Page 129 of Brewer Family Collection, Part 1

She glances over my shoulder at Ripley as if she gets strength from him, too.

“Georgia … I’m sorry,” she says simply. “I’d like to list all the things I’m sorry for, but I’m pretty sure I’d wear out my welcome before I got through them all.”

“Probably,” Ripley mutters just loud enough for me to hear.

“Honey, I’m going to start seeing a therapist next week,” she says.

My eyes widen.

“There are a lot of things I need to unpack, as they call it.” She grips the chair in front of her. “And I need to do it before it ruins a lot of lives.”

“I think that’s smart,” I say carefully.

“You deserve better from me,” she says. “And, truth be told, I’m not sure if I even realize all the ways that I’ve probably failed you. I’m sort of numb right now.”

I snuggle Waffles, feeling his little breaths against my neck. “What changed? I want to believe you, Mom, but this is quite the one-eighty.”

She’s never been this self-aware, which is painful.

She holds her hands out to the side to emphasize her point.

“I have nothing. Just like you said. I don’t have a man in my life.

I have no friends. No real job. No future.

And I’m on the verge of not having my daughter, either.

” She frowns. “When you didn’t call like you always do, it gave me some time to think about the things you said. It hurt to hear that, but I needed to.”

“I’m sorry for hurting you. I want to say it wasn’t my intent, but that might be a lie.”

“I understand. If I had a good man like you do and someone tried to chase him off, I’d probably be a little mean, too.” She winks. “You can be a little mean anyway. But you learned that from me.”

My lips twitch, almost forming a smile.

“I’d hung up the phone to the therapist’s office when Ripley knocked on my door,” she says, looking at him. “I understand why you love him. He’s really hard not to like.”

He squeezes my hip softly as if he’s uncomfortable with the fuss about him.

“Yeah, he’s hard not to like,” I say, tilting my head back and smiling at him. “He’s really hard not to love.”

He places a sweet kiss on my lips.

“I don’t want to keep you two,” she says. “I know you have a lot to talk about, too. But I hope you’ll accept my apology, Georgia.” Her voice cracks. “I love you, sweetheart.”

I set Waffles on the floor, much to his chagrin, then I embrace my mother.

Her body shakes as she cries. This is a woman who feels the depths of losing everyone she loves. My heart hurts for her. She might have caused all of the things that have happened to her lately, but everyone deserves a second chance.

God knows I’ve been given enough of them.

“I love you, Mom.”

She pulls away, her eyes wet with tears. “Honey, you have no idea how much I love you.”

“I have a little idea.” I smile at her, holding her at arm’s length. “We’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out.” I hug her again. “Why don’t I call you tomorrow and we can make plans to have dinner?”

“I’d really, really like that.”

She presses a kiss to my cheek. “I have a car picking me up soon, so I’ll see myself out. Enjoy your night.”

“You can stay,” I say although I hope she declines. I need time alone with Ripley.

Mom chuckles. “I need to go.” She gives Ripley a quick hug, whispering something in his ear that I can’t hear. It makes him laugh. “Goodbye, you two.”

“Bye, Mom.”

Waffles barks at her.

“Goodbye, Ms. Hayes,” Ripley says. “Would you like me to walk you out?”

“You stay here with my daughter, or I’ll snap right back to mean Felicity.”

We all laugh. It feels very, very good.

She goes down the hallway, and we don’t say a word until the door closes. Together, we let out a sigh of relief.

I take a step toward Ripley, but he takes one back.

My heart skips a beat.

“I have something I want to ask you before you touch me,” he says, giving me a soft smile. “And it has to be in this order because, if not, it’ll take me far too long to get back to this. Because I’m going to have a hard fucking time letting you go.”

“Hurry then. You’re wasting time.”

He grins. “The last time this was proposed to you, you left the guy who asked, so I know I’m taking a risk by bringing this up.

But I love you, Peaches. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to prove to you that I’m in this for the long haul.

For forever . I don’t want there to be a second in your life when you have room to remotely consider that I’m not serious about this. About you. About us.”

I force a swallow, my anticipation growing. I don’t know where he’s going with this. Part of me says to run—but a bigger part demands that I stay.

“I did a little renovation to one of the bedrooms downstairs this week,” he says. “I turned one of them into a reading nook. I didn’t know exactly what that was supposed to look like, but it turns out Bianca had tons of ideas.” He rolls his eyes, making me giggle. “I hope you love it.”

“You built a reading nook for me? Here?”

He nods. “Because I hope you’ll consider moving in with me.”

“ What? ”

My brain hadn’t had the chance to think this far in advance. I didn’t dream of him asking me to move in with him. I’m caught off guard, and I don’t know what to say.

“I’m not pressuring you,” he says, “I’ve waited over ten years. I can wait a few more. Theoretically.” He winks. “But as far as I’m concerned, we both live here. The only reason I’m not asking you to marry me is because I know you’ll say no. But I hope that one day, you’ll say yes.”

“Ripley.” I blow out a breath, surprised. “I don’t know what to say.”

“The word yes would be good.”

I consider his request. Is it too fast? Is it the right choice? Do I want to do this?

Slowly, the answer becomes clear.

This is my dream—the one thing I’ve been too scared to even dream of. But Sutton apparently manifested this for me. How can I say no?

I won’t. I’m going to say yes. But I can’t give in that easy.

“I have demands,” I say.

“Name them.”

“Pancakes. I want a puppy named Pancakes,” I say, thinking on my feet.

“Fine.”

“No more hiking. Ever.”

He snorts. “Trust me. That’s already done. I’ll never hike with you again.”

“Sugar.” This one will get him riled up. “I need sugar in my life, Ripley.”

He grins mischievously, folding his arms across his chest. “It’s terrible for you.”

“So? I’ve been eating it for thirty years. I think stopping sugar at this point would probably shock my system and make me die. Do you want to be responsible for that?”

“Maybe we can find some healthy candy and snacks.”

I shake my head. “No. I want real candy. Chocolate. Sugar for my coffee.”

Waffles paws at me until I follow him to his snack drawer. He’s such a smart little thing.

“Some chips—not all the time,” I say. “And chicken nuggets. Oh! Frozen pizzas are literally half of my diet. I can’t just never see one again.”

I pull open the drawer where Waffles’s snacks are kept and get him a treat.

“Do you want a drink?” I ask Ripley.

He shakes his head, amused.

“So where do we stand on this food issue?” I ask, needling him until he responds. His lack of participation in this conversation is no fun. “We can barter.”

“Grab me some sunflower seeds, will ya? I just bought a new bag.”

“Sure. Sunflower seeds aren’t a bad snack, but they’re not really a snack. I think we just need to redefine what a snack is to you.”

I open the pantry and burst out laughing. “No, you did not!”

Then I open the refrigerator and freezer and laugh even harder.

Tears flow down my cheeks in a mix of humor, surprise, and love.

Not only are there cookies, but there’s a bag of real sugar. Fruity cereal. Frozen pizzas and chicken nuggets.

All of my favorite things are here—including my most favorite of all. Him .

“Looks like I’m moving in,” I say, dropping the phone as Ripley grabs me into a hug.

“It pains me to have that junk in my house, you know.”

“You’ll get used to it.”

Waffles barks at the commotion, making me laugh.

Ripley’s mouth is on mine. His hands are on the waistband of my shorts, and then his lips trail down the side of my neck as if he has to touch me everywhere immediately.

“Hey,” I say, giggling as he kisses the crook of my neck. “You better stop filming, or this is going to turn X-rated really quick.”

He pulls back, smiling from ear to ear. He picks up my phone and hands it to me, and then I shut it off.

“I love you, Ripley Brewer,” I say, beaming with happiness.

“Not as much as I love you, Peaches Hayes.”