11 Two years later …
WILLA Taylor had never been more excited to get off a plane.
She breathed in the cold November air as she stepped outside the terminal, pulling her black wool coat around her tightly. The expensive one Pop had insisted on buying her before she first went away. She smiled and checked the time on her phone.
By the time she reached Oak Falls, Bonfire Night would be in full swing.
She took her time walking through town after the cab dropped her at home. She gazed at the buildings that were so familiar they were etched into her memory.
There was something comforting about this town of hers that never changed. She breathed in the scent of woodsmoke that was carried on the wind.
She felt the heat of the bonfire before she saw it.
And heard the crowds. The young people, the families, the tourists, all the people who came to celebrate their town every year.
She walked through the crowd toward Mrs. Burrows’s pie stall. Because she knew that was where Pop would be, standing there with the silver helium balloon he bought every time she came home. And there it was, bobbing gently in the heat of the bonfire.
She ran toward him and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
“I know that hug. Willa!”
Mike Taylor twisted around and hugged his daughter. Then he put his hands on her shoulders, as if to try to figure out what had changed this time. He did this every time now. As if she’d been gone for ten years.
“It’s so good to see you, sweetheart. Jo’s been cooking all day for your welcome-home dinner.”
“Pop, you don’t have to do this every time I come home,” Willa said, laughing.
“Of course I do. It’s tradition now! How was your flight? Was there turbulence?”
“Good. And no, no turbulence. Clear skies all the way!” Willa returned her pop’s smile as he kissed her forehead. She leaned into his chest and felt herself relax even more.
That was the thing about Oak Falls. It always relaxed her. And she hadn’t realized it until Aunt Lisa had changed everything for her.
“Willa, honey!” Jo appeared, holding two cups.
She handed one to Willa and one to Mike. “Some hot wine will warm you up. I can’t wait to hear all about this trip.” Jo looked radiant against the glow of the bonfire, wearing a red wool coat and a white fluffy hat that drew attention to her kind brown eyes.
“It was perfect, and don’t worry, you’ll be getting an hour-by-hour account. I need your opinion on a few things.”
Willa looked at Jo again and realized that she didn’t have her own cup. “Wait, where’s your wine? Here, have mine, I’ll go and get another.” She held out her cup, but Jo didn’t take it. Instead, she looked at Mike and they both looked at Willa.
“Willa, we have something to tell you.”
Willa looked at them and she just knew.
“No. No way! You’re not … you’re pregnant?” Jo nodded and grimaced at the same time.
“That’s such amazing news, congratulations!” Willa threw her arms around Jo. “When?” she asked, struggling to form a real sentence.
“Summer. End of July, start of August,” her pop said. When Willa looked at him, she thought he might cry with happiness. “It was a bit of a surprise, and we wanted to tell you about the engagement first.”
“Hold on. What?!” Willa reached for Jo’s left hand and found a very sparkly ring. “Oh my God. Congratulations again!”
“I’m so glad you’re happy about it,” Mike said, beaming as Jo leaned into him.
“Happy? I’m ecstatic. A brother or sister at last!”
Jo hugged Willa again. “How lucky they’ll be to have such a cultured sister. And what is that smell, Willa? You smell like … a summer garden.” Jo sniffed Willa’s hair and closed her eyes.
“Oh, just a new perfume. I got it in Florence.” Willa smiled and took a sip of wine.
“Oooooh, I got it in Florence,” said a voice.
Willa knew that voice. She turned around to see her best friend with freshly dyed blue hair.
“Lennie, your hair!” Willa reached out to play with a strand. “I love it!”
Lennie grinned and Sara nudged her. “I told you she’d say that!”
“Oh, I come bearing gifts!” said Willa. She always brought them something from her travels.
Willa pulled two folded tote bags from her pocket and handed them to Lennie and Sara.
“They’re from Daunt Books in London. You should see this place. You have to come the next time I’m over there, you would love it so much.”
“You’re literally the sweetest person in the world,” Sara said, and Lennie gave Willa her sad eyes. “I just wish you weren’t leaving again soon.”
Willa said, “Not that soon. I have things to do, people to see, right here in Oak Falls.”
“Speaking of people …” Sara said, grinning, and Willa followed her gaze toward the silhouette of a man.
There he was. In his dark coat, his eyes finding hers across the crowd with that smile that made everything else fade away.
She ran toward him and jumped into his arms, not caring who was watching. She kissed him right there, against the glow of the bonfire, under the Oak Falls stars. Urgent, desperate, perfect.
When they finally broke apart, both breathing hard, he kept his hands around her waist.
“Welcome home,” he whispered against her hair.
She pulled back just enough to look at him. The firelight danced in his eyes, this man who’d changed everything.
“Yeah,” she said softly. “Home.”
And in that moment, standing in the town square with the man she loved, the bonfire crackling behind her and her pop’s balloon bobbing overhead, Willa knew something for sure.
Whatever path she’d taken to get to this perfect moment, whichever doors she’d walked through, she’d made the right choice.
Because she’d chosen herself first.
And everything else had just fallen into place.