is. I wanna see the studio, your house, your bed. Preferably not in that order.”
“Your girl? I’d say that’s a bit presumptuous, wouldn’t you?”
“Maybe. But I have a feeling after I woo you on our date, you’ll say otherwise.”
“You’re insane.” She giggles.
“Tell me I can visit you and I’ll book my hotel and flight right now.”
“You can stay with me,” Collie tells me.
No, I want her towantme with her. Permanently. With a future in mind. “Nope. I’ll stay at a hotel in the next town over, then. Renting a car shouldn’t be too hard to do.” She begins to protest, and I chuckle. “Baby steps, Collie. Trust the process.”
“Where is all this coming from, Easton? You’re making my stomach do weird flips.” Her flirty laugh echoes in my ear, and I feel like a young kid again with a crush. This feels strange yet madly liberating.
I don’t know why I didn’t realize how much she truly meant to me sooner. But I refuse to waste any more time.
“I’m no expert, but I think those are butterflies,” I tell her. “That means you’re thinking of me, and that’s really fucking cute. Send me the date and time of the wedding. I’ll fly in the day before and stay a few days after. I’ll forward you my flight info once it’s booked.”
“But—”
“See you in a month, beautiful.” And I hang up the phone.
Time to be the man I’ve always wanted to be and go get my girl.
33
EASTON
“Two buckets of Yuengling.Please and thank you, Gretchen,” Grey tells our usual waitress.
Suede slams his beer on the round table, signaling our attention. “To Voss man. May he finally get his head out of his ass and go get the woman he wants.” Our bottles clink in cheers, chants from the guys breaking out as he says, “You lucky son of a bitch.”
I grin, relaxing into my seat. Not only do we work together on the same line crew, but we’re solid buddies. I know no matter what season of life I’m in, they’ve got my back.
Behind prison bars or church pews. We’re brothers.
It’s been almost four weeks since Collie invited me to Timber Heights for Capri’s wedding. I leave in the morning for South Carolina, ready to have my girl in my arms.
Arms she hopefully wants to be in, too.
It’s seven at night, and the guys and I just finished a sixteen-hour shift. Our crew’s foreman, Suede, insisted we hit up Broken Bear after work to celebrate my big moves.
Broken Bear is a hole-in-the-wall bar in the center of SaltHollow. Not super crowded, and slightly uncared for, but they’ve got buckets of beer for ten dollars and the best smash burgers you’ll ever have.
Ben and I used to come all the time when we both needed a reset. Get our minds off things for a while. Gretchen has been serving us Voss men ever since. But the crew, they’re like family to Broken Bear.
“So, what time you leave tomorrow, man?” Koa, our groundsman, asks me.
I lift my head. “Flight leaves at six in the morning. Gotta get there by five at the latest.”
