Chapter 24
LEIGH
The morning after we told the brothers, I woke up to my phone buzzing with notifications.
The Farrington family group chat, which I’d been added to somewhere around week three of being in Willowbrook, was exploding.
Blake: So we’re all just going to pretend like last night wasn’t HUGE?
Xander: What do you want us to say? “Congrats on finally being honest”?
Blake: YES. Exactly that.
Reece: I’m just happy for them both
Billie: Same. They’re good together
Gage: Dex deserves this
Trace: They both do
Delaney: Can we plan a couples’ thing? Like a double date but with all of us?
Blake: Absolutely not. That’s too much pressure. Let them breathe.
Xander: Says the woman who JUST suggested we all make a big deal about it
Blake: Making a big deal and smothering them are different things
I scrolled through, smiling despite myself. This family. My family. They were ridiculous and loving and entirely too invested in everyone’s business.
Another message popped up, this one just to me.
Dex: Good morning. Sleep okay?
Leigh: Better than expected. You?
Dex: Not really. Kept thinking about you
Leigh: We literally just saw each other
Dex: I know. Still thought about you.
My chest did that stupid flutter thing it had been doing constantly lately.
Leigh: So what now?
Dex: Now we do what we said. Live in the moment. Enjoy this.
Dex: Speaking of which... let me take you on a real date. Tonight. In town. Public. The whole thing.
Leigh: Like a normal couple?
Dex: Exactly like a normal couple
Leigh: That sounds terrifying
Dex: That sounds perfect. Pick you up at 6?
I stared at my phone. A real date. In Willowbrook. Where everyone knew everyone and apparently everyone already knew about us anyway.
No more hiding. No more sneaking around. Just us, being together, like we had every right to be.
Leigh: 6 is perfect
#
The rest of the day passed in a blur of nervous energy.
I tried to work. I had all the photos from the engagement shoot that needed to be edited, and emails to answer about an upcoming show I had at a gallery in Blue Point Bay.
But I couldn’t focus. My mind kept drifting to tonight.
To Dex. To what it would feel like to walk through town holding his hand without looking over my shoulder.
“You’re pacing,” Mom said from the doorway of my room around four o’clock.
I stopped mid-stride. “I’m not pacing.”
“You’ve circled this room approximately forty times in the last ten minutes.” She came in, sat on the edge of my bed. “First date jitters?”
“Is it a first date if we’ve already been dating for two months?”
“It’s your first public date. So yes.” She smiled. “You really like him, don’t you?”
“Mom…”
“It’s okay to admit it, Leigh. You’re allowed to be happy.”
I sat down next to her, suddenly exhausted. “What if I’m making a mistake? What if we’re moving too fast? What if everyone’s watching and judging and…”
“Then they’re watching and judging,” she interrupted gently. “And it doesn’t matter. Because you’re living your life, not theirs.”
“That’s very zen of you.”
“That’s me learning from twenty-seven years of mistakes.” She took my hand. “I spent so long worrying about what people would think, about doing the ‘right’ thing, about playing it safe. And you know what I got? Decades of regret and a daughter who didn’t know her father.”
“Mom, you were protecting me…”
“I was protecting myself. From judgment, from complications, from having to be brave.” She squeezed my hand. “Don’t do what I did, baby. Don’t hide from something good because you’re scared of what might happen.”
“How about we make a deal?” I said, having a sudden moment of epiphany. “I’ll go out and be young, and carefree, and enjoy myself…” She looked at me suspiciously like she already knew what was coming. “If you promise to do it too.”
“The young might be a bit of a stretch for me.”
“Don’t try to dodge my point. You and Jasper should go out. Not with me and Dex, that would be weird. But you should go and do something fun. You’ve missed so much time and you should make up for it. If I don’t have to care about what the town might say, then neither should you.”
My mom opened her mouth to object, but she couldn’t unless she wanted to admit that I might have something to worry about too. When she snapped it to, I knew I’d won and she glared at me softly.
“When did you learn how to do that?”
I laughed wrapping an arm around her and leaning my head on her shoulder. “I just want you to be happy. I’m glad you decided to stay in Willowbrook. Even if I decide Blue Point Bay is where I need to be. I’m glad you finally chose something for yourself.”
“You could do that too,” she pointed out, then she hugged me back fiercely before quickly standing from the bed and heading to the door.
She paused in the doorway, turning back to look at me with that misty look that mothers got sometimes.
“I like seeing you happy, Leigh. I didn’t realise how long it had been since I’d seen you like this. You need to fight for that, honey.”
And then she left before I could say anything else.
She was right though. We needed a solution where we could all be happy and giving up and just accepting the end wasn’t it.
#
At exactly six o’clock, Dex’s truck pulled into the driveway.
I’d facetimed Wren and she’d help me pick out a dress. Of course that meant having to listen to her . “You’ll need at least one dress that says ‘I’m put together but also casual and definitely not trying too hard,’“ she’d said. At the time, I’d rolled my eyes. Now I was grateful.
I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs before I could second-guess myself again.
Dex was waiting on the porch, and the sight of him made my breath catch. Dark jeans, a button-down with the sleeves rolled up, hair slightly damp like he’d just showered. He held a single sunflower, not a whole bouquet, just one perfect bloom.
“Hi,” he said, and his smile was nervous. Dex Moore, confident mechanic who could fix any engine, who’d faced down my brothers without flinching, was nervous about our date.
It was adorable.
“Hi yourself.” I took the flower. “Where did you find a sunflower?”
“Emma’s shop. I may have called ahead and asked her to save me one.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Is that weird? Is bringing flowers to a date weird now? I haven’t done this in a while…”
I kissed him, cutting off his rambling. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.”
“I don’t know about perfect, but I’m trying.” He offered his arm. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
We walked to his truck, and opened the door for me. Old-fashioned and sweet and so very Dex.
“So where are we going?” I asked as he pulled out of the driveway.
“Dinner at the Italian place downtown. The nice one, not the pizza joint.” He glanced at me. “Then maybe a walk through town? I thought we could hit that ice cream shop you’ve been eyeing every time we drive past.”
“You noticed that?”
“I notice everything about you.”
My heart did that flutter thing again. I was going to need to get that checked. This couldn’t be healthy.
Downtown Willowbrook was busier than usual for a Thursday evening.
We had to park a block away from the restaurant, which meant walking through the center of town.
Past the bookstore where Mrs. Harper was closing up.
Past the coffee shop where a group of teenagers sat outside.
Past Dylan’s Place, where I could see a few familiar faces through the windows.
Dex took my hand.
It was such a simple gesture, but it felt monumental. His fingers laced through mine, steady and sure, as we walked down Main Street like we had every right to be together.
Because we did.
“Dex! Leigh!”
We turned to see Emma waving from the doorway of her flower shop, a huge grin on her face.
“About time, you two!” she called, not even trying to be subtle.
Dex laughed. “Thanks, Emma.”
“You’re welcome! And Leigh, I saved some extra sunflowers for you. Come by anytime!”
“Will do!” I called back, feeling my cheeks heat.
“By tomorrow morning, literally everyone in a twenty-mile radius will know we’re official.”
“That fast?”
“Oh yes, the gossip here is the equivalent of a high-speed internet connection.”
I laughed despite my nerves. “Good to know.”
We reached a cute little restaurant a few moments later. Vittorio’s looked charming and intimate with checkered tablecloths and candles in wine bottles. The hostess, a woman in her sixties with kind eyes, lit up when she saw Dex.
“Dexter Moore! And you must be Leigh!” She pulled me into a hug before I could react. “I’m Maria. Your table’s ready. I gave you the good one in the corner.”
“Thanks, Maria,” Dex said warmly.
“Anything for you, caro. Your grandparents loved this spot. I’m glad you’re carrying on the tradition.” She winked at me. “And bringing such a pretty girl too.”
She led us to a cozy corner table with a view of the street. Candles flickered in the center, and the lighting was soft and romantic. It was perfect.
“Everyone here knows you,” I observed once we were seated.
“Small town. I’ve lived here my whole life.”
“And they all seem to really like you.”
He shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know about that…”
“Dex.” I reached across the table, took his hand. “They do. You can see it. The way they light up when they see you. The way they talk about you. You’re part of the fabric of this place.”
“That sounds way more poetic than the reality.”
“Maybe. But it’s true.” I studied his face in the candlelight. “You belong here. This is your home. You’re part of this place.”
It was a realisation I hadn’t had before.
It wasn’t just as simple as the fact that Dex had a business here.
He was part of this community. He provided them with a service, but he was also a part of their lives.
I’d never formed those connections in Blue Point Bay.
Not really. Or at least, not with anyone outside of my family.