Chapter 10
10
CARTER
C ome home.
That two-word message was waiting for me when I checked my phone once I got to my truck at the end of the workday. It had taken Ana a full six hours to respond to my text. Not that I was counting.
Okay, I was counting every second. All day, I’d been aware of my phone in that truck—wanting to check it but holding myself back. But she’d told me to come home, so home was exactly where I went.
As I neared my house, I saw a very familiar SUV. Ana’s SUV. A goofy grin spread across my face. I was not the type to walk around wearing a goofy grin. It just wasn’t me. But it had become me over the past twenty-four hours…and all because of this woman who’d waltzed into my life like she’d been drawn there.
My grin turned to a frown, though, as I pulled into my garage. The front door would’ve been locked—this wasn’t a town where people locked doors, but old habits died hard, and locking up was an old habit.
A locked house meant Ana couldn’t be inside, though. She wasn’t on the front porch, either. Maybe she’d hopped the fence and decided to take a few laps in the pool. Or she could be lounging on one of the cushioned patio chairs, maybe even watching some TV on the big screen I’d installed out there.
I didn’t mind. My home was her home.
When I climbed out of my truck, I listened for signs she might be at the back of the house, but nothing. I passed Ana’s vehicle and continued toward my backyard, ready to greet her with a smile.
Once I came around the back corner of my house, I saw that she wasn’t in my back yard. Instead, she was on the other side of the fence, where I’d first met her yesterday around this time. She was standing, hair in a ponytail, wearing a T-shirt and shorts and waving at me.
“Get over here,” she said. “We’re having a picnic.”
A picnic? I’d planned to take her to the next town over for a fancy dinner for our first date, but maybe last night at the lodge counted as a first date. At the time, we’d both thought of it as a business meeting, but I was already interested in her.
I went around the front of my house and headed over to the neighboring lot—a lot she’d come to town to buy. She’d lain out a big blanket, and as I drew closer, I saw the food she’d spread out over it. A basket was in the center. The top was open, and on the blanket was a big bowl of grapes, a platter stacked with fried chicken, and small containers all around. She’d also set out a bottle of beer and a very small bottle of wine.
“You did all this today?” I asked.
“I’ve been busy.”
She was standing next to the blanket, and I saw her T-shirt was like the ones they sold in the lobby gift shop at the lodge where she was staying.
“I didn’t bring any casual clothes,” she said. “I grabbed this shirt in the lobby and headed over to the grocery store to get all of this. I had to buy the picnic basket in Adairsville, though. Do you know there’s not a department store in this town?”
I did know. There was nothing even close to a department store. If I had to buy stuff like a picnic basket, I would definitely assume I had to go somewhere else to get it.
“We’re growing fast,” I said. “But yeah, there are still some things we have to leave town to do.”
“It’s okay.” She looked down at the blanket. “Adairsville isn’t all that far, and just about everything I could need is there. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble at all getting used to this.”
That meant she was open to moving here. All day, I’d resisted getting my hopes up, but I also hadn’t let myself consider the possibility that she might leave at the end of the weekend. I had to believe that I’d have more time with her, but I also had to prepare myself to lose her.
“I want to stay,” she said. “I want to move here, if that’s okay with you. I don’t want to rush you.”
“Of course, it’s okay with me. But are you sure? I don’t want you to give up everything unless you’re sure.”
“I’m not giving anything up.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glanced toward my house. “Yes, it’s a beautiful town, and I met some really awesome real estate agents.”
Why did I have a feeling some of those agents were dating my logging group buddies? Probably. It seemed to have become a thing—women around the same age, either moving here or having lived here all their lives, falling in love with these guys who were coming here to be loggers. I didn’t know what it was. Maybe there was something in the water.
Whatever it was, it had finally caught up with me. I’d tried to outrun it for years, but here I was, ready to give up my bachelor status for good.
She gestured toward the blanket. “Have a seat.”
Maybe she didn’t realize it, but I was a gentleman. A gentleman never sat while a lady was still standing.
It took her a second, but she finally got it. She walked around the basket and sat on the other side of it, snatching up the tiny wine bottle and peeling off the protective foil.
“I didn’t bother to get glasses,” she said. “I thought about it, but we can just drink directly out of the bottle. I’m not fancy.”
I grabbed a beer as soon as I was on my butt, fully seated, and unscrewed the cap. Man, it had been a long day. But there was nothing I wanted more than to watch the sun go down while eating dinner and drinking beer with Ana Winston. The love of my life. The woman I’d been meant to meet all this time.
“The woman at the front desk said there were some apartments I could check into over in Adairsville,” Ana said. “You know, until I get established. Eventually, I’d love to live up here in the mountains.”
I’d ask her to move in with me right here and now, but yeah, that would definitely scare her off. I didn’t want to scare her off. It might be too soon for her, but I, for one, was ready to start the rest of my life with her.
“Of course, if everything goes well, I guess I could live up here with you,” she said, smiling at me. “If you don’t mind sharing your home with me…”
“I fully intend on it. Getting you in town is just the first step in my diabolical plan.”
I didn’t even know where I had gotten the term “diabolical plan,” but it sent the clear message that I wanted her here, with me. In fact, it felt like I’d already wasted enough of my life without her in it.
I lifted my beer bottle. “To us. To a long, happy life together.”
She suddenly realized she still held her wine bottle in her left hand. She lifted it.
“To the best darn town on Earth.”
I couldn’t disagree with that. I’d found her here. But I’d also found my happiness. Everything was finally coming together, and that made it all worth the wait.