It’s only been a few months but it just feels right—and when was the last time that happened?
Plus, Deacon is more patient than any man has the right to be. I swear it’s bottomless because every time I feel like I’ve used it all, he shows up with ten times more. I’m thankful and happy and elated that it’s him.
Hopefully my parents will come around because if I have to make a choice, I’ll gladly give up the three decades before him to ensure he gets the rest of my life.
He deserves to have all of me and hell, I deserve it too.
40
TANNER
Thanksgiving preparations have been in full swing, and as we climb the porch steps to Jude and Arden’s, I can feel the exhaustion start to take hold.
And the day has only just begun.
Deacon and I agreed that we’d split time between his brother and the Thayers. Jude and Arden will be going to Ellison’s later with the rest of the Blackstone Falls crew, so this seemed like the best way to do it.
For now.
We’d also been invited to Ellison’s but had declined—but would it always be like this? Constantly splitting our time and running from house to house?
“Are you all right?” Deacon whispers right before he knocks on the door.
“Just overwhelmed. It’s Thanksgiving and everything is chaos. What about Christmas? We can’t be in a million places at once.”
I won’t give up Christmas morning with Briggs, but does that mean Deacon will be with Jude and Arden for Salem’s first Christmas? He’s her godfather after all.
Rubbing the spot between my eyebrows, I exhale when Deacon pulls my hand away and presses his lips to my forehead. “Let’s get through today and then we can worry about the rest of it, all right?”
I give him a halfhearted smile as the door swings open and Arden grins. “Here,” she says, handing Deacon the baby while holding out her hands to me. “My sister is here with Montana and Lyric, so I’ll take those and y’all can go mingle.”
She stares longingly at the apple pies I’m holding before doing a little shimmy as she takes them into the kitchen. Jude waves from where he’s standing by the oven, a carving knife and fork in his hands as his dog, Dez, sits at his feet, his tongue lolling to the side.
A wave of happiness washes over me at the sight. Sorren and I don’t usually get many updates on the dogs we place after they’re adopted, so this one is special. We picked Dez specifically based on Jude’s profile, and to see the success of the match does something I can’t explain.
“How is he with the baby?” I hear myself asking, nodding to Dez who scrambles up from the floor when he hears my voice to throw his full weight against my leg as he tilts his head up for a pet.
“The sweetest.” Arden laughs. “He thinks Salem is his.”
“He’s never more than a couple of feet from her,”—Jude motions toward the turkey— “unless there’s food.”
“What about you guys?” I ask Montana and Ellison. At last year’s adoptathon, they took home more than a few of our canine residents, much to Montana’s chagrin.
“Oh, you mean our zoo?” Montana replies as Ellison offers Lyric to me with a fuzzy purple blanket. I didn’t get a chance to hold her at Cal’s, so I’m thankful for the opportunity to snuggle her for a bit.
“It’s not a zoo; it’s afarm,” Ellison fires back with enough sass that I’d bet they’ve had this conversation before. “The dogs are great and so are the cows, donkey, goats?—”
“Fucking goats,”Montana grumbles, earning a glare from his wife.
“Really glad to hear it,” I tell them, meaning it with all of me becausethisis what makes the long hours worth it in the end. “We’re talking about expanding again. Opening up a second location in Trappers Ridge, North Carolina.”
“And when you say that, you mean that I get the exclusive for that announcement, right?” Arden says, pointing a serving spoon at me.
“You’ve gotten the exclusive on everything we’ve done since we bought the place,” I remind her. It was such a different time back then. Arden had just been a local reporter—no one knew her secret.
Not yet.
“Just making sure you remember,”—she winks—“especially because you’re actually family now.”
