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“Please tell me those are happy tears this time,” he said softly. “I don’t want to hurt you ever again.”
Del studied him for a moment, then shifted her gaze to the floor.
Oh no.He’d waited too long. Despair pricked at his chest. “Delaney?”
She swiped a hand across her cheek and looked to him, wearing that devil-may-care grin he’d fallen for from the start. “Then get over here and kiss your woman already. She’s waited far too long for this one.”
In two long strides he had her in his arms, his lips locked with hers. Applause and cat calls sounded around them, but Isaac didn’t care. Delaney hadn’t sent him away, and that’s all he dared to hope for.
“But I thought working remotely wasn’t working?” She drew back to meet his gaze.
“It wasn’t, not the way we were structured before. But I was miserable without you.” Louie planted his rump on the stage and leaned into Del’s legs. “Okay, we both were. I knew the minute I left it was the wrong thing to do. It just took me another week of moping for the solution to present itself.”
“And?”
He shrugged. “It’s not working remotely if we have a second office in the Midwest.”
“Really?”
The magical glow was back, the one that had lit her features the day he visited her at the bookstore. The one he’d do anything to bring back, time and time again.
“Yes, really.” He grinned. “Vivvy got a well-deserved promotion to my former programming lead position out east, which frees me up to explore new territory out here. I’ll still be answering questions and providing support as always, and I promised to make short trips back to New York as needed, but Vivvy will be able to provide the day-to-day leadership our team was missing. Once we develop a presence in the Midwest, I’ll add on local staff to help keep things rolling.”
“You’re really staying this time?”
“I really am.” He took her hands in his. “I love you, Delaney Brooks. And I will never, ever leave you again.”
Her smile widened. “I love you, too, Isaac Robert Manning. And you sure as hell better not.”
On a laugh he pulled her into his chest. Oh, how he’d missed her confident, sassy ways. Booing suddenly sounded from the front right of the stage, and Isaac looked up to find Margaret, Barbara, and Nan giving them thumbs down.
“Hugs? Is that all you got, Manning?”
With a grin, he proceeded to dip Del backward. On a shriek, she looked up at him and said, “Show off.”
“Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
And he proceeded to kiss her breathless, dangling over the front row. Hopefully, the town would be talking about that kiss for years to come.
Epilogue
Delaney studied herreflection in the bathroom mirror, checking to make sure her wig was on straight. Usually, her Halloween costumes for the Brooks family haunted hayride were a little more random and a lot more adult. This year, however, Brooklyn had ordered them all to dress as their favorite Disney characters. When she couldn’t track down an acceptable Ursula costume, she’d changed movie themes and gone with Belle. And since she was the one doing the shopping, her two new roommates had been bought costumes to fit the same movie theme.
Which was fine. Louie made a better Beast than Sebastian, anyway.
It’d been three weeks since the bookstore fundraiser, which, thank the stars, had been a huge success. The final fundraiser tally came in at $26,342.59—enough to replace both the roof and water-damaged books as well as repaint the store’s interior. Thanks to their region’s generosity and warmer-than-usual weather, the roof had been completed a week later, just as Isaac and Louie were getting settled in with Del.
It’d been her suggestion they move in, after Isaac admitted he hated staying at Will’s place any longer than necessary. She knew he wasn’t a fan of the rental’s dark and gloomy interior, and she was no longer a fan of sleeping alone. And here, Louie had his own comfy little doggie bed on the floor beside Isaac so there’d be no more hogging her pillow. It was taking some adjustments, having roommates after living alone for so long, but so far, they hadn’t encountered anything they couldn’t work through with a little patience and compromise.
“Uh, Del? A little help here?”
She grinned at the mild panic in Isaac’s voice. Apparently, not everyone was used to dressing up for costume parties. Del stepped out into their bedroom and eyed the fine specimen of man standing before her closet’s full-length mirror.
“What’s the matter, Gaston?”
“I can’t get this belt to stay in place.” His reflection met her gaze. “Also, I look ridiculous.”
“I’m going to have to disagree. Those leather boots look quite good on you.”
