Page 58 of Winning His Wager

She could be happy here. If she stayed and was his housekeeper forever. She felt at home right where she was now. She didn’t even realize she was crying, until a soft hand was there—to wipe away her tears.

“Tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it.”

* * *

He’d heard her again,and Fletcher had just known she needed him.

“Just thinking.”

She was curled up on the window seat—the spot he’d always remember his mother preferring. It softened something in him seeing Dylan like that, right there.

The window seat was big enough for two. His dad had made sure of it. “Scoot over.”

“There are three deer walking around out there. I think they live right over there. I was trying to think of names for them. They need names, you know. I was thinking Debbie, Dolly, and Doro were good names for lady deer.”

“Sound good to me.” The wacky Dylan hair was sticking up everywhere. He knew it was just as soft as it looked. He reached out, pushed a bit of it out of her eyes. He couldn’t see her eyes in the dark. He wished he could. “What are you thinking?”

“Counting how many times I remember us moving, actually. And how…each and every time,Iwas the one to unpack that first box. To…make where we lived a home for my sisters. I am thinking about what makes…a home, really.”

“And?” There was definitely more going around in her complicated Dylan brain than that. Fletcher could hear it in her words. “Tell me. I promise I’ll listen.”

She was quiet for a long time. “Mom was always…extra anxious whenever we’d move. She’d have what we just called ‘bad days’ right after. Sometimes for a few weeks. Looking back, with what I know now—maybe she was afraid we were being followed. Or just paranoia and PTSD. I honestly don’t know if we were or not. But I remember her always being stressed and tired and our dad always busy dealing with whatever furniture we’d bring. Sometimes…we’d just have our clothes and the belongings that were most important to us, in cardboard boxes we kept in the closet, and no furniture because we’d just leave it all behind. Sometimes, it was supposed to be a grand adventure, you know? Except…it never reallywasan adventure. Mom was stressed. Dad was busy. Devaney was taking care of Dorie and Dahlia. And I—was…making us a home. The first time I remember moving, I think I was around six. And I was pushing a heavy box of toys around. The twins and I were sharing a room, and I wanted them to have their toys and their bedsjust rightso they wouldn’t be so afraid. Their beds had to be perfect. Except…maybe I was the one that was afraid?”

Maybe it was a little bit of both. “I’m sorry. It couldn’t have been easy. I won’t give empty platitudes. I’m just…sorry you all had to go through that.”

“I…still haven’t unpacked my boxes, cowboy.”

“Here?” She’d come with two duffle bags and a cardboard box. She’d brought a bit more clothes over since. Her plant lights. She was talking about him getting an old trunk out of the attic, if her family would let her have it. Because it matched one in the spare room down the hall, here.

He hadn’t really thought about her belongings much, just assumed she’d left more at the inn for when she went back after the bet ended. They’d have to get her things when he convinced her to make this a permanent deal between them.

“There. At the Talley Inn. I havealwaysunpacked my boxes right away, to make everything my home. To feel, tofindmy home from the beginning. Except…most of my stuff is still in my boxes in the attic at the inn there. For the first time in my life, I didn’t unpack my boxes. I still haven’t figured out why.”

He made a bold decision—Fletcher scooped her up, blanket and all, and settled into the large window seat with her. “You just aren’t ready yet, babe. Nothing wrong with that. The inn was kind of thrust on you. Hard to forget that.”

She nodded, her hair brushing against his chin. Fletcher just held her as they watched the snow, the deer. Together.

“I think that’s exactly what it is. It still doesn’t feel like home to me. The inn. Not really. And I’m starting to understand that it probably never really will. I feel more at home right here with you, than I ever have there. And I still don’t know what that means for me. It’s so…easy for them. For the twins and Dorie. They cling to the idea of ‘one-big-happy-family’ with Dusty and Daisy and the rest, right there at the Talley Inn. They are making it work for all of them, and no matter how hard I try, I just can’t make it feel right. They belong. And I just…don’t. I love my sisters, all of them—I think—but it just doesn’t feel like my home. So what is so broken in me that I can’t find home there, with the rest of them?”

His heart shattered. Right there for her. In that instant.

“Nothing is broken in you. Maybe…it’s a natural part of things,” Fletcher just went with it. Spoke from the heart. “Maybe this isyourtime for them to step back and make their own…home. For themselves. Maybe you are meant to find something more too. Foryou.Instead of putting their needs first all the time. Maybe you needed a way to find what you want now.”

Like him. Like a home with him. He made her a vow then, even though he never said the words aloud.

He would be her home. However he needed to be. However she wanted him to be. For always.

“I just don’t know when I’ll be ready for that.”

He wasn’t stupid. He knew what she was saying. And time—life—was too short. “You are talking about more. With me.”

39

Dylan had always pridedherself on telling the truth. But the words were harder now.

Maybe because they mattered more.

More than any words ever really had before.

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