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I cup her face. “What’s building between us doesn’t have to end. It’s still just beginning. That is, if you want that, too.”

A tear slips down her cheek.

I wipe it away with my thumb as I search her eyes.

“I used to think home was a place,” I whisper. “I’ve spent years trying to run away from the idea of this.”

Her eyes search mine.

I laugh quietly. “Turns out I didn’t have the right person. Home isn’t a place, Jenna.”

My forehead rests against hers.

“It’s a person. And that person is you.”

She sniffs and pulls me in.

“I want to make that home with you,” I whisper and close my eyes.

She admits, “I don’t know what this looks like. I’ve never had this. I’m sorry I jumped to stupid conclusions.”

I squeeze her hand. “I’m done walking away from things that matter. And you matter to me. If you try to push me away or run away, I’ll just come find you and stay wherever you are. It’s decided.”

She laughs through tears. “People always die or leave.”

I kiss her forehead. “I have no plans to do either.”

She smiles and tips her forehead to my chest.

“So...” she whispers.

I kiss her neck lightly. “Yeah...”

“You still want to see where this goes?”

I laugh. “I think we already know where this is going. I’m going wherever you go until you don’t want me to go anymore.”

She laughs. “I think we’re both goners.”

The Christmas lights glow around us as snow drifts softly from the dark sky. For the first time, the future doesn’t feel uncertain. It feels right. Because I finally know who I want beside me.

15

jenna

Home

The heater hums softly as I steer down the snow-covered road toward the lodge on the Wilder Ranch. Flurries drift lazily across the windshield, and the mountains stretch endlessly beneath a sky so blue it almost doesn’t look real.

Ty left before sunrise with my brothers to handle some things on the ranch. He kissed my forehead while I was still half asleep, whispered, “See you tonight,” and disappeared into the cold.

The past week has been a whirlwind of fun, nostalgia, and new memories that I don’t want to end. It’s hard to believe I used to dread Christmas, and now I’m savoring every minute of it while looking forward to the next.

I park and reach for my phone. My thumb hovers over Rick’s name.

I miss him and Becky. But that’s about all I miss out in L.A., and that is telling me more than I need to know. He deserves to know where I’ve landed after this trip. And how much this trip has meant to me.

The phone rings twice before he answers.