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“Yes, but I’m still thanking you.” Karina hugged Mara. “For coming,” she said quietly.

“That’s what people do here,” Mara said. “Isn’t it?”

Karina’s smile wobbled. She squeezed Gabe’s arm, then glanced toward the tables. “Now go. We’ve got enough people to finish here, and neither of you is allowed to carry another box.”

This time Gabe didn’t argue. He was still hearing Mara’s answer. That’s what people do here. Not there. Not in Bear Creek. Here, as if she belonged. Did she hear herself say it? He didn’t dare ask. But he carried it with him across the field to the truck.

The drive back to Bear Creek was quiet. Mara rested her head against the seat and watched the mountains slide past the window while Gabe drove. Every so often he glanced over and found her smiling to herself.

“What?” he asked eventually.

Mara turned toward him. “I’m just happy.”

Gabe held out his hand without taking his eyes off the road. “I am too.”

Mara laced her fingers through his.

She leaves in four days, his bear said quietly.

I know.

They stayed that way all the way to the lodge. Gabe drove with her hand in his. He had let himself forget the number while there were ovens to fill and apples to pick. Now the work was done, and it was all that was left. Four days to tell her what he was. Four days for her to decide whether a vacation could turn into a life. Was it enough?

By the time Gabe parked near cabin seven, the first lights had come on around the grounds. The air was colder now, carrying the clean smell of pine and fallen leaves, and Mara shivered when she climbed out of the truck.

Gabe came around to her side. “Still thinking about that blanket?”

“I’m thinking about all three.” Mara rubbed her hands together as they walked toward the cabin.

Then Gabe saw the pumpkin.

Mara’s carved pumpkin was still sitting beside the door where they had left it before Karina called, its woodland pattern dark now. Mara stopped too.

For a moment neither of them spoke.

Gabe remembered standing there two nights ago with his hand in her hair and her voice quiet when she asked him inside. He remembered saying yes.

Mara looked at the pumpkin, then at him. “Well, here we are again.”

“Here we are.”

She stepped closer and took his hand.

This time there was no phone ringing, no emergency waiting somewhere in the dark, and nobody who needed either of them to be anywhere else.

Mara reached for the cabin key. “Coming in?”

Gabe tightened his fingers around hers. “Yes.”

And he followed her up the steps.

CHAPTER 17

Mara

Mara barely had the cabin door closed before Gabe kissed her. She had expected him to. She had wanted him to. What she hadn’t expected was the rush of relief when he pulled her into his arms. They had nearly made it inside two nights ago, before Karina’s phone call changed everything, and since then there had been broken ovens, a night spent baking, an orchard full of apples, and a charity sale.

Now there was only Gabe.