Page 84 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

I couldn’t help but smile that she thought for a second I wouldn’t know who she was. “I know.”

“How are you?” she asked, her voice sounding a little shaky.

“I’m good, actually.” It was so good to hear her voice. “How about you?”’

“Um, okay. I’ve been…it’s been a tough month for me.”

“Yeah, me, too. I’ve missed you. You and AJ. A lot.”

“You have?”

She sounded genuinely surprised. It still boggled my mind that my feelings for her were at all in question.

“I haven’t stopped thinking about you. You’re all I think about,” I confessed as I turned onto the street where she lived and saw her white Audi in the driveway.

“Oh, um, well, that’s sort of why I was calling. I have missed you, too. A lot. So much, really. I even thought I was sick. I took a blood panel and everything, but I wasn’t. I just missed you that much.”

“Seriously?” I asked as I pulled up to her house and parked.

“Yes. And I think that… I know I said I was confused the last time we talked, but I’m not anymore. And if you still wanted to try and maybe be together. I mean, I know I saw you at the premier with Shelby?—”

“Shelby Denison is married.”

“Married?” she repeated as I got out of the car.

“Yeah. I know her husband. He’s her manager, and they want her image to be young and wild, so they asked me to walk the red carpet with her. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought you would think?—"

She cut me off as I walked up to her door.

“No, it’s fine; I didn’t. Well, I did think. But I’m glad you’re not. Anyway, I just wanted to say I’m sorry that I was confused, and I’m not anymore. I don’t know if it’s too late, but I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date or something then; I would really like that. If that might be something, you would be interested in doing. I know that you live in L.A., and long distance would be—” I knocked on her door, and Daisy started barking loudly. “Sorry, there’s someone at the door.”

“I’ll wait. You can get it.”

“Daisy, stop!” she shouted.

My pulse was racing and my palms were tingling as I heard the click of the lock, and the door opened. When it did, I saw Zoe standing in her Atlanta Braves shirt and gray sweats. It was the same thing she’d worn the day I’d met her. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest, I was scared it was going to break one of my ribs.

“Sit, Daisy,” Zoe instructed Daisy before looking up and seeing that I was standing on her doorstep.

When she did, she sucked in a startled breath, and the phone slipped from her hand. I reached out and grabbed it before it fell to the ground. Her hands were covering her mouth as she shook her head in disbelief.

“What are you doing here?” she mumbled into her palms.

“I woke up this morning, and I just…I had to see you. I had to try one more time to tell you how I felt. So, I packed up some things. I got on a plane. I fired my agent and put my house up for sale.”

“You put your house up forsale?!”

“I don’t want to live in L.A. I’ve needed a change for a long time. I’d like to move here. Not here, not moving in with you, not yet.” I grinned. “But in town. I want to be with you. I want us to be together. If that’s okay with you.”

“Yes.” She smiled from ear to ear as she nodded. “Yes, it’s okay with me.”

Zoe threw her arms around my neck, and I picked her up as Daisy jumped up on us, joining in on our hug. I spun her around, and when I set her down, I saw Walter in the doorway of the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear.

“Well, you two don’t waste much time, do ya?”

I had wasted time. I’d wasted a month, but I wasn’t going to waste any more time. I planned on spending the rest of my life with Zoe. I was going to marry her. I was going to get down on one knee and ask her, just not yet. But one day. Hopefully, one day soon.

EPILOGUE

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