Page 149 of Peaks and Promises

And I was rethinking my job. Travel would be inevitable, but I didn’t want to take on clients that would have me away from Summer for months at a time. Fortunately, I’d always lived simply, without a lot of expenses. Money wasn’t going to be an issue.

Summer was at work and Annika and Levi had taken Nate to the park for the afternoon. That had left me free to run a few errands. My last stop was my parents’ place. I’d spent the morning helping Josiah with maintenance on one of their rentals and needed to return some of Dad’s tools.

When I pulled up to their house, Dad’s truck was outside. I grabbed the tools out of my SUV and walked around back to his shop. The whir of a saw biting through wood rang out as I approached the open garage door and set the tool bag down.

Dad looked up and took off his safety glasses. “Afternoon, Son.”

“Hey, Dad. What are you working on?”

“Your mom wants another picnic table for the side yard. All those grandkids.”

“Are you sure you don’t need two more?”

He grinned. “Probably. I’m also thinking about an addition to the house, for the same reason. We can’t fit everybody in the dining room anymore.”

I glanced over at the house. “There’s room. You could even use the existing back door. That way you wouldn’t have to cut into any of the logs.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” He stepped out of the shop and rested his hands on his hips. “It’s not easy to add on to a log home. Didn’t think I ever would when I built it. But here we are, with a family that keeps getting bigger.”

His eyes flicked to me, and he raised his eyebrows. He didn’t have to say anything. I knew what the look meant. Are you going to admit you’re staying?

“And I’m making it grow by a few more, I guess.”

“You gonna make that official?”

A smile crept over my face. “Yeah. Soon.”

He patted my back a few times. “Good. If you weren’t gonna marry that girl for real, you and I were gonna have words.”

I laughed. “No need for that talk.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“I’ll let you get back to your table.” I checked my watch. “I need to pick up Nate soon.”

“All right. See you later.” He started back into the shop, but paused and turned to look at me. “It’s good that you’re staying.”

A lump of emotion rose in my throat, so I just nodded. He nodded back.

And with that, the last vestiges of doubt left me. I was home, and it was exactly where I was meant to be.

I still had time to kill before getting Nate, so I headed into town and parked outside the Copper Kettle. Summer had to work until closing, so I didn’t want to pass up the chance to pop in and see her, even for a few minutes.

She turned as soon as I walked in, and her smile hit me right in the chest. Those eyes. They got me every time.

And now she was mine.

She lifted a finger to let me know she’d be there in a minute while I took a seat at the counter.

Rob came over with an ice water. “Afternoon. Do you want anything, or are you just stopping by?”

“Stopping by.” I glanced at my watch. “I’m picking up Nate in a few.”

“Sounds good.”

“How goes the squirrel war? Has the SPS made any progress?”

“Well, as you can imagine, there’s no reasoning with them. And someone did bring up a good point at our last meeting about not interfering too much with wildlife. But the secret squirrel treasure plan seems to be working nicely.”