I suspected Cash loved me even though we hadn’t said the words, but what did I really know?

  Was I willing to throw away my golden opportunity with Stream to move to Dragonfly Lake? With or without Cash?

  It would crush me if Cash said no, but I was already crushed to be here by myself.

  Without my lake.

  Without my inn.

  Without my new friends.

  Without a single chance with the man I loved.

  Moving back to Tennessee would mean a life without hours of traffic, without a depressing, soulless apartment, without a solitary existence where I didn’t have close friends or people who cared about me.

  Though my heart was in my throat, I knew what my answer was.

  I wasn’t a gambler, but this was too important. I was going to take the highest-stakes risk of my life.

  First things first. I took my phone out and tapped on my agent’s number before I lost my courage.

  Chapter 25

  Ava

  When I left my ex-husband, I’d walked away from our oversized, pretentious house with very little—by choice. I hadn’t needed all the crap that filled the five-thousand-square-foot place, and I hadn’t wanted the reminder of him or our life together.

  If I’d ever had anyone visit me in my apartment, my lack of worldly possessions would’ve been glaringly obvious and slightly pathetic for a thirty-seven-year-old woman. My place was void of character and signs that someone lived there permanently. But now that I was packing what little I had to take east, it was as if this was how it was meant to be all along. It’d just taken me a while to see it.

  A quick trip to the liquor store down the street had netted me some empty boxes, and I’d picked up a pile of those free shopper-type newspapers you never think about until you need packing paper for a move. I was wrapping my Target set of four dinner place settings and putting the last of it into a Tito’s vodka box when someone knocked on the door, startling me.

  It was likely Aubrey or Audrey, in need of something she’d already packed or wanting to say goodbye, which would be weird but nice of her. I looked through the peephole and…

  My heart screeched to a halt.

  I looked again.

  A couple seconds passed while my brain caught up with my eyes, and then my heart restarted out of sheer necessity, and then, my mouth likely gaping, I opened the door.

  “Cash!” I resisted the urge to throw my arms around him because apparently my brain still hadn’t caught up. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was worried you’d forget to eat.” He held up a takeout bag I hadn’t yet noticed because I was too busy taking in his handsome, familiar, beloved face.

  He was smiling, and I couldn’t not touch him for another second, despite my confusion. I threw my arms around his neck right there in the hallway, breathed in his scent, and let myself get lost in the moment. Cash wrapped one arm around me and lifted me with a moan that told me he was just as happy to see me and feel me and breathe me as I was him. He carried me through the doorway, set me down, then placed the food bag on the bar counter, which was right there. Everything was right there when your apartment was so small.

  A dozen questions roared through my mind, but the thing that came out of my mouth was, “Lottie’s?” as I read it off the side of the bag. “I’ve never heard of it.”

  “Southern cuisine. Closest place I could find that mentioned hummingbird cake online, and by close, I mean I would’ve been here an hour earlier if I hadn’t tracked down dinner—”

  “And cake,” I said, my eyes filling with tears yet again.

  “And cake. I hope it doesn’t suck.” He chuckled, then moved in on me again. “Come here.”

  I went into his arms with zero hesitation even though the questions only multiplied. Cash kissed me, but it was a short, controlled kiss, not the twenty-minute meshing of our mouths I longed for.

  He glanced around, from the big box on the kitchen counter to the stack of three others in the path to the bathroom to the barren living room. “So this is where you live,” he said as he stepped toward the utilitarian sofa.

  “This is my apartment,” I said, because it’d occurred to me over the past few hours that you couldn’t really call what I’d been doing here living. “Cash.” There was light scolding in my tone, because he was acting like he’d come from next door, not two thousand miles away. “What are you doing here?”

  He turned and faced me, looking suddenly nervous. “Come sit down.”

  His seriousness made me nervous, and I wondered if something bad had happened. I went over to him and we both sat on the couch, me with one leg under me, sitting sideways, facing him.

  I held still and quiet, watching him, waiting, finally understanding what people meant when they said their heart was in their throat. As he inhaled, his gaze on his hands, which were on his thighs, I said, “Cash!”

  I took his hand and held on to it, for me as much as for him if he needed it. He apparently needed it, as he flipped his hand and wove our fingers together.

  “I made a mistake,” he finally said, meeting my gaze, and between those hazel eyes and his words, I melted. “I don’t want us to end, Ava. I don’t know what that looks like, but I’m ready to do long-distance when we have to. I can fly here sometimes, and you’ll have breaks between seasons, right?”

  I shook my head, trying to let everything he said soak in. Unable to stop the wide grin from stretching across my face, I struggled to decide what to say first.

  “You won’t have breaks?” he asked.

  “Oh. Yes, I’ll have— I mean no.” Holy crap. “You’d be okay leaving the restaurant for a few days here and there?” I asked, stunned. He’d taken a couple full days off that last week I’d been in town, but as I understood it, those days were rare, usually not consecutive, and he’d never left it for more than a weekend at a stretch in the entire time he’d been an owner.

  “To fly out here and be with you? I would. I’ve got Zinnia. She can handle anything that comes up. And I could hire an assistant for her or maybe a clone.” His expression went from determined to solemn. “Unless that’s not what you want. I know we said no strings, but…” He bit down on his words, seemed to gather his courage, then continued, “I want more time with you. I want strings. I fucked it up in the past, and I’ve regretted that for years. I thought the regret was just for being such a bastard with my blindside breakup, but the problem wasn’t how I broke up but that I did. Because you’re it for me, Ava. No one else. I never gave my ex-wife a chance to work out because I think, on some level deep down, I knew it was supposed to be you. It was always supposed to be you. I love you, Ava. I don’t know exactly how we make us work, but the one thing I’m sure of is I want to try.”

  My mouth hung open and more tears gathered like an army getting into formation, at the ready. “Really?”

  “Really,” he said earnestly. “If I need to, I’ll take a sabbatical from Henry’s while we figure out how to make us work.”

  This man…

  “Henry’s means everything to you,” I said.

  “You mean more.”

  That intense, loving look in his eyes slayed me in the best possible way.

  My eyes fluttered closed as I was overcome, and sure as anything, the tears poured over the rims.

  “I need to know if you want the same thing,” he said, sounding worried, and a laughing sob broke from me.

  “Cash…” I quickly said, needing to reassure him but struggling to take everything in. I lifted our entwined hands and kissed his knuckles as tears dropped onto them. “I do. I want the same thing. Well…” I laughed awkwardly. “Not exactly the same thing.”

  He squeezed my hand, his face registering distress, and really, could I screw this up any more?

  “I want to be with you,” I clarified, sniffling and swiping a finger under each eye in a fruitless attempt to stop the tears. “But I don’t want to do long-distance. I…” I sucked in a belly-deep breath and expelled it, trying to prepare myself for his reaction. “I turned down the Stream job today.”

  “Ava, no.”

  I smiled, nodding. “I’m moving back to Dragonfly Lake.” I pointed at the boxes.

  “You’re…” He studied my face, as though waiting for a punch line.

  “Moving home. It turns out I love that little town. And the inn. My inn. And you. I love you, Cash. I don’t even need the town or the inn if I have you.”

  “You have me,” he said, his voice teeming with love and happiness. He palmed both sides of my face, pulled me closer, and we kissed, with me leaning awkwardly on my knees, hovering over him, not caring about anything but that connection, not even when I lost my balance and toppled to the side.

  We both laughed, and then I somehow ended up on my back on the couch with Cash stretched over me.

  “Hello, gorgeous,” he said, gazing into my eyes.

  “Hi, handsome. I wasn’t done.” I pulled his head to mine and kissed him some more, loving the weight of his lower body pressing into mine.

  He pulled his head back before I was remotely close to done kissing him.

  “Get back here,” I said, hardly recognizing my own lust-filled voice.

  “In a minute.” He rolled to the side, lodging himself between me and the back of the too-small sofa, his arm around my middle. “I don’t want you to give up Stream for me. I could never ask you to do that.”

  “Um, you didn’t,” I said in a Captain Obvious voice.

  “It’s your dream, Ava.”

  I ran my fingers over his rough jaw. “It was. My dream changed though.”

  “You’re just going to be an innkeeper?” The look on his face was scandalized, and it made me laugh.

  “I’m going to be an innkeeper and a writer. But mostly a writer, which I can do because I have Anna.” I told him about Knox’s email and his off-hand remark about co-writing. “I don’t know if he was serious, but we could combine our genres and collaborate on something like sci-fi romance, which happens to be big right now. And if he isn’t interested—”

  “He’d be an idiot.”

  I laughed again. “Then I’ll write solo, same as I always have, but I’ll do novels instead of screenplays. Or I could still do screenplays if my agent ever talks to me again. The only thing I won’t be able to do is work in a studio, and I’m okay with that. As long as I’m with you.”

  “But your baseball series…”

  “Is still being done. Just without me in the writing room.”

  “That’s a giant sacrifice.”

  I met his gaze head on to make sure he would hear what I said. Really hear me. “It doesn’t feel like a sacrifice to me. Not at all. Not with everything I’m getting.”

  Those hazel eyes peered down at me, seemed to see inside of me, and slowly, the smile I loved crept across his face.

  He was starting to lean in when his phone rang and a puzzled expression overtook his smile. Rolling his weight off me, he pulled his phone out of his back pocket and said, “It’s late back home. It’s Seth.”

  With an apologetic look, he swiped to answer, and I sat up, concerned.

  “Hey,” he said. “What’s wrong?”

  “Sorry to bother you.” I could hear Seth’s voice over the connection. “Nothing’s wrong and I know you’re busy”—he drew out that word and even I could hear the teasing in his voice—“but you need to know tonight—”

  “Know what?” Cash interrupted, his impatience tangible.

  “We made it. We got the show,” Seth said and then let out a howl that sounded as if he was in the room with us even though he wasn’t on speaker. “They posted a few minutes ago.”

  Cash jumped off the couch. “What? You better not be fucking with me.”

  With a joyful gasp, I sat up, got my phone out, opened the social media app, and searched for Small Town Smorgasbord. There it was, at the top of their posts.

  “Oh, my god, Cash!” I squealed. “He’s not kidding!”

  Seth was still talking in his ear but I couldn’t hear him anymore, didn’t need to hear him. Cash took my hand and pulled me off the couch. I read the post to him.

  “Join us in congratulating Chef Cash Henry and Henry’s Restaurant in Dragonfly Lake, Tennessee! We’ve added them to our esteemed list for Small Town Smorgasbord’s spring season.”

  Cash threw his head back and let out a cackle. “Yes! Fuck yes! We did it!” He pulled the phone back to his ear. “We fucking did it, Seth.”

  Seth said something back, but I wasn’t paying attention anymore, just waiting for Cash to end the call so I could jump on him.

  “Hell yes. You too. Thanks for calling.” He paused while Seth spoke. “All good. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Later.”

  He ended the call and held his arms out. I was in them before he could say a word.

  “Congratulations, Cash.” I kissed him, laughing. “You deserve it. I’m so happy for you!” I bounced on my feet and kissed him again, and then he picked me up and whirled me around.

  “This is the best day of my life. A feather in my chef hat and the girl of my dreams by my side.” He whirled me around again with a bellow, and I held on for dear life, laughing with him, ecstatic for him.

  For us.

  “We need to get back home so you can get your butt in the kitchen,” I said once he’d set me down.

  “Home,” he said. “I love the sound of that coming out of your mouth. When can we go home, Ava?”

  “I was planning to leave tomorrow morning, but my packing was interrupted.” I couldn’t get the grin off my face if you paid me to.

  “I know a guy who could help you pack and we’ll get it done in half the time.”

  “That’s perfect.”

  “The boxes are going to have to wait a little longer though because that guy has something more important to see to.”

  “Yeah?” I asked as he inched his mouth closer to mine.

  “Yeah. And it’s going to take a while. Probably most of the night.” He pulled me into him, pressing every inch of his hardness into me, making my body ache for him.

  “Mmm. That so works for me.”

  “Just one thing though,” he said. “Is there a bed in this joint? That couch is horrible.”

  I laughed. “There is. Through the door that isn’t the bathroom.”

  He took a step back and held out his hand. “Come with me, my love.”

  I placed my hand in his and tugged until he paused and met my gaze so I could make my point. “I’ll follow you wherever you want to go, Cash Henry.”

  Never had I ever thought I’d want to go back to Dragonfly Lake permanently, with Cash, but it turned out that was exactly where I was meant to be.

  Epilogue

  Cash

  It was a Tuesday evening, and the beer patio at the Rusty Anchor was teeming with people. Anticipation buzzed through me more potently than the Kayak Smack Ale in my glass.

  Ava and I had been home from LA for two and a half weeks after packing her California life and driving her car across the country. Though we weren’t officially cohabitating, we’d stayed together every single night, either at my place or the cottage. We’d talked about me moving into the cottage with her, and I couldn’t wait for that day, but I planned to make an even bigger move first.

  Today, I’d taken Jake ring shopping with me. The little box with the oval-cut diamond ring was burning a hole in the pocket of my cargo shorts. I didn’t have specific plans for a proposal, but I wasn’t going to be able to wait long. I’d been thinking I’d do it later tonight, after we left the patio, but as I watched her, Everly, Hayden, and Chloe standing two tables over, saying hello to “the girls,” as Ava called her new group of friends that included Magnolia, Anna, Olivia, and a host of others, I didn’t know how I’d wait a couple more hours.

  My whole family had taken over the biggest high-top table—Seth and Everly, Holden and Chloe, Hayden and Zane, and even our dad and Faye. The weather was about as perfect as an early-October evening could get, but tomorrow, a cold front was coming through. People had flocked to the beer patio for one last outdoor hurrah. When Hayden’s in-laws, Mason and Eliza, who—fun fact—were my stepbrother and stepsister-in-law as well, had volunteered to watch Harrison, Hayden had convinced Zane and our dad and his wife to drive in from the city to enjoy it.

  The women returned, Ava sitting by my side, just as Chelsea arrived with our food. Zinnia was running the kitchen, and she’d ensured every dish looked exactly the way it should. I was confident it’d all taste right too. I’d come to trust Zinnia that much. I had to, because, as Seth had commented, I’d turned into something closer to a normal human and was learning to take a couple days off each week.

  As soon as the food was served and Chelsea made sure we didn’t need anything else, Holden held up his beer glass. “We need a toast,” he said. “To a spur-of-the-moment end-of-the-season dinner on the beer patio with a pretty kick-ass fam. Glad you city people drove in tonight.”

  We all raised our glasses, most of them filled with various beers brewed by Kemp, the brewmaster, and Ava and Chloe sticking to nonalcoholic drinks. With a chorus of hear, hears, we clinked.

  “And here’s to a full house at Rusty Anchor,” Hayden added, sweeping an arm out at the patio. “I hope this is exactly what you envisioned, Holden.”

  “We’re proud of you, son,” our dad added.

  Holden closed his eyes, bowed his head for a second, then nodded, gazing around the circle at each of us. He ended with his eyes on Chloe. “Couldn’t have done it without you all.”

  There was a second round of clinks, then we all got to the business of eating some damn good food if I did say so myself.

  Conversation flowed as dinner progressed, with my siblings and me flipping each other the usual amount of shit and Zane joining in around the edges, even though he was the quietest of the bunch. There were compliments on the food and drinks, a collective pause to appreciate the sunset over the lake, several local folks stopping by the table to say hi, and more than one joke about who was running the restaurant and brewery since all of us Henrys were sitting here stuffing our faces.