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Fox hugged my mother goodbye like they were old friends, then went to wait in the car, giving the two of us a few minutes alone. I’ll never forget what she said.
“I made a lot of mistakes in my life. Many of them with you, Josephine. But the one thing I did right was marry your father. Something about Fox reminds me of him. There’s something pure within. Hold onto him and don’t ever take him for granted. Life is too short.”
Tears had stung my eyes as I threw my arms around my mother.
Maybe her approval shouldn’t have meant so much to me. But it did. We weren’t ever going to be best friends, but we spoke every few weeks now.
Opal interrupted my thoughts. “When are your new tenants moving in?”
I smiled. “Nilda and her sister arrive next week.”
A month after I’d relocated to Laurel Lake permanently, Nilda and her sister came to visit. They fell in love with the little town as quickly as I had, and they’d decided to move down together. It just so happened that I was going to start looking for a tenant soon, since I’d finally agreed to move in next door with Fox. So everything seemed to be falling into place. I’d even interviewed at Rehnquist University a few weeks ago and had a second interview on Monday. If things went right, I’d be an adjunct professor of pharmacological sciences come January.
Fox walked out the back door of his house, still tucking his flannel in.
“Daisy is over there with her friends.” I pointed. “I’m just going to give her a few minutes more. If she doesn’t come back on her own, I’ll grab a treat.”
Fox shrugged. “Whatever.”
“Honey?” his mom called. “Do you think you could come by one day this week and pull my tree out of the basement?”
Fox looked at her, but didn’t answer. His mind was obviously elsewhere. So I nudged him.
“Your mom asked you a question…”
“She did?”
I nodded.
He lifted his chin to Hope. “What’s up, Ma?”
She repeated the question. But a few minutes later, Opal asked him something about a job and the same thing happened.
I had to nudge him a second time. “You okay?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know. You seem distracted all of a sudden.”
Fox shrugged. “Fine.”
I chalked it up to him being more miserable than I’d thought taking the holiday card picture, so I figured we should get it over with. “I’m going to get a treat for Daisy, and then I’ll grab her so we can get the photo done.”
I lured Daisy away from her friends with a baby carrot and picked her up. I went to hand her over to Fox, but he shook his head. “Why don’t you hold her?”
I’d had my heart set on a picture of us in front of the lake with Fox holding Daisy for our Christmas card. He looked so damn adorable when he held her. But at the moment, he looked more miserable than anything. So I didn’t argue, and we got into position in front of the lake with Daisy in my arms.
Opal held up her phone and smiled. “Rolling!Ready when you are, bossman.”
Rolling? As in a video? I was just about to tell Opal I wanted a photo, not a recording, when I felt Fox moving around next to me. I glanced over, and my heart stopped.
He was down on one knee.
“Oh my God!” My hand flew up to cover my mouth. But the screech I’d let out had already spooked Daisy, and she started flapping her wings all over the place. I would’ve dropped her if Hope hadn’t run over.
She smiled. “I’ll take her.”
I couldn’t breathe. Is this really happening?
