Page 129 of Let Me Be the One

Tanner released a tense breath. “So you think she’s had a change of heart?”

“Seems so…but now I feel a little guilty. I wouldn’t marry Sutter—not for any reason—but I don’t think I’ve been very understanding of their situation. Combining the companies would have been—”

“Good business. That’s all,” he said. “It wouldn’t have been commitment and fidelity. It wouldn’t have been love.”

“I know,” she whispered. “I want all those things.”

“So do I.”But only with you. He made a sudden decision. “I’ll head home. I can finish the job another time.”

“No,” she said, the hint of a smile in her tone. “Youdon’t need to do that. I was just thinking things through, but thank you for listening.”

“Anytime. I mean that, Callie.” He wanted to share everything with her—including his future. “I’ll be home before dinner. We can eat fast and then go back to your place.”

“Well, about that… See, Mom loved Nell on sight, and so Addie invited her to the birthday party on Saturday.”

“Okay.” That didn’t seem like much of a problem to him, as long as Nell was okay with it. Since meeting Callie, she’d really come out of her shell. “They’ll be back on Saturday. Fine by me. I don’t have a problem with your folks.” As long as they weren’t pressuring her to marry someone else.

“The thing is… Well, they might be staying with Addie until then.”

Of all the… If it wasn’t so frustrating, it could be funny. “Your folks? Staying with Addie? Fortwodays?”

“I know! But at least they didn’t want to stay with me.”

Laughing, he shook his head. “Yeah, staying with Addie is preferable—as long as they don’t have a problem with me sleeping at your house. I want to have you all to myself.”

“You made promises, and no matter what, tonight you have to pay up. So yes, I’m all yours.”

I’m all yours.For tonight, but Tanner figured it was time he set some things in motion—so that she’d be his forever.

* * *

LIAM ENDED UPjoining them for dinner too, and the meal was moved from the eat-in kitchen to thedining room table in the great room so they could seat all eight people. Callie had never heard her parents laugh so much, and they weren’t the least bit daunted by all the cross conversations, jokes, and personal stories that went around. In fact, they seemed to love them.

Even having Blu under the table, and Percy the cat keeping watch on the back of a long sofa, didn’t faze them.

At one point, Callie said, “If only Glory was here.”

“There isn’t enough room,” her mother said.

“Nonsense, Liz,” Addie said without looking up from her meal. “There’s always room for one more chair at the table.”

Her mother paused in eating, then dabbed her mouth with a napkin and smiled. “What a lovely sentiment, Addie. I hadn’t thought about it that way. For years now, Frank and I have had endless business dinners where everything was so formal.”

Liam shrugged. “To me, this feels real formal.”

“Me, too.” Nell cast a shy glance around the table at all the decorative bowls of food. “We didn’t exactly do family-style sit-down dinners around my house.”

Liam agreed. “Closest I’ve come is sitting at a fast food booth with a few friends.”

“This is great though,” Nell assured Addie. “It’s the best chicken and potatoes I’ve ever had.”

“My first time having real potatoes instead of instant.” Liam grinned. “They’rewaybetter.”

“You’re both so sweet. Thank you.” Addie beamed at them. “Just wait until I bring out dessert.”

Her mom turned to her dad. “Frank, do you recall when we were kids and we’d get together with all our friends at the diner?”

He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “A dozen of us would squeeze into the booth. You shared your fries with me.”

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