Page 6 of Johnathan

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! This is perfect! Do you want to go up and see it?”

“Right now?”

“Well, yeah. You have time?”

“Of course. But give me my blueberry muffin before you forget that you only gave me half my order.”

“Oh, shit.” Emma opened the back of the display case and grabbed a lemon blueberry muffin. Abby could not live without them. There was something about the tartness of the lemon and blueberry mixed with the large chunk sugar crystals that Emma put on the top before baking that just soothed her soul. They were perfect. She bit in and instantly knew she’d have to save the rest of the chocolate one for later.

“Hey, Mel?” Emma called out to the college student who worked for her. “I’m just running upstairs with Abby. I’ll be down in twenty.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

They made their way into the alley and Emma started up the stairs.

“These are new, too,” she said pointing to the stairs. “Seb really replaced everything, even stuff that wasn’t affected by the fire. He told me it was torture thinking of me wanting to come back to the apartment instead of moving in with him, which made me laugh.”

“Anyone with eyes in their head can see how crazy you two are for each other. Have you set a wedding date yet?”

“No. I still want a long engagement. Something like five years feels right. I have so much I still need to process through in therapy and we are all still settling into life as a family.”

“I think that sounds nice. Long engagements can be really special…” Emma opened the door to the apartment and Abby lost track of what she was saying.

It was on the smaller side, but everything had been updated and upgraded. “Holy shit, Em! This place is amazing!”

“Yeah, I told you, Seb went all out. The only problem is it’s just the one bedroom, but it has its own ensuite that is amazing, and a guest bath just over there.” She pointed to a door off the living room. “So that’s really nice if you were to ever entertain.”

“I haven’t even seen beyond the living room and I already know I’d be so happy here. What do you want for rent?”

“Consider it my ‘welcome back to Bell Ridge’ present.”

“Em, no. I can’t do that. I need to pay rent.”

“But I don’t need the money. How about this? You take care of utilities? I really don’t even want you worrying about that, but they are metered separately, so we could set them up in your name.”

“Are you sure? That seems like such an unfair trade.”

“I know you are going to be an awesome tenant, and this way you can tell Sam you are staying somewhere safe with a great landlord.”

“Does seem like a win-win.”

“Totally. Do you want to see the rest of everything before you say yes?”

“I want you to show me the rest, but I already know I’m saying yes.”

Emma pulled her into a hug. “This made me so happy! Let’s go! You’re going to die when you see the soaking tub!”

Three

After a week of work that had her immediately taking a nap as soon as she walked back into the house, it only took Abby two hours to pack up her room that morning. Then just ten minutes to haul everything down into Sam’s truck. Her mother had even insisted on going into town with them to help Abby settle in. So there they were, parking Sam’s truck behind her car at Sprinkles.

“Hey, dove. Can you wait a second?”

“Sam.” She loved her brother, but would unleash the biggest rage-filled scream if he started lecturing her on leaving again. The last thing she wanted to do was have some big heart to heart.

“Look, I know you think you’re ready to leave and be here by yourself in town, but I want you to know that you can always come back out to the ranch. Whenever. If this doesn’t work out. If you get lonely…”

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