Chapter 15
fifteen
. . .
Dermot
“So, you took my advice and kissed him?”
I’m usually the beet-red one around this woman, but her father has not only her cheeks but her neck bright red.
“Dad!” she complains, but her dad just smiles smugly.
Happiness is basically leaking from his pores, not that I’m surprised.
Not only is his wife on his arm, beaming at him, but Holiday Ridge’s Valentine’s Day Celebration is a hit.
There are no empty parking spots at any of the businesses, and so many couples are here to celebrate the love they have for each other.
There are hearts everywhere, hanging from strings, blowing in the breeze, and making the whole space feel very lovey-dovey.
Which is the point, I guess.
Sadie went all out with lights and huge inflatable teddy bears that are holding big bouquets of flowers.
Every kind of vendor imaginable has a booth, selling chocolate-covered strawberries, candies, flowers, jewelry…
And there’s even a spot where you can have a picture drawn of you and your valentine.
While most of the festival is open to everyone, there is also a section just for singles to mingle and try to find a valentine.
The number of red, white, and pink roses decorating everything around us could have funded the art program, but apparently, that was my job.
“I don’t know who kissed whom, but apparently, he likes kissing our dear Maggie since Dr. Aldridge made sure to buy out her time slot at my kissing booth,” Sadie says as she bites into a candy apple. “I hope you were reimbursed fully.”
I hide my smirk against Maggie’s temple as she speaks. “He was, thank you very much.”
Alex chuckles as Mary Ann beams. “How sweet!”
Alex nods. “Listen, a bit of advice. She gets mad, just kiss her. She’s sad? Kiss her. She’s happy? Kiss her. You get it?”
I feel my face flushing as I nod. I don’t have much experience with parents of the girls I date, but maybe that’s because they weren’t meant to be anything more than memories and learning experiences. Because with each day I spend with Maggie, the more I know she was made just for me.
For me to make happy.
For me to make laugh.
And for me to love wholly and completely.
“I hear you, sir.”
Alex waves me off then squeezes my shoulder. “Call me Alex. All my friends do.”
Mary Ann gives me a sweet smile, one she gives me a lot when I find myself over at the bookshop flirting with her daughter in an attempt to get her to smile at me. Even though she hasn’t slept without me since that first night she stayed over, I still have this need to flirt with her.
To show her how badly I want her with every breath I take.
“I can’t wait to take you to your first hockey game,” Alex muses, and I nod happily.
“It’s going to be awesome.”
“Yes! Then we can read a hockey romance!” Mary Ann says with a little clap of her hands.
Sadie gives me a look. “Well, aren’t you the whole package?”
“He is. Go get your own!” Maggie cuddles into my side, and I gaze down at her lovingly. Her brows pull together, and then she looks up at me, of course catching me staring at her. “Are you happy to see me, or is that a rock in your pocket?”
I bark out a laugh as I shake my head. “All you, pretty girl.”
But that’s a lie. I look out toward the front entrance to Promise Pond, where a line is curving almost around the whole pond.
People have been lining up all day, waiting for their chance to purchase a lock and have it engraved with their initials.
My stomach flips a bit as I look at all the eager faces, ready to lock in their love and hope the lore of the lock is true.
I swallow past the nerves as my eyes settle on the woman I love.
Her brows draw in a bit. “My parents are right there. Can’t you get it under control?”
I scoff. “Around you? Never.”
She beams at that, and I kiss her nose.
“Listen, D,” Alex says. “I have this weird mole I need you to look at.”
“Jesus Christ. Run, kids,” Mary Ann pleads as she tries to drag her husband away.
Maggie snickers as I smile against her temple.
“Come On Over, Baby” by Ty Myers blares across the speaker system, and I smile down at her.
The song reminds me of all the ways I want Maggie.
As mine. I thread my fingers through hers, bringing her knuckles to my lips before I ask, “Will you dance with me?”
She doesn’t answer with words. Instead, her lips curve and her eyes hood a bit as she nods eagerly.
Our eyes stay locked on each other as I pull her out onto the dance floor that is set up in front of the bookstore and wrap her up in my arms. The air is cold, but Sadie also supplied a bunch of heaters, and I can’t help but think we aren’t making any money except for what I donated.
Though, there is a line for Old Man Harrison at the kissing booth.
Not that I care. I have everything I want in my arms.
And a promise in my pocket.
Maggie’s cold cheek meets mine, and her lavender smell has my heart swelling in my chest as we sway to the music with all the other couples.
I catch a few waves and warm smiles from my patients, and I can’t help but return them.
I never let myself believe this town would want me—that I could belong here.
I was just a doctor who came to fix a fractured relationship with my sister. That was the plan.
But I was wrong.
I am loved. And while I’m grateful for the way this community has welcomed me, I’m even more grateful for the love waiting next door. My neighbor—once just my favorite author—has become my everything.
Start living again. Put yourself out there.
As if I summoned her with that thought, I find Tessa leaning against the gate of my clinic with her eyes full of tears.
She gives me a watery smile, and my heart aches.
She didn’t want to come because she isn’t dating anyone and she isn’t a fan of the holiday, but she came because she knew I needed her.
Well, I don’t need her here. I want her here.
I want her to see I’m doing everything I said I would.
Is our relationship fixed? Not fully. But I will continue to suture and tend to the wound I created. I will be present. I will love her because I’m learning how to do that from the girl of my dreams.
I drag my lips along Maggie’s jaw, and she looks up at me, her lips in the little smirk I adore.
“I love you,” I tell her, and her smirk turns to a grin.
“It’s the ambiance, makes you a marshmallow. A pink one, with heart sprinkles.”
I continue to hold her gaze. “No, it’s you,” I say, cupping her cheek. Her eyes get that glassy look, and my heart goes wild in my chest. Like it wants to break free from my ribs.
Because it belongs to her.
“Reach in my pocket, pretty girl.”
Her brow arches. “Doctor? Here? In front of everyone?”
She waggles her brows, and I can’t help but chuckle softly. “Right here.”
Her eyes seem bluer, full of wonder, as her gaze locks on mine.
She slips her hand into the pocket of my overalls.
When her fingers close around the lock, she stills, her eyes widening as she pulls it free.
The gold catches the light as she looks at it, then back at me, like she’s afraid to breathe.
“I never thought I’d say this to anyone but Tessa,” I tell her quietly. “But with you, the words leave my lips like a prayer.”
I take her hand, pressing the lock into her palm. “I want to be the only person you ever hang a lock with. I want to walk into Lock Night with your hand in mine, collect it together, rehang it every year, no matter what tradition says, and spend every day after telling you how much I love you.”
My voice breaks, but I don’t stop. “Because I do, Maggie. I love you. And I never want to stop saying it.”
“Promise?” she asks, a tear sliding down her round cheek.
I wipe it away and agree without hesitation. “Promise.”
“Good, because I love you too,” she says with a sob. “And if I’m hanging a lock for the first time, it’ll be the only time—and only with you.”
I lean in, our foreheads pressing together as I continue to catch her tears.
She beams up at me, her eyes sparkling and leaving me breathless.
I don’t know who moves first, but that’s normal for us.
Everything is just so effortless. Her hand clasps mine, but instead of leading me to where everyone else is hanging their locks along the gates of Promise Pond, she leads me to the spot where the fences in front of our businesses share a pole.
She holds out her free hand, and I hand her the key.
As she unlocks the lock, she asks, “When did you have time to get it engraved? You’ve been with me all day.”
I smile sheepishly, and I can feel people looking at us, but they don’t matter. Only this moment does. “I did it.”
Her head whips up, her gaze colliding with mine. “You engraved it?”
“I wanted to do it without you knowing it.”
Her bottom lip pops out, and she sighs. “I love you so much.” She goes to her tippy-toes, but she doesn’t have to go far. I meet her in the middle, kissing her sweet lips and relishing the feeling of knowing she is happy. “Is this spot okay with you? I want to see it all the time.”
“It’s perfect.”
She beams up at me, looking so gorgeous it hurts. This is the girl I’ll love forever. The one who will not only make my life worth living but force me to never keep anything locked away.
She was born with the key to my heart.
I move behind her, wrapping my arms around her. I set my chin on her shoulder as she rubs her thumb along the engraving.
D+M
V-DAY
She locks it to the fence before looking over at me, our eyes locking. She kisses the side of my mouth, and I pull her closer, kissing her cheek as that feeling of pure completion fills me from tip to toe.
“I’m so glad I got knocked out by that cock.”
I grin against her lips. “I’m about to put it in a glass box to commemorate it.”
She grins back. “With the caption: Thank you, Stone Cock. You are the reason Dermot fell in love with Maggie.”
I kiss her top lip. “I fell for you long before the cock took you out.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yeah. I fell for your mind first, your dirty words, then your smile, your laugh, and, finally, your heart. Now, I’m so obsessively yours, I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
“Good thing you don’t need to find out.”
Against her lips, I whisper, “I love you, Maggie.”
Her fingers dance across my lips. “Don’t ever stop telling me that.”
“I won’t,” I promise just as her nose presses into mine. “You promise me the same.”
“Promise,” she says with her whole heart in her eyes. “Dermot?”
I kiss her top lip. “You love me?”
“So damn much.”