Page 119 of Make Mine Sweet
“I love you emotional dummies,” Wren says.
Mom kisses her cheek. “Thank you, sweetest daughter, for that beautiful declaration. I love you both.”
“I love you, too,” I say, squeezing them tighter.
“Now what are you going to do?” Wren asks me when we finally let each other go.
“I think I’m going to sail my ship out to sea.”
Mom’s eyebrows lift, but Wren smirks.
“She’s going to go find her pirate.”
I don’t have a plan. I should have a plan, right?
When August and I get home, he heads straight for the back door the way he’s been doing for weeks. But unlike the last few days, he has happy news to report.
“Dutch is outside, Mama! Can I go play?”
My heart thunders, and nothing’s happening yet. Ian isn’t even in sight. But it rumbles in there anyway, and I’m back to being a wobbly bundle of energy.
Poker face, don’t fail me now.
“Sure, you can.”
I follow him into the back yard. He finds a tennis ball and starts up Dutch’s favorite game. They’re so cute together.
Ian’s door snicks open, and I turn to see him cross the patio toward me. He’s got another plate in his hands, this time filled with what might be baked goods. He holds them out in offering.
“They’re honey scones. I made them for you and August. Seemed the neighborly thing to do.”
His mouth ticks up a tiny fraction, and my heart rate doubles. Definitely not safe. I take the plate from him, and the soft scent of honey drifts up from the warm scones.
He slips his hands into his shorts pockets. “That’s a lie, really. It wasn’t to be neighborly. You bring so much sweetness into my life, I thought you deserved a little back.”
All the possible grand gestures and meaningful speeches that flew through my mind on the drive home disappear. I just need to take a page out of Mom’s book.
I set the plate on my patio table and take the two steps into Ian’s space. I cup his face in my hands, his red beard scratchy beneath my touch. His eyes light with an almost painfully cautious hope before I go on tiptoes to crush my mouth to his.
My enthusiastic kiss is a little desperate, but I do not care. His arms circle my back, pressing me against him, just as frantic. I fit against him so perfectly, I justknow. This is where I belong. But I need to tell him, too, and not just show him.
Showing him is pretty great, though.
I pull back enough to look into his eyes. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore, Ian. For all that you are, and all that you’ve been to me and August—I couldn’t help but love you.”
More than I planned to say, but my heart has its own agenda.
“Oh, angel. I love you. I’ve never been this full of love for someone.” He kisses me again, more softly, repeating those words in every touch. “And I will do whatever it takes, however long it takes to convince you I’m not going anywhere. I’ve been applying for jobs right here in Sunshine.”
I drop back down onto my heels. “What about your business? Colorado?”
“I loved what I used to do, and I have a lot of great memories from those years.” He tightens his grip on my waist, drawing me in again. “But I want more for my future. I want a future with you.”
My baby bird heart takes off into the clouds. If a ship can be joyous, mine is. I am all the things.
“Are your brothers okay with that?”
“When I told them I’m staying in Sunshine because I love you, they understood. Gave me a hard time about it, but they understood.”
