Page 109 of On the Rocks

“Woman,” I chuckled between kisses. “Go. Now. You’ve got a long drive to Kansas City and it’s already noon. I don’t want you driving when you’re tired tonight.”

She sighed, pulling back and pressing her forehead to mine. “Okay. Okay. I’m going.” She ran her hand over my jaw, like she was memorizing my stubble. “I’ll call you when I stop for gas and food.”

“And I’ll call you every morning to remind you how much I love you.”

She smiled at that. “You better.”

With one last, longing kiss, she let me go, and I stepped back, sliding my hands in my pockets as she fired the car up. She checked the directions on her GPS, set her phone on the dash, and waved at me with tears in her eyes before pulling out of Mom’s driveway.

I watched her take the left, watched her stop at the stop sign down the road, watched her take the left that led out of town. And when I couldn’t see her taillights anymore and she was really gone, I let the first tear fall.

I cried because I’d miss her. I cried because I’d never wanted to let someone go as much as I’d wanted to keep them forever. But I didn’t cry because I was sad.

I cried because I was thankful.

I was thankful I could finally show her what I’d wanted to all along — that she could be in love andbeloved while she had a life and dreams of her own. I was thankful for the two-week vacation I had coming up in a month so I could fly to Utah and spend Christmas with her. I was thankful for my family inside the house behind me, for the group I had to support me while Ruby Grace was gone.

And more than anything, I was thankful I’d found the woman I was sure didn’t exist.

More than a thousand miles couldn’t separate us — not really. She was still here with me, and I knew she took me with her, too.

For now, I wiped my tears and headed back inside to celebrate Thanksgiving with football and leftovers and time with my family. After all, I had one little brother stressed over his new trainee at work and the other holed up in his room over a girl we all knew was trouble.

I was needed in Stratford, and she was needed in Salt Lake.

So, I counted down the days until she’d be in my arms again, until she’d be back in Stratford, until we’d make our plans for where we’d go next.

Until I’d get down on one knee and give her the ring stashed in my bedside dresser drawer.

And though my ring wouldn’t be the first to don her delicate finger, I had no doubt it would be the last.