Page 100 of Worthy of Sunsets and Second Chances

I bark out a laugh.

“I see,” Skylar says, her eyes bouncing between me and Kendra. “Did I actually see you earlier today?”

“Yeah, I work at Dip and Dye.” Kendra lets out a sigh. “I was doing my best friend’s hair when you came in. Yours turned out great, by the way.” Kendra grins at her, giving a sincere compliment and catching Skylar off guard.

“Oh, wow, thanks.” She finger combs her long hair. “I, um, wanted to look . . . nice.” Skylar glances at me.

“Well, it’s important to practice self-care and feel good when you look in the mirror. Hair is the woman’s crown, right? It’s fun that we get to do so much with it.” Kendra gestures to her own stunning golden locks, pink streaks shining in the sun.

“Right.” Skyler bites her lip, holding back a grin. Kendra’s in full-force sunshine mode right now, and nobody can resist her like this. You either want to be her, be her best friend, or wish you could fuck her . . . and only I get to do the last one.

“Okay, enough hair chat. Why, Skylar.” I circle back to my main point. “Las Vegas is a long trip.”

“I guess I just wanted to make sure that before I do this, that I truly made the right decision. She’s the one?” Skylar asks me.

“Yes,” I say.

“I can see why. And I know I did make the right choice. With you, Eli, yes of course. But now even more so.” Her eyes soften glancing to Kendra, posture relaxing, and she lets out a long breath.

My heart rate picks up as I watch her pull the documents from the envelope, then a pen from the depths of her bag. She crouches down right there in the driveway of the Fox Grove Fire Department and signs each tabbed spot on the papers.

Slipping them back in the envelope, Skylar hands them to me and says, “Can I please see her? One last time before I go?”

“Of course,” I whisper.

73

Kendra

TWO WEEKS LATER

Eli and I are sitting on our beach, blue-and-white blanket soft underneath us, tucked into the cove watching the sun paint the sky a brilliant fiery orange with pink streaks as it dips into the ocean.

Eli’s sisters are having a girls’ night at the cabin babysitting Wren for us. It didn’t take long for us to get all of Eli’s and Wren’s things moved in and organized. Holly, Eli, and I also have adjusted the schedule—which the two of them had apparently already started to do when Holly mysteriously couldn’t be available as much. Now when Eli’s on shift Wren is with me full time in the evenings, and it’s everything I have ever wanted. Holly will still take her overnight when we go on a trip in the future or have a late date night, but we don’t need her to be on duty like when Eli was a single parent. She also babysits for us when Eli and I are both at work. There was no way she was going to give up all her Marmee time.

The paperwork that Eli had been trying so hard to have Skylar sign was to officially terminate all her parental rights. Eli had handed me the envelope after Skylar had left the fire station that day and said, “Now you get to adopt Wren, now she will legally be both of ours. You get to stay in every room with her, forever.”

I lean up, kissing his cheek, soaking up the warm feeling of the snapshot of the incredible memory.

“What are you thinking?” Eli asks, running his strong hand over my back and under my shirt.

“About the paperwork,” I admit softly.

“Mmmm,” he hums.

“I can’t believe you did that, went to all that trouble to track Skylar down.”

“It was all part of the plan.” Eli grins.

“Oh yeah?” I giggle as he tickles my stomach.

“It was a very complicated”—he kisses my neck—“multistep plan.” He kisses my mouth, dipping his tongue in and winding his fingers in my hair.

Breathing hard I ask, “Really? What steps?”

“The tattoo.” He kisses me again and I moan.

“Wren’s middle name?” I ask.