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When she lets go, everyone is smiling at me.

It feels good. This time, coming back to the ranch feels different. Like maybe I’ve been looking at this town through the wrong lens all along.

Maybe Bridger Falls never stopped being home. Maybe I was the one who left it behind. And they’ve been here this whole time waiting for me to come around.

“So...” Cami says, breaking the silence as she reaches for another bowl. “Have you figured out that we’re not letting you go?”

I laugh. “You act like I don’t have a say in this.”

“You don’t,” Poppy says cheerfully. “We’ve voted.”

Sutton nods. “It was unanimous.”

I shake my head and laugh. “I still have a job.”

“And?” Cami smirks.

“It’s in Los Angeles.”

Sutton tilts her head. “But do you actually have to live there?”

I stop mixing the icing. “I...”

The answer is so obvious I almost laugh. “I guess I could work remotely. A lot of other people do.”

“What?” Poppy practically shrieks. “Could you really move back here?”

“Producers travel to sets all the time. Editors work from home. Writers are scattered all over the country.”

Silence.

Then every one of them starts talking at once.

“Then why are you in L.A.?”

“Why haven’t you moved?”

“Why can’t you live here?”

I stare down at the icing in front of me, scared to admit my biggest insecurities out loud to them.

“I guess...” I pause, trying to untangle something I’ve never really admitted before. “I didn’t know if there was a place for me here.”

The kitchen goes quiet again.

Tessa reaches across the island and lays her hand over mine. “There has always been a place for you here.”

Tears sting my eyes. I look toward the big windows overlooking the ranch. Snow blankets every pasture in sight. The mountains stand tall against the winter sky. It’s breathtaking. Without even trying, my imagination skips ahead.

I try to picture myself here in the spring, summer, and fall. I’m picturing what that would look like for me. To live here and make happy memories. With my family.

I imagine a little office tucked into one of the cabins, editing footage between production trips. Flying to California for meetings every now and then. Traveling for production, then coming home.

Home.

The word doesn’t feel impossible anymore.

And in every version, I picture Ty here too.