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“What do you mean?”
“We’ve talked about the painful mistakes we made, but there was so much good between us, too, Trent. I think it’s time we start talking about those things, too.”
“I agree, sweetheart. Especially,” he teased, “if it means I actually managed to do something right back then.”
“You always talked about planning for the future and making sure the kids we wanted would have a loving home that they could return to when they were older. I remember thinking, I’m only nineteen and just out of my parents’ house. How can I plan where my kids will grow up? I never really thought past tomorrow, and even then they were just thoughts of how much I loved you and wanted to be with you. And then for a long time after our divorce, I was just circling around and around where we went wrong...while also secretly hoping, and waiting, for everything to magically go back to the way it was. But then, when I saw this house, I knew it was a platform for me to finally spring forward. It had all the things both of us always wanted, and the truth is, I thought about you a lot as I bought it. At the same time, though, I was also thinking about what I wanted for my own future. One without you.” She was silent for a moment as she said, “But now here we are. Just like I always secretly wished for.”
“I had just as many secret hopes and wishes, Reese. And now they’re all coming true.”
“I still can hardly believe you blew off Chandler so that we could stay in Boston.”
“No one was dying. Nothing was on fire. We’ve got a lot of years to make up for, and I don’t want to miss a second with you.”
She gave him a soft kiss before saying, “Well, I’m sure he’s going to take back what he said about being happy that we’re back together now. Because if he called, I’m sure he thought what he needed was important.”
“You’re important, Reese. You matter most. Everything else in my life, the resort, my practice, it’ll all work itself out. But I am not going to make any more mistakes with you. From now on I want you to always know I’ll be there for you. No matter what else is going on, you, and the family I hope we’ll have, will come first. Always.”
She rested her head on his chest and said, “I swear you must have taken a ten-year course in how to woo Reese Nicholson.”
He kissed the top of her head. “I spent ten years figuring out how to love Reese Nicholson.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
THERE WAS SO much commotion at Shelley’s Café when Reese drove by on her way to Bay’s Edge the next morning that she couldn’t resist stopping by and taking a peek at what was going on. When she and Trent had left for work earlier that morning, he’d mentioned that they were putting the final touches on the café for the grand opening, and she was excited to see them. She was still on the sidewalk, standing just at the edge of the bushes out front, when she heard male voices.
“I’ve got this, Ethan.” Derek stood atop a ladder holding a big oval sign that read Shelley’s Café. The a was fashioned like a coffee mug with steam rising from it. The rustic wooden sign had dark green letters, accented with pastel-colored flowers along the border, matching the flowers in the garden beside the brook. It fit the appearance of the old mill perfectly.
Derek’s biceps strained against his long-sleeved shirt. Beside him, Ethan was climbing up a second ladder with a wide grin.
“I can do it,” Ethan insisted.
Both men were so focused on their staring contest from the top of their ladders that neither had noticed her standing there yet. Boys will be boys, she mused.
Trent walked out the front door, and Reese’s heart did a little tap dance. “Are we really going to argue over who gets to hang the sign?” He always had been the mediator among his siblings.
“It’s not about who gets to hang it. We have other stuff that needs to be done,” Derek explained. “Ethan can go get the tables set up on the patio.”
Ethan reached for the sign and said, “I want to help so you don’t fall and need more stitches. I’d hate for Didi to have to stitch you up again,” which made Trent and Ethan both laugh and Derek scowl.
Derek finally relented and shifted the sign so Ethan could take half of the weight. Trent held the ladders as his brothers climbed down. Reese couldn’t hear what they said, but they all roared with laughter, which brought Sierra and Shelley outside to see what was going on. They, too, began laughing. Quinn came around the side of the building and swooped Shelley into his arms, spinning her around as he kissed her.
