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Something inside me stills.

"Okay."

"Julian and I have been talking." I wait. "For a while, actually. Before you came to New York."

"About what?"

"About me. The restaurant. Oakridge. How everything might work."

She takes a breath.

"The expansion has done better than we expected. We have more staff now, and we've been interviewing chefs."

"You found someone?"

"I think so. She's right out of culinary school, but she's talented. Julian and I can train her our way."

I nod.

"And once she's ready, I don't have to be in the restaurant every day."

My hand tightens around hers. Maddy keeps going.

"I can still be Julian's partner. I can handle menu development, planning, finances, suppliers. A lot of what I do doesn't require me to live in New York."

"Maddy."

"And I would still go back. Sometimes for a few days. Maybe a week if we have something important happening. I'm keeping my apartment because it makes sense to have somewhere to stay when I'm there."

"When you're there."

She looks at me.

"When we're there, if you want to come with me sometimes."

My heart gives one hard beat. She's been talking fast, laying out pieces of a future I'm only beginning to understand.

"Maddy, what are you saying?"

For the first time since she started talking, she's quiet. Her eyes fill.

"I want you, Javier."

I stop breathing.

"I want Oakridge." Her voice trembles. "I want my mom and Noah. I want the farm. I want the life I found here."

A tear slips down her cheek. I reach across and wipe it away.

"I love my restaurant, Javier. I love what Julian and I built. I'm proud of it."

"You should be."

"I am." She turns her face into my hand. "But somewhere along the way, I changed. What I want changed."

Her eyes hold mine.

"I kept thinking I had to choose one life or the other." She shakes her head. "I don't."