Page 100 of The Geography of Happiness

Which dropped me back into the present with a depressing thud.

I stepped back and thumped him on the chest, whispering, “Damn right you should be sorry. What the hell was that about?” I swallowed hard, wiping at my ridiculous eyes, which had suddenly decided it was time to leak again. “I thought... well, I didn’t know what to think. Not after you’d just told me you werefalling”—thump—“in”—thump—“love with me.”Thump. “You’ve got a funny way of showing it, arsehole.”Thump.Thump.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Spencer mouthed, shooting a glance to Hannah who luckily hadn’t moved, before grabbing my hand and pulling me in for a quick hard kiss. And then another, softer this time. And another, feather tender, until I was jelly-legged and woozy in his arms.

“That’s not fair,” I whisper-grumbled against his smiling lips. “I’m too damn tired to fight you.”

“Do youwantto fight me?” He pulled me against him, stroking my hair.

I didn’t resist. I also didn’t answer.

“I thought I’d fucked up,” Spencer whispered in my ear. “Telling you I was falling in love with you. I thought you’d shut me down again.”

“So... what?” I returned his whisper, tipping my head back so I could see the outline of his face in the dim light. “You decided you needed to fly back and explain, or maybe take it back? Yeah, I can see how that would be your first thought rather than simply picking up your phone.” I rested my head back on his shoulder. “Jerk. All you had to do was call and tell me you weren’t ready or hadn’t meant it. I understand.”

He lifted my chin, forcing me to look at him, then dropped his voice even lower. “Not a chance. I meant every word. Iamfalling in love with you, Terry, and I’m not here to takeanythingback. I’m here because this is where Iwantto be. Whereveryouare is where I want to be. Hannah too. And I’m so damn sorry it took flying three thousand kilometres and a come-to-Jesus moment with Zach to wake me up to that simple fact.”

“Zach?” I frowned. “What does—” I stopped myself. “No, I don’t want to know. Because whatever you two think you’ve cooked up, it’s wild thinking. Even if I was falling in love with you too, which I am. Even?—”

He pinched my lips together to shut me up. “Can I just enjoy the whole falling-in-love-with-me-too part for a moment before you go and ruin it with a whole lot of silly reasons why it can’t happen?”

I lost myself in his laughing eyes and wondered how I thought I could ever live without those in my life. “Mmmot mmmilly.” I argued around his fingers, which were still holding my lips together.

He chuckled. “You are too cute.” He released my lips and pressed a light kiss to them instead. “You were saying?”

“You’re ridiculous.” I kissed him back and let him hold me. “I wassayingthat even if I wanted the same thing, to be with you as well—and I do—look at our lives, Spencer. We don’t even live on the same island. I have a daughter and a business to run up here, and you have a clinic and a life down there.”

“So?” Spencer’s brows rose in challenge. “As a wise shepherd once told me?—”

“Oh god,” I groaned. “Not Zach again?”

Spencer put a finger to my lips as Hannah murmured something and rolled over onto her back. I tiptoed over to check but it seemed she was still asleep. I untangled her IV line, pulled the covers up to her chin, and returned to where Spencer waited in the shadowy corner of the room.

He slid an arm around my waist and pulled me close, keeping his voice low. “Just hear me out before you rip holes in everything, okay?”

I sighed but nodded. “Go on.”

“All Zach did was point out the obvious. He said that I’m going to a hell of a lot of trouble to shift to Adelaide when, if I felt as strongly about you as I do, I could put in the same effort to just stay in New Zealand and find a way for us to be together.”

I gaped up at him. “That’s—” I hesitated before the word ridiculous popped out yet again and ran his words through mybrain a second time. The idea wasn’t... terrible. Not terrible at all. “—an interesting take on our situation.”

He grinned like the cat who’d got the cream. “Right? Pretty deep for a high-country shepherd.”

I huffed in amusement. “Now I know you didn’t tellhimthat.” I angled my head to better study Spencer’s face as I asked, “Does that mean you want to giveusa chance more than you want an exciting new adventure in Adelaide? What happened to spreading your wings? Taking a break from the predictablehum drumof life? Wanting a new challenge?”

Spencer’s lips twitched. “Damn, you’re a tough nut to crack, although I’m beginning to appreciate that about you. But, to allay your fears, I have zero doubt that a relationship with you and Hannah will have plenty of its own challenges. In fact, I suspect there’ll be times when I’ll look back on the whole hum drum thing with a kind of wistful recollection.”

I snorted. “You’ve got that right. But what about the university? They flew you over and you were barely there a day before leaving. They can’t be happy.”

Spencer shrugged. “They know the basics around why I came back related to me wanting to be here for you after Hannah’s surgery. I had time with the staff and saw enough of the clinic setup to answer my questions. I spent all of Monday afternoon and most of yesterday there before catching the evening flight back to Auckland—which was why I didn’t answer your calls. I also haven’t given them my final decision. That’s because the next step is yours, sweetheart. If you decide that giving us a tryisn’twhat you want, then I’ll go ahead with my original plan. They’re a great group of people and keen to have me join.”

My hope withered. Falling in love or not, I couldn’t be responsible for holding Spencer back. I wouldn’t.

“Stop that right there.” Spencer turned the corners of my mouth up from the frown they’d settled into. “Nothing I saw orheard in my tour of the university changed my mind one little bit. None of it holds a candle to the chance of being with you, not even close. But that wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have over the phone, so here I am.”

It took me a minute. “So, you’re serious then? You want me... like that? Like having a future... together? A couple? Long-term?”

Spencer chuckled. “I thought that’s what I said, but just to clarify, yes, all of the above. I want us to be that couple in our rocking chairs on the deck watching our grandchildren play. But I’ll settle for making it to the moving-in-together part first.”

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