Brew turned toward her, giving her his full attention.
“I don’t want to lose this,” she said quietly.
The honesty of it surprised her.
But not him.
“We won’t,” he said.
“You don’t know that.”
“No,” he admitted. “But I know I’m
not going to let distance decide it for us. I’m still at the Mayo and probably will be another year.”
She searched his face, looking for doubt.
There wasn’t any.
“Then what do we do?” she asked.
“We move forward,” he said. “One step at a time. Together.”
The word settled between them.
Together.
Not assumed.
Chosen.
Randi let out a slow breath, something inside her easing in a way it hadn’t before.
“Okay,” she said.
It was simple. But it was enough.
He reached for her hand, his fingers lacing with hers without hesitation.
This time, she didn’t question it and didn’t pull back.
Above them, the stars held steady.
And for the first time—
So did she.
CHAPTER 21
The return to Minnesota felt different. Not because anything had changed on the surface. But because everything beneath it had.
Brew’s schedule resumed almost
immediately with long hours and early mornings that bled into late nights. The upgrade on his place was finished but he had little time to enjoy it.
Cases stacked back-to-back, each one demanding the same precision, the same focus, the same level of control that had defined his life long before Randi entered it.
But now, there was something waiting at the edge of it.
