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“Ready?” he asked me. I looked up at him and nodded, but I was holding Max close. Shane added, “It’s going to be okay.”
As I stared back at him, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Peace. Sure, my anxiety was still there, but somehow I believed him when he said it was going to be okay. I just needed to do my deep breathing exercises, and that plus my medication plus Max would keep the jitters at bay.
“I’ll check in every now and then and let you know I’m okay,” Shane said. He paused there, though, and smiled. “I guess I’ll need your phone number to do that.”
It hit me then I’d had sex with a man who didn’t have my phone number. He didn’t know my last name, either, and I had no idea what his was.
We’d definitely have to fix that.
“I’ll program it into your phone while you drive,” I said as I followed him out to his truck and climbed inside.
The roads weren’t as bad as I thought. Or maybe it was that Shane was so good at driving in the snow, it seemed okay. I would’ve been a nervous wreck, trying to get up this mountain.
“Thank goodness you came along and found me,” I said.
He glanced over at me and turned his attention back to the road. “I’ve been meaning to ask you how you ended up in the ditch.”
“Panic attack,” I said. “I get them sometimes. Anxiety. I’m on medication and treatment, but yeah…” There was a lot more to say about my history of anxiety, but at least I’d been officially diagnosed. “And I have Max.”
And now I had Shane. Unless my confession scared him off.
“I thought it was something like that,” he said. “Just know that you can count on me.”
I believed every word of that. He’d take care of me. That didn’t just mean getting me to the top of the mountain safely, either. I could count on him to be there for me without judging.
It was the kind of love I had from my friend Emerald, which was exactly why I’d driven all the way here for her brother’s wedding. People who had your back through the good times and bad were hard to find. It was funny that they both lived in this small mountain town.
Maybe Blackbear Bluff was home.
After she welcomed me with open arms and a huge smile, Emerald, Max, and I spent the afternoon on the couch, nervously waiting for the men to return. By dinnertime, the place was full of wedding guests that the men had driven up the mountain, including the caterers, who had to pack their food into the back of Shane’s pickup.
When Shane finally stopped driving for the day, I felt like I could finally breathe again. Everyone was safe and sound, where they belonged. The snow was melting off. By Monday morning, it would be safe to return home.
“I don’t want to go home,” I told Shane as we snuggled on the couch.
I held a glass of wine, while Shane had Max on his lap. The dog had taken to him already. Maybe it was the steak, but I decided Max knew a good guy when he saw one.
“Then don’t.” Shane looked over at me. Conversation carried on all around us, but we only had eyes for each other. “Stay here with me.”
“What? Just move here?”
The wine gave me the courage to have this discussion. I fully expected Shane to laugh it off.
“Yes.” His expression was dead serious. “Don’t leave.”
“What are you two being so secretive about over there?” Emerald asked.
All eyes turned to us.
“Convincing this beautiful woman to move to Blackbear Bluff.” Shane shrugged. “What else?”
At that, Max lifted his head and looked around. His tail wagged three times, then he laid his head back down and promptly fell asleep.
“I think Max is up for it,” Bo said. “And if you win over the dog, you get the girl.”
I snuggled up to Shane and sipped my wine as the conversation turned to dog talk. Whether I moved here now or a month from now, one thing was clear. This was my home.Shanewas my home. And now that I’d found him, I wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of us spending the rest of our lives together.
EPILOGUE
