“I heard you were sitting in his lap.”
My eyes roll, but I know she can see my flush.
She leans forward, putting her nose right in my face, eyes wide as saucers. “Finley Blankenship, youlikedit.”
I wave my Italian sub in front of her, forcing her to move back out of my space. We both watch as a banana pepper flies out to land on the counter. “I didn’t like it,” I protest, but I know she doesn’t believe me.
I’m not sure if I believe myself either. I didn’t like sitting onGrey’slap specifically. I just liked being touched again. Feeling important again. Feeling like I was enough for the first time, even if it was pretend. It was nice, having all his attention focused on me. Having him stand up for me to Sarah, acting like I was his sun and his entire world revolved around me.
It made me think that after this wedding, I’ll be ready to try again for real. Put myself back out there, in all the horrifying ways that modern dating involves. If Holden could meet the love of his life on a dating app (kind of), maybe I can too. Not everything needs to be like a nineties rom-com or the dog-eared pages of my favorite romance novel. Gus walked into Unlikely Places to buy flowers for his mom’s birthday, and I thought it was a perfect meet-cute, even though we had technically known of each other for most of our lives, as it goes when you live in a small town. But regardless of our meet-cute, we had a very not cute ending. So maybe meet-cutes are overrated. Maybe the ones with staying power are the ones whose stories start in a way that would never make it into a book or movie script.
Nora raises that single eyebrow again, no doubt noticing the way I’ve disappeared into my memories.
I let out a sigh. “Okay, so maybe I did. But not in the way you’re thinking. I didn’t like it because it was Grey.”
She nods as if she understands exactly what I’m not saying. That’s the beauty of having a friend that’s seen you through every stage of life—the good, the bad, the ugly, and theembarrassing. You can read each other in a way that doesn’t require words.
“I told you that you needed to get back out there,” she says before licking marinara sauce off her pointer finger.
“It’s not that easy, Nora.”
When she looks back at me, her tired eyes have softened. “I know. That was insensitive of me.”
I lift my shoulders in a shrug. “It’s fine.”
She reaches for me, her hands falling on my shoulders to position me so she can look directly into my eyes. “You know I think you’re amazing, right?”
A chuckle slips out of me. “Yeah, Nora, I do.”
“And I think there are so many people out there who would want everything you have to offer.”
I tilt my head, sadness crushing in my chest. “Historically, that hasn’t been entirely accurate.”
“That’s because you’re only looking for someone in town limits. There are, like, three single guys in town, and two of them are old enough to be your dad.” She’s exaggerating, but the dating pool here is slim.
I am willing to date someone who doesn’t live in Fontana Ridge. But my family and business are here, and I’ve been growing roots in this town that would be too hard to dig up. I don’t want to leave, and as much as I want to find someone to share my life with, I want to find someone to sharethislife with, the one I’ve spent years cultivating.
“Maybe you’ll meet a sexy hiker.”
“Yes, exactly what I’m looking for,” I say flatly. “Someone passing through, with no job or home to speak of.”
A smile quirks on her lips. “Could be fun.”
I sigh. “I think I’m past wanting fun. I want steady.”
Nora looks at me, expression soft, and bumps her shoulder with mine. “You can have fun and steady, Finley. You deserve all of it. Everything love has to offer.”
The sun is just starting to make its descent toward the horizon when I close down Unlikely Places hours later. I stayed at Nora’s until Devina woke up from her nap, helping her tidy the kitchen and wash bottles and tuck Veer into his racecar bed, reading him one story after another until I finally had to make him roll over and sleep, his eyes drifting shut.
These are the best kind of days. I know Nora said I shouldn’t tether myself here, but I’m not sure how I could leave. All my favorite people live within a ten-mile radius of the town center. Every restaurant in town knows my usual order, and the librarians call me when they get new books they think I will love, setting them aside so I can take them home before they even put them on the shelves. Everything about Fontana Ridge is a comfort to me—home.
Even now, as I make my way down the sidewalk toward the fire station, a bouquet of daffodils in hand, I know I could close my eyes and make this walk by feel and smell and sound alone. I know exactly when to step over the uneven sidewalk without looking. I can smell the hops when I pass one of the breweries, and I can hear live music coming from Matty’s across the street. The jasmine trellis over the door of the tea shop perfumes the air, and just beyond that is turpentine from the furniture repair store.
I never want to leave this little slice of heaven brought down to earth.
I don’t know why, but I’m surprised when I knock on the fire station door, and Grey is the one to answer. He works twenty-four-hour shifts, followed by forty-eight hours off, so there was a good chance he’d be here, but it didn’t really cross my mind. He looks just as surprised to see me, and something about it conjures memories of the other night. Sitting in his lap at Matty’s, his nose trailing a line down my neck, his hand splaying out over my stomach, pulling me into his chest until we were touching everywhere.
“Hey.” The word sounds almost breathless. But just as quickly, his demeanor changes, morphing into the Grey I know. “You brought me flowers?” he drawls, that easy smile lifting up his lips, making the deep dimple divot his left cheek.
