Chapter 53
Dave heard the truck before he saw it.
He was standing at the workbench in his garage, sorting through a container of screws that had somehow become mixed with nails, washers, and several things he couldn’t remember buying.
The sound of tires crunching over his driveway made him glance toward the open garage door. For one ridiculous second, his heart started beating faster. Then he told himself not to be an idiot.
Plenty of people drove trucks. Except this one was blue. Dave’s hand stilled above the container.
Beth pulled up beside the house and switched off the engine.
He stared at her through the windshield. A month ago, he would have walked straight outside. Five months ago, he probably would have wondered why she was there, but he wouldn’t have thought much beyond it.
Now he stayed where he was. Because Beth had asked for time, and Dave had promised himself he would give it to her.
The driver’s door opened. Beth climbed out wearing jeans, a pale yellow shirt, and the sandals he’d seen her wear dozens of times. Her purse hung from one shoulder, and the breeze caught her hair as she closed the door.
Nothing extraordinary. Except it was Beth. And she was here.
Dave wiped his hands on the rag beside him and walked out of the garage. “Hi.”
Beth stopped a few feet away. “Hi, Dave.”
That seemed to be all either of them could manage. He shoved the rag into his back pocket. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Everything’s fine.”
Relief came first. Then confusion.
Beth glanced toward the garage. “Are you working?”
“I was sorting screws.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“It’s been an exciting afternoon,” Dave added.
A smile appeared on her face. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed that smile until he saw it again.
Beth took a deep breath. “Did I interrupt you?”
“I think the screws will survive.”
Her smile grew, then disappeared almost as quickly.
Something was different. Beth didn’t seem upset, exactly, but there was a vulnerability in her expression that made him want to close the distance between them.
He didn’t. Instead, he waited.
Beth glanced toward the house. “Could we sit somewhere?”
“Of course.”
Dave led her around the side of the house to the patio. Two chairs sat beneath the shade of an old maple tree, with a small table he’d built years ago between them.
He waited until Beth had chosen a chair before sitting opposite her. For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
Dave rested his forearms on his thighs. Waiting had never been one of his strengths. The past month had taught him more about it than he’d ever wanted to know.
Beth looked down at her hands. “Kayla stayed for the night before she starts her new job. After she left, I went somewhere.”
Dave watched her carefully. “Where did you go?”
“To the lake.”
Something in her voice told him this wasn’t casual conversation. “Flathead?”
Beth nodded. “There’s a bench Jessie and I used to visit. I haven’t been there for a long time.”
Dave went very still. Of all the things he’d imagined Beth might say when she arrived, this wasn’t one of them.
“I took a photograph with me,” she continued. “It was of Jessie.”
Dave wasn’t sure what response she expected, so he gave her the only one that felt right. “Okay.”
Beth rubbed her thumb slowly across her palm. “I talked to him.” Her eyes lifted to his, and Dave saw the traces of tears in them.
His chest tightened. He wanted to reach across the space between them and take her hand, but he wasn’t sure he had that right anymore.
Beth drew in a slow breath. “I told him about Kayla’s wedding. About her graduating and starting her new job. I told him about Ryan.” A tiny smile touched her mouth. “And then I told him about you.”
Dave forgot about the garage. The screws. Everything. “Me?”
Beth nodded.
“What did you tell him?”
Her smile returned. “That you’re stubborn.”
Despite the ache gathering in his chest, Dave almost laughed. “That’s a great start.”
“I told him you’re annoying sometimes, too.”
Dave leaned back in his chair. “Did you say anything positive?”
A small laugh escaped her. The sound loosened something inside him.
“Yes.” Her expression softened. “I told him you’re kind. And patient. And that you’re a good person.”
Dave looked away for a moment. He hadn’t expected those words to affect him so much, not after all this time. When he looked back, she was watching him.
“I told Jessie something else,” Beth said.
Dave waited.
Her eyes filled with tears. “I told him that I love you.”
Dave’s fingers tightened around the edge of his chair. He’d imagined hearing those words more times than he cared to admit, usually late at night when common sense had deserted him and hope had taken its place.
In every one of those imaginary conversations, he’d known exactly what to say. Now his mind was completely blank.
Beth held his gaze. “I love you, Dave.”
He stared at her. “You love me?”
Her mouth trembled into a smile. “I do.”
A breath escaped him that was almost a laugh. Then he stood.
Beth rose, too.
Dave crossed the small distance between them, but stopped before touching her. He wanted to believe her. More than anything, he wanted to take her into his arms and never let her go.
But there was one thing he needed to know. “What changed?”
“Nothing.”
Dave frowned slightly.
Beth reached for his hand. “That’s what took me so long to understand.” Her fingers curled around his. “Nothing had to change.”
Dave waited.
“Jessie will always be part of me,” she said softly. “But loving you doesn’t take anything away from what we had.”
“No,” Dave murmured. “It doesn’t.”
“I really know that now.”
He searched her face. “Are you sure?”
“Completely.”
One word. That was all he needed. Dave lifted his free hand and gently touched her cheek. Beth leaned into his palm, closing her eyes for the briefest moment.
He’d missed this. He’d missed more than he’d allowed himself to admit.
Beth’s laugh. Her stubbornness. The way she worried about everyone. The way she could walk into a crowded room and somehow become the first person he noticed.
Mostly, he’d missed knowing he was allowed to love her. “I love you, too,” he murmured.
Beth opened her eyes and smiled through her tears. “I was hoping you still did.”
Dave stared at her. “It’s been a month, Beth. Not twenty years.”
She laughed, and he drew her closer.
“I missed you,” he admitted.
Her smile softened. “I missed you, too.”
“A lot?”
“A ridiculous amount.”
“Good.”
Beth pulled back slightly. “Good?”
Dave ran his fingertip along her jaw. “I don’t want to be the only one who’s been miserable.”
She gave him a look that made him smile. There she was. The woman he’d fallen in love with.
Beth slipped her arms around his neck.
Dave finally did what he’d wanted to do from the moment her truck appeared in his driveway. He kissed her.
There was no uncertainty this time. No wondering whether they were moving too fast or whether one of them would regret it tomorrow.
Beth kissed him back, holding him as though she had no intention of letting go.
Dave wrapped his arms around her, feeling the warmth of her body against his and the softness of her hair beneath his hand.
When the kiss ended, he rested his forehead against hers. “I really did miss you.”
Beth’s fingers moved gently against the back of his neck. “I know.”
Dave smiled. “How do you know?”
“Because I know you.”
The simple answer made his throat tighten.
Maybe because that was what he’d wanted for longer than he’d realized.
Not someone who saw only the parts of him he chose to show the world, but someone who knew when he was worried and when he was pretending not to be.
Someone who could tease him, challenge him, and sit quietly beside him without needing to fill every silence.
Someone he could know just as well.
Beth drew back enough to look at him. “There’s something else.”
Dave groaned. “Should I be worried?”
“No.”
“That’s what people say before giving someone something to worry about.”
Beth smiled, but her fingers tightened around his. “I don’t want to rush anything.”
“Neither do I.”
“But I don’t want to waste time, either.”
Dave understood exactly what she meant. They weren’t twenty-five. They didn’t need to spend years pretending they didn’t know what they wanted because admitting it seemed too frightening.
He lifted their joined hands and kissed her fingers. “What do you want?”
Beth looked straight into his eyes. “You.”
The answer went straight through him. “That’s a good thing,” he said. “Because I want you, too.”
Beth laughed softly. “I also want us to have dinner together. Go places. Spend time with our families and friends. I want days and weekends when we don’t have anything planned.”
Dave remembered the afternoon they’d driven to Cedar Ridge together. Nothing extraordinary had happened that day. They’d talked, eaten lunch, listened to music, and driven through the snow. And somewhere along the way, he’d begun to understand how easy it was to have Beth beside him.
She wasn’t asking him for grand promises. She was offering him a life. “I’d like that,” he said.
Beth studied his face. “Even the ordinary days?”
“Especially those.”
Her expression softened, and Dave brushed his thumb across the back of her hand.
“What about tonight?” he asked. “We could start with dinner.”
Beth glanced toward the house. “Are you cooking?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
Beth grinned. “That sounds promising.”
“How does barbecued steak sound?” Dave asked.
“Like a great meal. Do you have any potatoes and salad?”
Dave thought about his nearly empty cupboards. “Probably not.”
Beth laughed. “You don’t know?”
“I wasn’t expecting company, but the supermarket is still open,” he told her.
Beth looked at him with amusement dancing in her eyes. “Before we go to the supermarket, I have something else I need to do.” She rose onto her toes and kissed him.
Dave smiled against her lips. When she finally drew back, he slipped an arm around her waist. “What was that for?”
“For waiting for me,” Beth said softly.
“You don’t have to thank me for that.”
“I know.” She slipped her hand into his again. “But I wanted to.”
Dave looked down at their joined hands.
A few hours ago, he’d expected to spend the evening alone. He would have cooked something simple, watched television, perhaps called Mark, and gone to bed. It wouldn’t have been a bad evening. It just wouldn’t have been this one.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s see what’s in the kitchen.”
Beth squeezed his hand. “Lead the way.”
They walked toward the house together. Beth’s hand was warm in Dave’s as they crossed the patio. He didn’t know what the next year would look like, or the one after that. He didn’t need to.
He’d spent enough of his life learning that guarantees didn’t exist.
But Beth was beside him.
Tonight they would make dinner together. Tomorrow would bring something else. And after that would come all the ordinary days still waiting for them.
THE END