“No. That’s what makes it so chill.” She grins. “Just our families.”
“It’ll be good to see Jackson and Dove,” he says.
“My brother and his new wife,” Juju tells me.
“Have you gotten to know her much yet?” Tully asks.
“I’ve haven’t seen her much more than you.” She lifts her shoulder and makes a face. “They went to her family’s for Thanksgiving…but they’ll be at the wedding. So far, I like what I see. Whirlwind wedding,” she adds. “But it must run in the family, since I’m about to have one of my own.” Her head falls back with her laugh.
We get a basket of fresh pastries and the best coffee I’ve ever had, and we sit in the front window.
“Is it always this peaceful around here?” I ask.
“The tourists make it a little busier, but yeah, even with more people around, it’s peaceful.”
“I love it here.”
“Could you ever see yourself in a place like this?” Tully asks.
He asks it casually, looking out at the water when he says it and not at me. But then he turns, his eyes meeting mine, and they’re so hopeful, my heart turns over.
I am a composed woman who is absolutely not gripping her coffee mug harder than necessary.
“Well…” I try to sound nonchalant. “Yes.” I gesture vaguely at the water, the town, the gold morning light doing its thing over the harbor. “Look at it.”
“It gets cold.”
“I’m aware. It’s cold out there right now.”
“This is nothing.”
I laugh. Because only a Minnesotan could say that fifteen degrees is nothing.
“I could manage,” I say. “Maybe travel somewhere warm a couple of times in the winter. Yeah, I could see myself here. But are we only talking about the weather?” I’m smiling, and when I glance at him again out of the corner of my eye, he is too.
He leans in, his fingers threading through mine.
“What about your shop?” he asks, his voice low.
“Is there a tattoo shop in town?”
His brows lift. “No. There’s not.”
I turn to face him fully, and he does the same.
“Then maybe I open one.”
His lips lift even more, his eyes crinkling at the sides. He’s so gorgeous it hurts.
“Yeah?” he says.
“Two shops,” I say, and the excitement carries into my voice now. “One here, one in New York. Juni’s ready to carry more, but I’d hire another artist too…” I stop when he doesn’t say anything. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I can’t believe I might finally be getting what I’ve wanted for so long.”
“What’s that?” I whisper.
He leans in, his hand clasping my cheek. “A life with you.”
