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I didn’t let her go, but rested my forehead on hers. “It means that I want you to come with me. Are we moving fast? Yeah, but I don’t have a problem with it if you don’t. But if you want to stay, if you want to date for a while, then I’ll drive to meet you whenever and wherever possible.”
“It’d be weird if I quit my job and moved to Bozeman with you, right?”
“Depends on who you ask. I think it’d be fucking awesome and no one else’s opinion counts.”
“I mean… we’ve known each other for years.”
“Honey, I put you in the off-limits category as soon as I met you. But once the door opened to a world where I could date you, I can’t close it again. You’re phenomenal. I’ve always thought so. Now, I know how amazing you are naked and in bed with me.”
She laughed and hugged me.
I picked her up and swung her around. “I’m gonna get a ring, and I’m gonna propose properly, and we’ll get married wherever you want, and I’ll dance with your aunt Addy and tell her she was right. I almost overlooked you because you’re so damn nice, and I didn’t think I was good enough for you.”
“And I owe Taya and Bristol for showing me I was thinking about things the wrong way. It’s never been like this, like how it was with us.”
“And since we’ve known each other so long, we have years of sex to make up for. All this time, we could’ve been fuckin’.”
She tugged my T-shirt out of my pants. “Well, let’s get started then.”
Epilogue
EMMA
Uncle Luke had been right. It wasn’t too late for a summer wedding. And I got mountains as the backdrop. Once I saw where my new home was, I wanted the wedding here. I was wearing cowboy boots with my white boho, off-the-shoulder wedding dress.
Kiernan faced the crowd. Tables and chairs were set up in the backyard. His mom had kept the yard maintained even as she was moving out, and once we’d announced our wedding and that we wanted to have it on the property, she’d amped up her lawn care efforts.
My new husband didn’t bother with a microphone. “I’m gonna dance with the bride, and if for some unknown reason you don’t see us for a few minutes tonight—don’t come looking.”
Laughter filtered through the crowd. The turnout was amazing, yet cozy and intimate. All the Kings were here with their families. They were like a second family to Kiernan, and of course I had gotten to know them all through Bristol and Dawson. My family milled with them like the longtime friends and acquaintances they were. Kiernan’s family bonded with them like we’d all been born and raised in the same town instead of hours away.
The DJ played the first slow song we’d danced to at my sister’s wedding. I gazed up at my husband. The extra lights around the yard were a contrast to the fading sunlight. He was dressed in a western-cut suit coat, black jeans, and his good boots. He’d asked if I wanted him in a tux, a suit, or something other than denim, but I liked the way he looked just fine—and the callback to our first date not that long ago seemed fitting.
“It’s probably too late to ask,” he murmured. “But you think you can be happy here?”
I had thought I was happy in King’s Creek, and I had been, in the way that I didn’t know what I was missing. I didn’t know anything else but my small friend group, the job I was grateful for because there weren’t many other positions, and the tidy house I went to bed and woke up alone in.
Living in Bozeman, on the ranch, was still new and exciting. Kiernan worked long hours, but he was home every night. In the mornings, we made breakfast together, and he made the coffee from the espresso machine Taya had gifted us, claiming she was getting a new one for the coffee shop.
I worked fewer hours and was paid more at my new job, and it gave me time to learn some of the duties Kiernan needed help with. We had a couple of part-time employees, and I joked with Bristol that I hadn’t mimicked her life on purpose.
As for Taya and Bristol, we messaged more than ever, and so far, we’d gotten together at least once a month. I’d only been gone for three months, but I no longer worried I’d lose my connection to them.
“Yes, hon,” I said. “I’m already very happy here, and it’s just going to get better.”
I feathered my hands over his hair and smoothed over his cowlick. It wasn’t pushed down from his hat like it normally was, which I adored. He was rugged and hot, but when his soft strands were off his face, and he was looking at me the way he was, my knees grew weak.
“I’m glad you came back to my door that night.”
He placed a soft kiss on my lips. “Best decision I ever made—right after telling a friend I’d take her to her sister’s wedding.”
* * *
Thanks for reading It Was You! For more Marie Johnston, check out her series starter,Kings Crown. o get a free book from me, sign up to my newsletter:mariejohnstonwriter.com/newsletter.
Marie Johnston
Several years ago, when kids started outnumbering adults in the house, Marie Johnston left her job as a public health microbiologist to stay at home. Settling into working part-time and shuttling kids around gave Marie the opportunity to think about what she wanted to be when she grew up. A die-hard science geek, she explored her previously thought to be non-existent creative side after much time spent making snowman crafts and coloring princesses. Having entertained thoughts of writing a book one day then subsequently deciding it would be too hard, she finally put the figurative pen to paper and began to type – and fell in love with storytelling.
