And maybe, just maybe, I would be caught.
Chapter 35
Madison
The silence after the kiss was almost louder than the cicadas. My heart pounded so hard I was sure he could hear it, and my lips still tingled from the press of his mouth against mine.
I leaned back slightly, just enough to breathe, and searched his face for regret, for hesitation, for anything that might shatter the fragile calm that had settled over us. But there was nothing likethat in his eyes. There was only Seth, watching me with a steady intensity that made me feel both seen and safe.
I reached for my glass on the railing, needing something to do with my hands, but they trembled as I lifted it. He noticed. Of course he did.
“You all right?” he asked quietly.
I nodded, though my throat felt tight. “Yeah. Just… a little overwhelmed.”
His lips curved into the faintest smile. “Me too.”
The honesty in those two words hit me harder than anything else tonight. I exhaled slowly, letting the tension drain from my shoulders. For years, I had convinced myself that closeness was dangerous, that letting someone in was opening the door to heartbreak. But Seth Cunningham had just kissed me like it was a promise, and for once, I didn’t want to run from it.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” I admitted.
“Neither was I,” he said, his hand brushing mine on the arm of the chair. He didn’t press, didn’t push for more. Just left his fingers resting there, warm and steady. “But I don’t regret it.”
A small laugh escaped me, shaky and unsteady. “Me either.”
We sat like that for a long while, the night wrapping around us like a secret. Every so often, I would glance at him, and he would already be looking at me, like he was trying to memorize this moment as much as I was.
When Olive stirred inside, murmuring in her sleep on the monitor, I knew I should go. I stood, smoothing my hands over my shorts, trying to steady myself. “I should check on her.”
Seth rose too, stepping back just enough to give me space but still close enough that I could feel the heat of him. “Goodnight, Madison.”
“Goodnight,” I whispered, my chest tightening.
As I crossed the yard and slipped back into the guest house, I paused at the door, my hand on the frame. For the first time ina very long time, I felt lighter. Like maybe the pieces of my life were finally shifting into place, one fragile step at a time.
And as I lay down beside Olive, listening to her soft breaths, I touched my fingers to my lips and let myself smile. Because tonight, I had taken that step. And I wanted to believe there was no turning back.
Chapter 36
Seth
The first thing I noticed when I stepped out onto the porch the next morning was the smell of coffee drifting across the yard. The second was the sound of Olive’s laughter floating through the summer air, sharp and clear like a bell.
She was crouched near the garden bed, her curls bouncing as she tilted her tiny watering can over the soil. Madison knelt beside her in the grass, still in a loose T-shirt and shorts, hairpulled up, a mug cradled in her hands. The sun was already warming the earth, and the light caught in the curve of her smile as she watched her daughter chatter to the flowers as if they could hear her.
For a moment, I just stood there. Watching.
It would have been easy to convince myself that last night hadn’t happened, that the kiss was some dream spun out of exhaustion and summer heat. But the memory of it lingered sharp and undeniable, the taste of iced tea between us, the softness of her lips, the way she leaned into me like she had chosen to.
And now, looking at her this morning, with Olive at her side, I felt something dangerous stirring in me. Want. Not just the fleeting kind, but the kind that whispered of permanence, of roots.
Olive spotted me first. “Uncle Seth! The flowers are eating breakfast!” She waved the watering can like it was a prize.
I made my way down the steps, forcing my feet to move when all I wanted was to stay rooted to the spot. “Looks like you’re taking good care of them,” I said, crouching beside her.
“They were thirsty,” she said solemnly, then tipped the can again until water splashed across my shoe. She giggled, covering her mouth with both hands.
I rolled my eyes in mock defeat. “Guess I should have worn boots.”
