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“Yes. I’m choosing to believe you.”
Tag shifted on his feet, trying not to let his doubt show. She was taking this awfully well. He’d never dated a woman who wouldn’t be at least a little jealous about this photo. Even in the early days of their relationship, Kendall would have come unglued. Truthfully, he’d be jealous to see a photo of Ally like this. Without cause, he’d been jealous of his eighteen-year-old cousin. Not to mention Flynn, who’d never acted like more than a big brother to her from what Tag had seen.
And then it hit him, knocking the wind out of him like a solid blow to the solar plexus. This just proved what he already knew; he was more into her than she was him. Sure, she’d told him she didn’t want to see other people, but that didn’t mean her feelings matched the ones he had for her. Asking how she felt about him would only lead to a conversation about how much he liked her. And that was a place he didn’t want to go, couldn’t go. His heart sank a little more.
If he’d been hoping for some perspective on their relationship, he’d certainly succeeded. This photo and a weekend of no communication had inadvertently cemented his feelings. And it had revealed hers, too. Or, more to the point, it highlighted the disparity between them. But this was a good thing, he assured himself. Exactly the way he’d wanted, the way he needed, for this to evolve.
He’d examine the repercussions to his psyche and the damage to his heart later. Right now, he wanted to think about what he wanted, and what he wanted was Ally, as much of her as he could get.
He stepped toward her. “Thank you. You’re amazing. I missed you.”
She graced him with a full-blown smile. Finally. “I missed you, too,” she said. The pressure in his chest immediately began to ease.
Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms. Relief flooded through him as she hugged him tightly. She might not like him as much as he liked her, but she definitely liked him. Because he couldn’t wait for another second, he dipped his head and kissed her.
When he pulled away, she gripped his shoulders and held on. “I didn’t like not hearing from you.”
“Yeah, that was no good for me, either. I lost my phone.”
“I heard.”
“You did?”
“Yes, Shay told me.”
“Shay? I’m surprised she would bother.”
“I was, too, and I only heard this morning, so you’re not off the hook. In all of Juneau, you couldn’t find a phone to call me?”
He smiled at the irritation in her tone, not because he’d caused it but because of what it might mean. Twining a hand into her hair, he asked, “You were worried, or you missed me?”
“Both.”
“Good.”
“Good? It didn’t feel good.”
“So, you’re saying you’d like to hear from me every day?”
“Yes. Or, at the very least, I’d like to know that I wasn’t going to hear from you.”
That felt promising. Sweeping her against him, Tag took a moment to enjoy the fact that finally, he was right where he wanted to be. “If it makes you feel better, this is where I wished I was all weekend.” He didn’t add that, had he been in possession of this information when he left town, he would have stolen a phone.
* * *
WITH IVY STILL on bereavement leave, Tag was ready to pull his hair out until Iris volunteered to fill in. He was incredibly grateful for her help and impressed with both her business sense and her efficiency. Iris spent the first few days trying to figure out how to adjust his business schedule for the upcoming year of campaigning.
“When are you hiring a campaign manager?” she asked one morning as they studied an email from Maura encouraging him to hold a rally to officially announce his candidacy. They were waiting for Bering and Emily and the kids to show up along with Hannah, Tate and Lucas. Tag was flying them all to Anchorage, where they were meeting Emily’s mom and stepdad for a visit and a trip to the zoo.
“Soon. By the end of the month, for sure.”
He was going to have to hire a pilot to take some of his flights. His friend Cricket, who was Hannah’s partner at JB Heli-Ski, was the obvious choice. If he was this busy now, he couldn’t imagine how his life would be once the campaigning officially began. He was grateful for the near-constant reminders that fueled his ambition and helped to keep his eye on the prize.
