Page 76 of Grumpy on the Mountain
"Don't tell me we missed something important?" Etta says, looking at Beau as he throws an arm around my shoulders, pulling me in close.
"Just Molly joining the family," Sienna announces, appearing beside us with tears in her eyes. "She's staying. She got a job with Mountain Rescue!"
The cheer that goes up from the gathered crowd is so enthusiastic and genuine that I feel my own eyes start to water.
These people—these wonderful, crazy, meddling people—are actually happy that I'm staying.
I have a community. I have a place. I have a future.
"This calls for celebration!" Betty declares, producing champagne from thin air. "And cake!"
"It's not a wedding, Betty," Mabel points out gently.
"Yet," Etta mutters under her breath, which makes everyone laugh and sends heat flooding to my cheeks.
But Beau doesn't laugh. Instead, he looks down at me with an expression so tender it makes my knees weak.
"You're staying," he says, like he still can't quite believe it.
"I'm staying," I confirm, going up on my toes to press a soft kiss to his jaw. Then, because I can't help myself, I lean closer and whisper in his ear, "We should celebrate properly tonight."
The way his breath hitches and his grip on me tightens tells me he got the message loud and clear.
"ATTENTION EVERYONE!" Maisie's voice cuts through the celebration from her position atop what appears to bethe completed treehouse foundation. "We need to have a ceremony!"
"A ceremony?" David calls back.
"Yes,Dad.To christen the treehouse!" she announces, producing a small container from her pocket. "With a glitter party!"
The groan that goes up from the construction crew is immediately drowned out by laughter, and I realize this is it.
This is what I've been searching for my entire life without knowing it.
Not just a place, but a people. Not just a home, but a family.
And at the center of it all, the man whose arms are still wrapped around me.
I think about the scared woman who threw her phone out a car window just over a week ago. Who drove aimlessly until her car died at the town line. Who thought she was running away from something instead of running toward it.
But I wasn't running away at all. I was running home.
To him.
To this.
To the life I never knew I wanted, but somehow always needed.
"I love you," I whisper, watching Beau's eyes light up like never before.
His entire body goes still, and for a moment I panic. Then, he leans down and presses a kiss to my lips, pulling back to look me in the eyes.
"About damn time," he murmurs, grinning. "I love you too."
And as Maisie ceremoniously throws biodegradable glitter over the treehouse foundation while a crowd of mountain men pretend to be horrified by the sparkly assault, I realize I've never been happier in my entire life.
Chapter Eighteen
Beau
