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“I blew out my ACL and had to have surgery. I was a Marine and I’m retired now.” He shrugged. “I’m hoping to get clearance from my doctor real soon.”
“I hope you do too. Although…being a firefighter is a dangerous career choice, isn’t it?”
“It can be, but I’ve survived multiple deployments so I don’t scare easily. What about you? What do you do for a living?”
“Well…I work for this new day spa here in town, Alloro. I’m fairly new to Laurel Bay too. I moved here not that long ago from Seattle, but…I think this is home now.”
“It’s definitely got great appeal. It’s a toss-up between which town I like more, this or Magnolia Sound.”
“I’m sure your hometown always holds more of an appeal. Tell me, do you still have family there?”
He chuckled. “Almost too much family, but…they’re pretty awesome. But family aside, Magnolia’s got some great places to check out. Maybe I can take you out sometime and show you around.”
“Ooh…I like the sound of that, but I should warn you, I am leaving town briefly next week.”
“Really? Alone?”
She nodded. “It would appear so. I need to go back to Seattle to get some things I have in storage. It’s going to be a quick trip, but…maybe when I get back, we can get together.”
“I’d like that,” he said, reaching for another potato skin. “Or…”
“Or…?”
Putting the skin back down, he braced those magnificently muscled arms on the table and leaned in closer. “Or maybe I take this trip with you? Maybe we fly to Seattle together and rent a car and take the scenic route home and find a place of our own.”
She gasped in surprise because he had told her he couldn’t go on the trip with her because he was doing his firefighter tests next week—the written ones. The plan had been for her to fly alone to Seattle and make arrangements with a moving company to get her things back to Laurel Bay. And honestly, she didn’t mind because she was used to doing things for herself.
“Jackson, I thought…”
“I’m not physically ready to do anything with the firefighter stuff, and after talking more with Hunter, I feel like I need to wait. Plus, it was really shitty of me not to drop everything and go with you. You shouldn’t have to go back to Seattle alone.”
“It really wasn’t a big deal. I told you that.”
The music changed, and although it wasn’t a live band, people started dancing. Jackson held out his hand to her, “May I have this dance?”
“Of course!” Taking his hand, she let him lead her out onto the floor, and she was happy that it was a ballad. They swayed to the music, and she studied his handsome face and wondered how she had gotten so lucky. “I’m serious, Jackson. You don’t need to go with me. I know you have things to do.”
“But I don’t,” he countered. “What I want more than anything is to learn more about your life and that includes going to Seattle with you and seeing it with you. If the memories are too painful, we won’t stay long, but if there are things you want to see or people you want to visit, I’d like to be there with you.”
She sighed dreamily because sometimes he just seemed too good to be true. “I’d like that. Thank you.”
“And then, when we’re done there, we get to come home here and really start our lives.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“I’m serious, Savannah. You need to know that after watching both my brothers get married and start their families, I realized I want that too. And you are the woman I want that with. I know you asked me to be patient, but…”
She placed a finger over his lips and smiled. “You know what? I think on this particular subject and after everything we’ve been through, I might not mind you being a little…impatient.”
He gave her the most breathtaking smile she’d ever seen. “I’m going to hold you to that, sweetheart. Once we’re back in town, we’re going to find a place of our own and pick a date.”
And for the first time, the thought of it didn’t scare her.
If anything, she looked forward to it.
And everything else he had in mind because Jackson Coleman was her home. Her future.
Her everything.
