Chapter 29 Adrienne
Adrienne
I’ve sat in this chair in Celeste’s home office a hundred times over the years.
When I told her that I wanted to be like her when I was older.
When I first told her I want to intern for her in college, when I needed advice about law school, when I thought my heart was breaking over men who didn’t deserve me.
Celeste looks up from her notes, reading glasses low on her nose. “The weight of whatever you’re carrying right now is about to crush us both,” she says dryly, lips twitching.
She’s always been good at letting me sit in my discomfort. That’s why she’s an amazing attorney. She knows that if you let someone sit long enough in their silence, they’ll start talking. And she’s never wrong.
“Are you waiting for the world to end first?”
A nervous laugh slips out of me. “Maybe I am.” I exhale, twisting my fingers together. “I came to thank you. For the LA offer. For believing in me enough to even suggest it. It means more than you know.” Her brow lifts, waiting. “But…” I take a breath. “I can’t accept it.”
Her smile comes slowly. She removes her glasses and sinks back against her chair. “I figured.”
I blink. “You—what? You knew I wouldn’t take it?”
“I knew before you did.” She folds her glasses and sets them down carefully. “But you needed to reach that conclusion yourself. Otherwise, you’d spend the rest of your life wondering if you turned down the wrong path.”
I sit back, speechless for a second. “So you offered it just to… test me?”
She chuckles. “Not test you, sweetheart. Trust you. I recognized the same look in your eyes that I had at your age. It’s this hungry uncertainty, like you’re trying to figure out what kind of woman you want to be, what kind of lawyer you want to be, what kind of girlfriend, daughter, wife.
I knew you’d never really know until you were forced to choose. ”
“I thought I wanted that big life again. The city, the challenge. But when I imagined waking up in LA, alone, in some high-rise condo with no one who knows me? It felt hollow.” I smile faintly.
“And then I thought about here. The ranch. Sunday mornings with family. Scotty…” My chest warms. “And it just clicked. Like all these years I’d been fighting it, trying to tell myself that I belonged somewhere else but… I belong here.”
Celeste studies me for a long moment, a proud look on her face.
“You know what that is, Adrienne? That’s peace.
It doesn’t come from money or job titles; it comes when you stop fighting yourself.
And you’ll never find peace in a new job or a new city or even a new relationship, unless you find it inside first.”
I laugh quietly, brushing at a tear that slips free. “You make it sound so easy.”
“Oh, it’s not.” She leans back, tilting her head. “You’ll still question it sometimes. Wonder if you should’ve chosen differently. But home isn’t a place, sweetheart, you know that. It’s a lot more than that.”
Her words make my throat ache. “That’s Scotty,” I admit softly. “He steadies me. Makes me feel seen in a way no one else ever has. I feel like I’m my most authentic self around him, and I never even had to try. It just came naturally.”
Celeste’s mouth curves knowingly. “I thought so. You light up every time you say his name.”
I roll my eyes, smiling through it. “Please don’t start.”
“Oh, I’m absolutely starting.” She grins. “Has he proposed yet? Because the way you’re glowing, I’d say it’s imminent.”
“Celeste!” I groan, covering my face. “We’ve barely gotten our footing. Let’s not jump to weddings.”
She laughs. “Relax. I’m only half-teasing. But I will say this: when you find the person who makes you laugh even when you’re angry, and holds you without trying to fix you, don’t let go. Whether it’s next month or ten years from now, that’s the kind of man worth building a life with.”
I smile, my heart so full. “He’s the one. I know that now. It’s just… surreal to finally know.”
“Good,” she says simply. “Then the rest will fall into place.”
She reaches across the desk and squeezes my hand. “I’m proud of you, Adrienne. You spent so much of your life trying to prove you belonged at the table. You don’t have to prove it anymore. You built your own damn table.”
Emotion surges in my chest so quick that I burst into tears. I stand, moving around the desk to hug her. She hugs me back, firmly, that comforting smell of gardenia enveloping me. “Thank you,” I whisper. “For letting me figure it out the hard way.”
She chuckles softly against my hair. “The hard way’s the only way that sticks.”
Celeste releases me from our hug, eyes shining. “Now that that’s settled,” she says with a teasing lift of her brow, “I suppose I’ll have to break the bad news to my colleague in L.A. that she won’t be stealing my favorite niece.”
I laugh softly, then pause. “Actually… I might have someone perfect for her to steal.”
“Oh?” Celeste perks up, intrigued.
“My friend Agnes,” I explain, reaching into my bag for my phone.
“We were at Harvard together. She’s been working for a firm in London for the last two years, but she’s miserable there.
She just moved back to the States last month and told me she’s looking for a change.
She’s sharp, specializes in mergers and contracts, and she’s fearless in negotiations.
I think she’d be a great fit for Catherine’s team. ”
Celeste’s expression lights with genuine excitement. “Agnes Weller?” I nod, surprised she remembers. “She was top of her class neck and neck with you. Of course I remember her.” She grins, taking down the number I rattle off. “Catherine will be thrilled to have a solid lead.”
I shrug, smiling. “Least I can do for turning down your golden ticket.”
Celeste waves that off. “You gave me something better, proof that you’re exactly where you’re meant to be. "
That warmth I feel whenever I leave Celeste’s house follows me all the way out the door. I slide into my car and pull out my phone, tapping a message to Scotty, who’s waiting for me at the garage.
Me: On my way.
His reply comes instantly.
Scotty: Good, get your sexy little ass over here now. But don’t speed! Drive safe!
The bay doors are rolled up. Scotty’s got the hood propped, his forearms flexing as he tightens the last clamp. He looks up when I close my car door and start to walk toward him. “About time,” he drawls. “Thought you were gonna make me finish without my apprentice.”
I tug on a pair of gloves and come to stand next to him. “Please. I’m the brains of this operation. You’re just the muscle.”
“Good.” He winks, leaning down for a quick kiss. “I like being your muscle. Now let’s finish this girl up and take her for a spin.”
We work together for the next hour. I'm holding the light, and he's guiding my hand to the bolt I missed. He stepped aside, letting me take the ratchet and finish the last few turns. We double-check fluid levels. I slide into the driver’s seat to pump the accelerator while he listens at the engine bay.
“Moment of truth,” he says, his voice low.
My chest tightens. This car has so many memories I want to relive with Scotty and so many more left inside of her for us to create together.
I twist the key. The Mustang coughs, shudders, then catches.
The engine settles into a throaty rumble that vibrates through the seat and straight into my spine.
“Oh my God,” I whisper, grinning like a kid. “Listen to her purr!”
“I am,” he says, and he isn’t looking at the engine. He’s looking at me.
I kill the ignition and climb out, meeting him at the front of the car. He rests his hip on the bumper, wiping his hands on a rag. The sunlight hits his jaw and the day-old stubble there, and I swear my knees consider quitting.
“Come here,” he murmurs.
He cups the back of my neck and kisses me slowly, building heat with each pass of his mouth against mine, each flick of his tongue. My hands grip the edges of his T-shirt. When he pulls back, I’m breathless and probably smiling like an idiot.
He digs into his pocket, pulls out a small black leather fob, and a classic key loop with the chrome Mustang emblem shining. He takes the keys, putting the new keyring on them before closing my fingers around them. “Yours,” he says simply.
“Ours,” I correct, voice wobbling. “We did this together.”
He studies me, something raw moving through his eyes. Then his mouth quirks. “You gonna cry on me, counselor?”
“Shut up,” I mutter, laughing as I swipe a knuckle under one eye. “I’m allowed a moment.”
“I’m teasing,” he says, looping his arms around my waist, his chin resting on my shoulder as he pulls me against him. “I get it, trust me. I’ve cried plenty over a few of my favorite cars.”
I clear my throat, straighten my shoulders. “Also, for the record, you fell right into my plan.”
“What plan?”
“Getting you to spend your Sundays with me by pretending I needed help with my car. Classic entrapment.”
He snorts. “You think I didn’t see that coming? You ain’t as slick as you think, Adrienne Slade.” He playfully swats at my ass.
“You knew?”
“Of course, I knew.” He leans in, drops his voice. “I was never gonna say no.”
“That’s because I’m irresistible.”
“That too,” he says, grinning as he hooks a finger in my belt loop and drags me closer. “C’mon. Let’s take her out.”
We roll the bay doors the rest of the way and climb in. I turn the key, and the motor roars to life again. I pump the gas a few times, listening to her rev. Scotty rests his forearm on the open window, one hand braced on the roof above me as he watches my leg work the pedals.
“Get in sexy, I’ll take you on the ride of your life.” I nod toward the passenger door. Scotty laughs, walking around the car and sliding inside.
We ease out onto the empty street behind the shop, then cut to the county road that runs past the ballfields and out toward the pastures. I look over at Scotty, and he gives me the nod. I press the pedal down, really opening her up.