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“Hey, babe. You almost finished up over here? I was thinking we could go grab some lunch at the diner.”
Tessa turned and smiled at Daniel. Almost a year ago to the day, Daniel had asked her to stay in Lucas. Though the publication Tessa had turned down hadn’t been exactly pleased, she never regretted her decision. It seemed like each new day with Daniel in this town was a new adventure.
There had been Randy’s birthday party a few months ago, where they had all participated in a large-scale paintball war. There was Lily getting a cat and promptly losing it, leading to a town wide search. The little furball—Noodle—had been found in a tree in Algon’s yard.
Though she had never seen herself settling down in a small town, Lucas had welcomed her with open arms, and Tessa had never looked back. It was true what they said—home was where your heart was, and it had been a long time since she had questioned where that was. Lucas was more of a home to her than any of the towns she had lived in throughout her childhood and adult life.
“Yeah, love. That sounds great. I’m sure Patty is there already. And she’s been wanting to hear all the details about the wedding.” Tessa rolled her eyes. “Not that there’s been much time for planning the wedding, with all the Harvest Festival preparations.”
Yes, Daniel had proposed. It had only taken him a whopping six months to pop the question. He had claimed that it already seemed like they had known each other for so long. The monologue had been so romantic, Tessa had said “yes” several times before he was even finished. Of course, it had been another grand gesture. He had popped the question at the town’s flower festival, next to a display of yellow daisies he had secretly commissioned. The flower had become like a symbol of their love, of second chances.
While the town was getting excited about the imminent nuptials, Tessa and Daniel had taken it slow. They had their whole lives together, after all. There was no need to stress themselves out with a short engagement. The wedding would get sorted. There had been other priorities.
There was never a dull moment in Lucas, despite its sleepy little town exterior. There was always some event or pageant to assist with. Someone always needed Daniel’s help repairing their roof or Tessa’s help planning a book club.
Tessa had marveled at the change in Daniel. Mr. Rules and Schedules was rather relaxed about the whole thing. It seemed like they had started to influence each other more and more these days. Tessa had even purchased a cute day planner just a week ago. She kept forgetting to use it, but it was a start.
Daniel slipped his hand into Tessa’s, and the two strolled toward the diner. The place was hopping when they walked in the door. Everyone was all aglow with anticipation. The Harvest Festival was the town’s most treasured tradition, and Tessa had been proud to take on a more active role this year.
A few of the townsfolk greeted them as they entered. Tessa realized she knew almost all of them by name by now. How much difference a year made.
“Hey, Lily. We’ll take two bacon cheeseburgers with fries to go.” Daniel tapped his knuckles against the bar as he spoke.
Lily looked a little worse for wear, caught up in the excitement of her customers. “Oh, Daniel! Tessa! It’s so good to see the two of you. I actually just spoke with the most delightful man from Boston the other day! He’s a deejay, and I think he would be justperfectfor the reception.”
Tessa and Daniel shared a look. They were already drowning in all of Lily’s suggestions for the wedding and reception. So far, she had found the “perfect” florist, officiant, and now a deejay. They had their own vision, but it was hard not to entertain Lily’s flights of fancy. Just last week, they’d met the potential officiant, and he had shown up with a literal ventriloquist dummy. They had laughed the whole way home.
“I think we’ll just take the cheeseburgers for now,” Tessa said kindly. “But I’d love to hear about this stellar deejay tonight.”
Lily nodded and went to put their order in. Daniel moved closer to Tessa and wrapped his arms around her.
“You know, I think you just might be fitting in here, Future Mrs. Whittaker,” he murmured into her hair as he rested his chin on her head.
Tessa melted into his embrace and smiled. “Oh, you’re justnowthinking that?”
“Well, you are just now learning how to bypass Lily’s meddling. I would say that is a special landmark achievement. Now, you’re truly one of us.”
The two shared a laugh and began discussing the preparations for later that night. The Harvest Festival had actually secured a sponsor. Of course, it was a small-time toothpaste manufacturer. But the whole town was talking like it would put them on the map now.
Theywereanticipating more tourists than they had the previous year, so that was something. Still, Tessa figured it would be a long time before Lucas became a big deal. And she liked it that way. She preferred the rustic, out-of-the-way charm. It fostered more community than she had ever experienced, and she relied on that community.
“So, how is the next book coming?” Tessa’s eyes sparkled as she asked the question. Daniel’s first book had been published by a small publishing house and had experienced moderate success. Now, he was sitting on an advance for book two.
Daniel shrugged, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Oh, you know. The muse comes and goes. It seems she keeps needing to attend Harvest Festival committee meetings.” He threw her a teasing wink.
“Maybe if the writer remembered to unload the dishwasher more, the muse would be a little less stressed.” She stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
“Well, if someone was better at scraping their food off the plates before putting them in the dishwasher, maybe I wouldn’t need to run the load twice.”
“Fair point,” Tessa admitted.
“But truly,” Daniel said with sudden seriousness. “I really believe in this book. I think the work we did on the first really carried over to the sequel. There is a more defined direction for the character.”
Tessa tossed her hair over her shoulder and struck a mocking pose. “Whatever would you have done without me?”
Daniel pretended to think about it for a moment. “I guess crashed and burned,” he said with playfulness. He broke into a broad grin—the one Tessa loved so much that deepened his gorgeous dimples.
It seemed bizarre to her that one night of taking a crazy risk had led to this picture-perfect life. If she had never sent that message to the whole company, if she had never decided to run… she wouldn’t have found where she needed to end up.
Lily came back with their burgers and gave them a quick goodbye before rushing off to mop up a chocolate milk spill on the other end of the diner. Tessa looped her arm through Daniel’s, and they walked out into the chilly autumn air.
Yeah, Tessa could get used to a life like this.
