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“But he promised to take us out today, so let’s go before I hit my wall and fall into a coma.” Diana takes in my rumpled pajamas that I threw back on after my shower. I’m not even wearing a bra. “You’re not dressed. Why aren’t you even dressed yet? Is this who you are now?”
“Uh …” Because I was too busy wallowing in self-pity?
“Of course, I would have been here hours ago if not for that debacle in Anchorage.”
“What debacle?” I look from her to Jonah and back to her.
She shares a secretive glance with him. “Why don’t you two help me unload my things and then I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Really subtle, Di.” Jonah shakes his head, but he’s chuckling. He leads the way out the door and down the path to the driveway to Diana’s rental car.
I stop dead when I spot the pearl-blue Jeep parked beside our old battered pickup truck. It’s the exact model I test-drove at the dealership.
Diana takes a break from swatting at the buzzing mosquitos to yell, “I got to drive your birthday present before you did!”
“What?” I spin around to face Jonah, because this could only have come from him. “You bought this for me?”
He bites his bottom lip.
“I can’t even …” My voice drifts, my words failing me.
Diana is grinning ear to ear. “I was supposed to be here by eight this morning, but when I got to the hotel and asked the front desk for the keys, they couldn’t find them! So, then I had to wait for that Chris guy to come in and turn over his entire office looking for them and when he couldn’t find it, he had his wife come in, too, but she couldn’t find them, either. I finally called Jonah because I didn’t know what else to do!”
Oh my god. It’s all making sense now. “So, you flew to Anchorage to find the keys.”
“I had the dealership deliver the Jeep to the lodge last night when it was ready because I figured it’d be easy enough for Diana, given the time she was flying in, to cab over there and hop in. Plus, I thought it’d be funny, you know, havin’ her roll up in your birthday present. Kind of a double surprise.” Jonah’s expression sours. “But the dumb ass from the dealer who dropped it off forgot to leave the keys with the front desk. So, we had to wait for the dealership to open and track down the guy, who had both sets in his pocket.” Jonah shakes his head. “So much for making things easier.”
“And then I somehow got lost on the way here.” Diana reaches into the passenger side and pulls out a cooler bag. Inside it is a cardboard cake box from the bakery in Toronto. “Your favorite! We need to get this in a fridge right away.”
My mind is still on this morning’s debacle, and Jonah. “So, that’s why you were in the hangar so long? You were waiting until Diana got here.”
And then he came home to find me on the porch, hysterical and professing my unhappiness about my life with him in Alaska.
My stomach roils with guilt as I close the distance. “I love it. And you.” I stretch to my tiptoes and press my lips against his, lingering longer than I normally would with someone else here.
When I pull back, he’s wearing a tiny smirk. “You had to pick the most girlie shade of blue possible, didn’t you?”
“It’s called Bikini Pearl,” I say with a smile. “When did you decide you were getting this for me?”
“I called the dealership after you went to test-drive it,” he admits.
“It’s way too much, Jonah.”
“Maybe.” His fingertips stroke my cheek as he brushes strands of hair off my face. “But I just want you to be happy here.” There’s a sadness in his icy blue eyes.
His words are a punch to my gut, given my blowup not even ten minutes ago. “I am.” I rope my arms around his neck, pulling him into me. There’s no mistaking the tension coursing through his shoulders as I cling to him. Knowing I caused that makes my chest ache. “I didn’t mean it,” I whisper into his ear.
He makes me feel so slight when he curls his arms around my body, drawing me flush into him. He kisses my temple. “We’ll talk about it later, okay? We need to help Diana with her things. I think she’s had the roughest morning of all of us.”
I climb to my tiptoes to steal one last kiss and then pull away to face my best friend, my heart brimming with pure joy. “Let’s get you settled and then we can figure out what we’re going to do for the next four—”
A glint catches my eye, drawing my attention to the diamond engagement ring on Diana’s left hand.
My mouth drops open as she squeals.
“We have some planning to do!”
Chapter Thirty-Two
