Page 36

One Year Later

Canyon

“Time to get up,” I say in my sweetest voice. It doesn’t help. The pillow hits me square in the face.

“It’s too early.” Wade pulls the covers over his head.

“It was your idea to get up this early. Not mine.” The scent from his pillow draws me in, and I’m tempted to join him under the covers. But the coffee is brewing and he really does need to get up.

Wade not being a morning person was a bit of a surprise to me.

It’s mostly because sleep eludes him. His mind is always going.

Things are better now that he's no longer the CEO of Darian Enterprises. Last year, the board convinced him to stay for another month to get through the fallout with Meredeth and Owen. And to get the audit started. Ander stepped in after that, and now he has everything under control. Owen testified against Meredith, and now she spends her days in prison. That’s one less thing Wade has to worry about.

“I changed my mind,” he says. “I’m not going.”

I laugh and pull the covers down. “You can’t just take the day off.

Especially not today.” I kiss his face, and he blinks at me with sleepy eyes.

It took a long time for him to fall asleep last night.

And while I can take the blame for some of that, he tossed and turned long after we were done. “What are you worried about?”

“Come closer and I’ll tell you.” He tries to pull me down on the bed, but I stay strong.

“Stop trying to distract me. These are your friends.”

He sits up with a huff. “I abandoned them. What if they hate me?”

“Now you’re being dramatic. What happened to my bosshole CEO?”

He reaches for me again, and this time, I don’t pull away. “Still here. Anytime you want to be bossed around, just let me know.”

“Oh yeah?” I snuggle against him, and he kisses my neck. And my shoulder. When his hand reaches under my shirt, I shift—smacking him in the face with his own pillow. I jump out of bed, letting out a squeak when he grabs for me.

He fluffs the pillow. “Where ya going, sweetheart?”

I hold up a hand. “Truce. I think the coffee’s ready.” But I only take a few steps before he asks the question I’ve been expecting since he woke up.

“Have you heard from River?”

“Not yet. But it’s early.”

He tucks the pillow behind him. “Okay.”

“Babe, River knows how important this is to you.”

He nods, but he still looks a little nervous. I slip out of the room and head toward the kitchen and the scent of coffee.

Wade’s home is beautiful—a palace compared to my place with River. I had a hard time leaving River at first. But my brother loves living on his own. And he’s been slowly fixing up for the last year.

Things were a little rocky at first. Wade had no idea what to do with his free time.

And I was ready to move on from my job, so, with help from River, we started our own retreat company.

Now, people hire us to organize and do on-site management for their corporate retreats.

We also provide support afterward by gathering feedback from employees and managers and helping them integrate their experience.

Thankfully, Wade came up with the wording.

At first, I was nervous about traveling all over the country, but now it’s my favorite part. Alex is actually jealous that I get to go to so many places.

How did I survive without this man to love me? Without my Daddy? Not sure. All I know is I don’t ever want to be without him again.

Once I have my coffee, I sit at the fancy breakfast nook and check my messages. Still nothing from River.

Not that I'm worried. Since we opened our business six months ago, River has never once bailed on us.

But I understand Wade’s concern. This retreat isn’t like the others.

Taffy hisses and then rubs against my leg. She already had breakfast. I pick her up and settle her in my lap. She pokes me a few times to get comfortable, but there’s no purring. I kiss the top of her head. “You’re fine.”

Her meow doesn’t sound convinced. But then her ears perk up and she jumps off my lap, racing for the hallway.

“Good morning, Taffy.” A minute later, Wade walks in with my cat purring her lovesick heart out. “Who’s a good girl?”

I cough, trying not to react to his words or the praise in his voice. “She loves you more than me.”

“Of course she does.” He kisses her and sets her down, ignoring my squawk of protest. “Heard from River?”

“N—” My phone rings and my brother’s picture appears on the screen. “Here he is.”

He stops and the tension from earlier is back. River never calls when a text will do.

“Hey, bro. What’s up?” I somehow manage to keep my voice light. Wade sits next to me with his coffee, his brow furrowed as I put River on speakerphone.

“Hey, tell Wade I’m not bailing.”

“Then why are you calling?”

“Just wanted to make sure everything’s okay.”

“It’s just another retreat,” I say to River and then glance at Wade and reiterate my statement. “Just another retreat.”

Wade scowls and takes a drink of his coffee.

“You don’t have to tell me,” River says, sounding like an excited puppy. “I’m stoked. Jet said everyone at work has been looking forward to this. Oh, and he said this year, we have to play Truth or Dare .”

Wade’s shoulders relax and he smiles. “Not sure Jared will agree to that.”

“Ander added it to the list so he can take it up with his boyfriend, the CEO. I’m sure his objections will get overruled.”

“Word at the office is Jared now likes that game. A lot.”

I snort. “Did Jet tell you that?”

“No.” Swirling sounds and clinking in the background grab my attention. But before I can ask about it, he says, “Carol told me. She heard it from Vivian, who heard it from?—”

Wade chuckles. And this time, his smile reaches his eyes.

“Never mind, River.” I shake my head. Some things never change. And then it clicks. “Are you at the diner in Plevna?”

“My breakfast is here. Gotta go, bro.”

After the call with River, we finish getting ready.

Monday, June 8 th , 7:45 a.m.

Wade is quiet on the drive to the campsite, except when he’s yelling at the other cars. But we arrive before everyone else and he seems to relax once we’re there.

Nothing much has changed in the last year. Wade and I walk around the campsite, making sure everything’s in place. The kitchen is stocked. The beds have sheets. The bathrooms have toilet paper.

We arrive at our old cabin and stow our bags. Wade squeezes my arm. “I can’t believe it’s been a year. Happy anniversary, babe.”

“Tomorrow is the anniversary of when we first met and you whisked me away from my dull life.” I place the back of my hand on my forehead in a dramatic fashion.

Wade rolls his eyes. “And the day after that is the anniversary of our first kiss. And three days after that is the anniversary of when we first said I love you and made it official. Wow. I just realized—when you want something, Mr. Darian, you move quickly.”

“I do.” He pulls me into his arms and kisses me. “But…not too quickly, right?”

“Seriously?” I smack his arm.

The walkie-talkie squawks. That was River’s idea. And honestly, they do come in handy since we never know if we’ll have cell service. “Hey, guys,” River says, “they’re here.”

As we walk back to the main hall, Wade’s eyes stray to the trees. He’s either remembering our oak tree or watching out for killer squirrels.

Wade takes my hand and holds it the rest of the way.

Emotion stings my eyes. I’m with the man I love.

Doing a job I love. And River no longer needs me to take care of him.

Not that he really needed me before. I just needed him to need me.

He even returned to his first love by joining a local baseball league.

Mom and Dad would be proud of him. Of us. I clear my throat.

“Are you okay?”

“Perfect.” I stop and pull him into my arms. “I love you.”

“Can, sweetheart— I need to keep it together in front of my old team.” He sniffs, and then he kisses me. “I love you too.”

“Jesus. Can you two stop making out for like five seconds?” River asks, hands on his hips, standing outside the main hall. “The campers are waiting.”

The dining hall is more crowded than I expected. Did Ander bring extra people? That might make things challenging. As soon as they spot us, the campers start cheering.

I knock my shoulder into Wade’s. “See. They love you.”

“I think they’re cheering for you.”

And while that might be a little true, most of his old team is beaming at him. Normally, during the retreats, we stay in the background as much as possible, but I can tell this retreat is going to be different.

Ander takes his spot at the front. “Thank you, everyone, for participating in our second annual Pride retreat. I want to thank Drake Consultants for their hard work in getting everything ready.” He gestures to us, and we wave.

“Before we get started, I’d like to invite my brother to come up and say a few words. ” He nods at Wade.

What is Ander doing? This is not part of our normal routine. He should have warned us instead of just springing this on us. But when I glance at Wade, he doesn’t look irritated or concerned. He’s smiling at me. “Um, Wade? What’s going on?”

He shrugs. “I guess I'm making a speech.” But something’s not right.

Wade makes his way to the front, and I glance around at his former employees.

Carol is watching me with a smile on her face.

And Vivian…and Lydia. Even Al is smiling at me.

I turn in a complete circle. Everyone is watching me.

What the heck? And then I notice one face in particular.

“Alex?” Why is she here? I wave my best friend over to explain herself, but she shakes her head.

“Good morning, everyone,” Wade says, sounding more confident than he has all morning. “Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your retreat. This is where it all started?—”

“And ended,” Al shouts, and everyone laughs.