“No. Because it was time.” He tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear. “I don’t want to keep living this way. You helped me see what it could be like.”
“Wait.” My eyes narrow. “You fixed the tire.”
“That was all Carl.”
I almost scold him for not calling me when I realize that was the point.
He glances around my much cleaner garage.
“What’s with the boxes?”
“Oh . . .” Right. I was in the middle of something here. With Emmett in front of me, my hand in his, it’s easy to forget everything else. “Packing them to take to Drake’s. Someone told me I needed more room here and since you fixed the jeep . . .” I lift my shoulder. “It was time.”
He nods, looking around the garage. There’s a lull that leaves me with more questions. Because I’m standing here, looking at the man I love and he loves me, and there’s still a lot to figure out.
“Now, I figure it out.”
My stomach dips.
Because that sounds a lot like uncertainty. And uncertainty is exactly what scared him away.
He must see the way my smile drops.
He pulls me closer so I’m nearly flush with him. “Not like that.”
Of course he knows exactly where my mind went.
“I’m not leaving this up to chance.”
He cups the side of my neck.
“Atlas said I can park the camper at his place for a while.”
“You’re moving here?”
“I’m planning to, if that’s okay with you.”
“Emmett—”
“I’m not running away from Coyote Creek.”
There it is.
The thing I needed to hear before I even knew I needed it.
“I’ll go back and forth. Monica is still there; I’m still going to show up for her.” His mouth tips up slightly. “But it turns out I can love more than one person at a time without failing either of them.”
“What about work?”
“I have an interview with the Teton County Hotshots.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yeah. It is.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’m ready to stop living like I need an exit strategy.”
