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“We can,” he says, his fingers tightening around my wrists once more.
With a determined oink, Pippa leans out, grabbing a mouthful of Theo’s jacket, making him smile. “Thanks, Pippa.”
“See, we’ve got your back.” I slowly shift position until I’m crouched on the floor with my legs curled against my belly and my bare feet braced against the floor. The position hurts my wounded foot, but I don’t flinch or loosen my grip on Theo for a moment. “On three.”
He pulls in a breath, counting with me as I say, “One, two…”
On “three,” I throw my entire weight backward, Pippa tugs at Theo’s damp jacket for all she’s worth, and Theo climbs up the wall and into the house.
He lands in a heap, sending muddy water sloshing on to the floor all around him, but I don’t care. The second he’s safe, I’m in his lap, throwing my arms around his neck and hugging him so tight I hear something crack at the top of his spine.
He grunts and wraps an arm around me. “You did it.”
“We did it,” I correct, fighting the tears stinging at the backs of my eyes as I burrow my face into the damp skin at his neck. “And that’s how it’s going to be from now on. You and me. For keeps.”
“You and me for keeps,” he agrees, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice as he adds, “And Pippa Jane.”
I pull back to see Pippa under his other arm, nuzzling his armpit with her snout as he strokes her back. I grin, “Well, well… You won her over pretty quick.”
“Trauma bonding,” he says. “She’ll probably hate me again by morning.”
Pippa grunts and flops more fully onto Theo’s lap, until her legs are draped over his thighs and her head is on my hip and we’re hopelessly tangled together on the floor. But that’s okay, because it’s a love tangle and both the beings I treasure most are safe here beside me.
I turn back to Theo, resting my hand on his damp chest. “I mean it. I don’t care if it’s fast or if other people think we’re crazy. I want to give this a shot. A real shot. And if you decide being on the road isn’t for you, I can find a way to make things work in Bad Dog. I’ll run a rescue farm on the outskirts of town or something and only come into town for groceries and to get my hair cut on my birthday. As long as we’re together, I know I’ll be happy.”
He smiles and runs a hand over the top of my fuzzy head. “You still only get your hair cut once a year?”
“What can I say, I’m a low maintenance kind of girl.”
“You’re the best kind of girl,” he says, correcting after a beat, “The best kind of woman. You should be so proud of everything you’ve built for yourself, Mace. I know I am. And I’m ready for an adventure. I have been since Gram passed, really. I’ll work remote four days a week and spend the other three climbing mountains with my favorite person. Sounds like heaven to me.”
“Me, too,” I say, my eyes filling with tears again. “And I’m so sorry about Gram. I know how important she was to you.”
“She was. But we had a beautiful goodbye, and I know she’s so happy for me right now.” Theo reaches up, cupping my face in one big hand. “Don’t cry. We’re going to be okay. I promise. I contacted a friend in the fire department before I left. He knows I came to get you and exactly where we are. He’ll be here with a rescue team as soon as he possibly can.”
“That’s not why I’m crying,” I whisper. “A part of me can’t believe this is real.”
His gaze softens. “I know. But it is. I promise.” He brushes his thumb lightly over my bottom lip, making me shiver for reasons that have nothing to do with the cold river water soaking into my clothes. “Why don’t I make us some dinner and we can talk. Catch up on all we missed.”
Pippa perks up at the word “dinner” lifting her head from my hip with a hopeful grunt.
I scratch her ears. “Yes, you can have dinner, too. But I think the humans in the room should get out of their wet clothes before we eat.” I shift off Theo’s lap, shooing Pippa with me. “It’s going to get colder as the night goes on, and I’m not sure if it’s safe to have a fire with the first floor underwater.”
“It should be.” Theo rises to his feet, sending more water dribbling to the floor all around him as he moves. “But you’re right. Even if we didn’t need to worry about hypothermia, this is pretty miserable.”
“I have an oversized sweatshirt you can wear,” I say, starting toward the circular staircase leading up to the bedroom on the third floor. “And Uncle Clint might have left an old pair of jeans or something in his armoire. I’ll check as soon as I change and bring whatever I find down for you to try on in the bathroom.”
“Thanks,” he says, watching me climb the stairs with heat in his eyes that makes me wonder if he’s thinking what I’m thinking.
About the fact that we’ll both be spending the night alone together for the first time in over a decade.
Or the fact that the other two bedrooms in the cabin are currently underwater on the first floor, which means there’s only the one big king bed on the third for us to share.
It’s the place we always chose to snuggle up on cool winter nights, back when we were young and too naïve to realize how rare a love like ours truly was.
But I know now.
And so does Theo.
