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“I—” She nearly bobbled the wineglass until he reached over to level it. “Excuse me?”
“That’s the next step. We can look at the one after that, actually getting married, over the winter or next spring. Whatever, because we’ll live here first.”
He looked over at her. “I’m not asking you now. I’m just letting you know what’s coming after Theo and Drea have their wedding.”
“That’s considerate of you.”
“I’m made of considerate.”
She hadn’t believed she’d laugh again for days, but it bubbled right out. “So you have this planned out.”
“It’s something I do.”
“It is. It’s something I do, too. This is a really great house. Of course, if I lived in it, I’d have ideas about a lot of things yet to be done.”
“That’s understood.”
“I’ve got a nice bathroom, but yours? That really weighs on your side of things. Then there’s the coffee bar, and another in the closet upstairs. Really heavy weights.”
“The glass rail system on the upper porch should count.”
“It does. It really does.”
She felt her shoulders unknot, her stomach smooth out.
“I like winter,” she said. “I missed the winters up here when I lived in Annapolis. The frozen lake, the white hills. But…”
She got up, slid into his lap. “Since I want to get married outside, outdoors, it’ll have to be spring. May, I think, or early in June.”
She angled her head to meet his eyes. “Oh, I’m not saying yes now, just letting you know I will.”
He ran a hand over her hair. “Considerate of you.”
Smiling, she met his mouth with hers.
“And that first step?”
“I’ve got a few days off, so I can move in easy enough. We have to find a place for my pansies.”
“Anywhere you want. I don’t have to practice saying it anymore. I just have to love you.”
“Just remember, hearing it never gets old. Look at us, Littlefield. This is what they call a happy ending.”
“Or a beginning.”
“I like that even better.”
She settled her head on his shoulder.
She’d been given a second chance at life. She’d been given love and a promise of a future.
And she wouldn’t waste any of it.