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“Shouldn’t you be sleeping, too?” I asked. “Maybe take your own advice sometime instead of lecturing me.”
“What’s the fun in that?” He laughed quietly. “And Iwassleeping for a while. I had to wake up and remind myself that she really is still here with us—that part wasn’t just an amazing dream.”
“I know what you mean,” I said. “I’ve been pinching myself over and over again these past couple of weeks. It really does feel like… like she’s too good to be true. Like there’s no way we could both be this lucky.”
It was especially hard to wrap my brain around the idea that things had changed so drastically—and definitely for the better—in such a short amount of time. Up until I’d met Daisy Lynn, I’d have considered myself the unluckiest son of a bitch in Montana.
That was just how my life had turned out, and I had made my peace with it.
But now… everything was different.
Better.
For the first time in a long time, I knew what I wanted. And for the first time in a long time, what I wanted actually seemed possible. There really was light at the end of the tunnel. Happiness was within my grasp.
“But are you still having second thoughts?” Cole asked. “Do you still feel like things are moving too fast?”
“I never had second thoughts,” I corrected him. “Not once. But yeah, Iwasworried that things might be moving too fast or that she might get bored with us—with me, especially—and change her mind about the whole thing.”
“And now?”
“Now I know better,” I said. “Now I knowherbetter. She isn’t just here for a quick fling. And I definitely know she’s nothing like my ex—not that I ever really doubted that part in the first place.”
“Thank God you came to your senses,” Cole said. “I don’t know if you would have been able to forgive yourself if you’d sabotaged things with her just because you were afraid of getting hurt again.”
It stung a little to hear him say it like that, but he was absolutely right. That was exactly what I’d been on track to do. I’d spent so many years guarding my heart and putting it back together after my divorce that I almost let a chance at something really, truly great pass me by.
“I’m not afraid anymore, though,” I said. “I feel like… like I’m falling in love with her. And I feel good about it.”
Damn.
I hadn’t planned on saying all of that out loud, but it really did feel good.
“Yeah,” Cole said. “I think I’m a little past thefallingstage. Pretty sure I’m all the way in love with her. Have been for a while now.”
Daisy Lynn stirred next to me, making Cole and me both go silent for several seconds. When her breathing returned to normal, I let out a long, slow breath of my own that I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding.
“Love you guys, too,” her sleepy little voice said, knocking the air out of me all over again—but in the best possible way.
I rose up a little, and even in the darkness I could see Cole’s wide eyes staring back at me.
“Are… are you awake, beautiful?” he whispered, still not moving a muscle.
“No…” She laughed a little, and I couldn’t stop myself from reaching down and using my finger to gently trace the line of her lips as they turned up into a smile. “Maybe a little awake.”
“We didn’t mean to wake you, baby,” I said. “Go back to sleep and we can talk about this in the morning, okay?”
“Yeah,” she murmured, still smiling but already half-asleep. “Love you guys.”
“Love you,” I answered.
“Love you, beautiful,” Cole said.
As I lay back against my pillow with Daisy Lynn cuddled up against me, I realized I was smiling, too.
For the first time in God only knew when, I was genuinely happy.
I was… in love.
