Page 11 of Waiting for the Mountain Man

Maybe she’d misunderstood. “I mean stay in Rosewood Ridge. Don’t leave when you’re finished volunteering. Stay here and see where this can go.”

As I waited for her response, I cycled through all the other options. She could very well say her life was back in Chattanooga. She couldn’t just give all that up. If she did, was I prepared to move to be with her?

Yes. The answer was yes. I’d move to the moon if it meant spending the rest of my life with this woman.

She was my home now. It didn’t matter where we lived.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

That was not the answer I’d expected. It filled my heart with hope.

“Never been surer of anything in my life.” I took a deep breath and plunged in. “I think I’m falling in love with you. No, I know I’m falling in love with you. None of this wishy-washy stuff. I’m in this one hundred percent.”

I’d already said I’d never been surer of anything in my life. That summed it up best. This was the woman I was meant to be with. This was why none of my other relationships had worked out. I had to wait for Cassie to walk into my life.

“I’m in,” she said as a smile slowly spread across her face. “We’ll work out the rest later.”

I reached over and took her hand and said one word. It was the only word that needed to be said.

“Together.”

EPILOGUE

CASSIE

“Don’t get too close to the edge. Devon, help your brother.”

Denver yelled that out from the grill, where he and his best buddy Bryce had been stationed for the better part of the last hour. They were grilling up burgers and hot dogs for our entire friend group to celebrate our first pool party of the year.

“They’re so good together,” Ashton said

She was seated beside me on one of the lounge chairs we’d bought from the pool place where Denver and I had made love the first time. We’d gone back there not long after getting married. Denver had joked about buying the lounge chairs, but in the end, we ended up putting a pool in the backyard of the cabin he’d owned since moving to town.

Now that we had kids, that pool got a lot of use. I looked at Devon and our youngest son, Christopher. Devon was seven now, while his younger brother was only four. They had their moments, but in the end, Devon always took care of Christopher.

“Did you ever imagine, when we came to town that day, this would be the result?” Ashton asked.

I shook my head and laughed. “We were looking for Jax.”

That idea was laughable now. Jax was a great guy, deep down, but the thought of sleeping with him seemed absurd. But once I met Denver, thoughts of ever sleeping with anyone else went out the window.

“I’m so glad we moved here together,” Ashton said.

“And started a business,” I pointed out.

Together, Ashton and I had started the town’s first flower shop eight months after moving here. We did a lot of business with the retreat center, but the growing population around here kept us pretty busy too.

“And best of all, our kids get to grow up together,” Ashton said.

Her son, Caleb, had been born around the same time as our oldest. Like Devon and his brother, Caleb and Devon had the occasional spat, but they were the best of friends. They were in second grade together at Rosewood Ridge Elementary School, where Caleb was a straight-A student and Devon was the kid everyone liked. I just hoped he’d develop more of an interest in his schoolwork as he got older.

“Lunch is almost ready!” Bryce called out, drawing our attention to the grill area.

No sign of Denver. He must have run inside to get some stuff. I looked at the couples in the various lounge chairs and seating areas around the pool. We had a thriving friend group, and I wouldn’t trade any of these people for all the money in the world.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, pushing up from the chair and glancing over at the kids in the pool one more time.

A couple of guys from Denver’s construction crew were in the water with the kids, and they were now leading a game of water volleyball. It would be hard to get everyone out in a few minutes, but at least the kids were safe and in good hands. I pushed open the patio door and stepped into the kitchen, where my husband stood alone, staring directly at me with a big smile.

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