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“Nora—”

“Chiara, please. I need to finish.”

She stares at me for another second before turning toward the line.

“Okay! Who's next?”

I smile at the woman approaching the table, take her book and ask for her name.

And I sign.

And sign.

I take pictures, thank people for coming and listen as they tell me which recipes they've tried. I answer their questions, laugh at their stories and write little messages inside their books. Because these people are the reason I can do what I love for a living and besides, most of them have become my book besties online.

But all the while my heart is beating so fucking hard I can barely sit still.

Because I know.

I finally fucking know.

And for the first time in nine months, I'm not wondering whether I should call him.

I'm wondering how quickly I can get to him.

When the last reader walks away with her signed book, I put down my pen and turn to Chiara.

“Get my phone.”

She looks at me. “What? Why?”

“I need you to find me a plane ticket.”

She frowns. “A plane ticket? Where are you going?”

“Home.”

Chiara stares at me. “But you are home.”

I shake my head.

Then I look at Mamma.

She already knows.

I turn back to my sister.

“Wyoming.”

Jude

The May sun sits warm over the fields, turning the grass gold at the tips where it moves with the wind. Lander looks different this time of year. Softer. Greener. The mountains are still holding on to some snow, but down here everything has started waking up again.

Indigo moves easily beneath me as we cross the field. There was a time she wouldn’t have let me get this close. Wouldn’t have let anyone. Now her stride is loose, confident. Her ears flick back every few seconds when I speak, like she’s checking I’m still there, but there’s no fear in it anymore. No tension running through her body. No waiting for something bad to happen.

I loosen the reins, and she notices immediately. The second I give her the choice, she breaks into a run. A laugh catches in my chest before I can stop it.

“Show-off.”