“Oh my God,” I mumbled behind my palm.
“Sorry. I was impatient.” He watched me with that same calm, solemn expression that I’d associated with him from the beginning. “Maybe it’s too soon for you. Maybe you need more time. Maybe you don’t ever want to be someone’s wife again. But I want to be your husband—your teammate. Listening to you talk about marriage, I realized you were already all of those things to me. My secret keeper. My best friend. My roommate. My high-five giver. My partner. I want your loyalty and your heart. And I want to give you mine right back. I want to fight for you and fight for us. I want to be on your team for the rest of my life, Bonnie.”
There were a number of appropriate reactions. Crying. Kissing. Shouting yes and throwing myself at him.
Instead, I blurted clumsily through the rising tide of my emotions, “It’s not too soon! I’d marry you tomorrow if you wanted. At the courthouse or on a cruise ship by a ship captain. Or in Vegas with Elvis officiating.”
Jack’s lips lifted in amusement. “Or at a big wedding on the farm with everyone we know?”
Tears threatened, making my nose sting. How did he always know exactly what I needed?
I managed a shaky nod and took a step closer. “That too. You name the time and place, and I’m your girl.”
He grinned. “You are.”
I cupped his cheeks and pressed a soft kiss to his lips as visions of the future unspooled before me. Possibility. Hope. Love and devotion. Big moments. And small moments too. Partners in practice, not just theory. My coffee mug waiting on the counter in the mornings. And moonlit rides on the back of a motorcycle,butter-soft leather surrounding me. Someone who knew all my tender spots and protected them fiercely. A life lived together, side by side, heart to heart.
Jack reached up and loosened my hold. He placed the white ring box in one of my hands and held the other, lacing our fingers together. He cleared his throat deliberately and said low and rough, “Bonnie, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I breathed.
I let myself get swept up in the moment as Jack pulled me into his arms.
It was wild to think we’d ended up here. The bad boy and the good girl.
But that was only a part of the story and just fragments of who we really were. It had taken time and space, circumstance and heartache to bring us together. Not a perfect moment, but a handful of ordinary ones in every shape and size.
As our love grew and changed, so did we. And now we were exactly where we belonged ... right here. Jack and me. Forever.
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The fun in Kirby Falls continues with Joan’s story inLeaf Well Enough Alone, coming May 26, 2026. Preorder your copy today! Keep reading for a sneak peek excerpt.
Chapter 1
Ian
“Are you alive down there?”
My eyes blinked open at the sound of the woman’s voice.
A pair of long, tanned, toned legs came into view. My gaze took a leisurely path up her body, past thin-fabric running shorts, a gray v-neck tee shirt, across collarbones shiny with perspiration, before finally reaching a pretty intimidating scowl beneath a maroon baseball cap.
I’d expected to see concern or confusion at the very least. But the face of the woman staring back at me was creased in disapproval, or maybe suspicion.
I supposed I was a stranger on land that wasn’t mine. A weirdo laid out on the edge of a dirt path like a chalk-outlined victim on an episode of Law and Order. I’d played that role once, back when I was just getting started. Mob Corpse #3. It was hard to hold your breath.
I definitely wasn’t holding it now as I struggled to inflate my lungs.
Admittedly, I probably looked a little suspect lying here in my incognito attire—workout clothes, sunglasses, and a Columbus Blue Jackets hat.
Maybe this grumpy mystery woman wasn’t a hockey fan.
My breathing was finally evening out. I no longer sounded like someone with a severe peanut allergy suffering from asphyxiation.
