Page 115 of Merry Mended Hearts

She did want me.

She wouldn’t hate me if I showed up in Arizona tomorrow, begging to see her again. And I had an exploding desire to do just that.

Any was unreachable for me now. Nothing could change the fact that she was gone. But Grace was still there.

She’d said as much.

In a flash, I swiped my phone open. I didn’t always get great reception up here, though, which was the case this time.

“Piece of garbage,” I grumbled.

What was the point of having a cell phone if I could never use it?

I considered revving up the snowmobile again, but the January snowfall had finally filled in all the gaping tracks I’d left behind the last time I’d been so foolhardy. Instead, I saddled Hazelnut and rode her back to the inn, knowing full-well it would be dark by the time I got there.

But I wasn’t planning on staying.

I left the horse with Troy in the barn and dashed into the inn. It took all I had not to shout at Junie from the front door the way I’d done when we were kids. Instead, I tipped my head toward the guests who were exploring the living room and turned toward Junie at the reception desk.

She still wore the same pink sweater she’d had on earlier, and she jumped at my entrance.

“Boone! What are you doing here? It’s dark. I thought you’d left.”

I rested both of my hands on the counter.

“Junie, can I borrow your mom’s car?” I couldn’t exactly take Hazelnut into town. There wasn’t horse parking at the airport.

I’d sleep there while waiting for a flight if that was what it took.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Better yet,” I said, thinking it over. Which I probably should have done before now. “I might need you to drop me off. Can you get someone to cover the desk for about an hour while you take me into town?”

I didn’t have anything packed, but I always kept a bag here at the inn in the event of bad weather. Occasionally, I stayed in my old room when snow kept me from heading back home. I could take that.

“What is going on?” she asked again. “I can’t just leave. You know we’ve been short on staff.”

“I know,” I said with regret. “I know, and I’ll make it up to you.”

I should have helped her more. I shouldn’t have been so grumpy and selfish. I had so much to make up for, and I fully intended to. But I had to do something else first.

“Make what up to me? What happened? Are you okay?”

“The sleigh rides Christmas Eve. Not helping you here when you needed it. I’m sorry for shutting myself away for so long, and I have you to thank for shaking me out of my rut.”

Junie’s eyes slitted. “Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my cousin?”

I laughed. It felt so good to release the sound. Laughter came from everywhere inside of me.

And then I bent at the waist, drew in the fullest breath I had in a good long while, and laughed some more. It was magic, pure and simple. So much around me was magic. So much I saw every day and yet never reallysaw.

I’d been blind for far too long.

“Junie, I’m going to Arizona.”

“You—you’re what? Why?”

I grinned. “I read her note, Junie. And I’m going to her.”

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