Page 100 of Forever To Me

I smirk and playfully toss him a rag. "Yeah. Start by cleaning tables."

He groans and laughs. "Already regretting this."

The rush picks up again, but something inside me feels lighter. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I can breathe. With Cash stepping up, I don’t have to do this by myself anymore.

And maybe, just maybe—I don’t want to.

I glance at Violet, who’s already tossing a rag at Cash and laughing when he dodges it. She fits here. Too damn well. And with the weight of the bar shifting off my shoulders, I finally have the time to focus on what matters. My daughter. My music.

And the woman who’s making it harder and harder to imagine life without her.

I find her behind the bar, wiping down the counter, lost in whatever song she hums under her breath. She hasn’t noticed me yet. For a second, I just watch her. It’s ridiculous how easily she fits here, how natural it feels having her behind my bar, moving like she’s been here for years instead of weeks.

And that’s exactly the problem.

Because the longer she stays, the harder it’s getting to picture this place and my life without her in it. I clear my throat, and she finally looks up, a slow smile pulling at her lips.

“Well, if it isn’t Walker, looking like he needs me for something,” she teases, leaning against the counter.

I roll my shoulders back, ignoring how my cock twitches when she looks at me like that.

“I don’t like to ask for favors,” I mutter.

Her grin widens. “Yet here you are.”

I exhale sharply, dragging a hand over the back of my neck.

Maggie’s busy. The Dogwood rebuild takes up a lot of her time, and I don’t like Mack being alone at night. Cash is taking over more of a manager role, but I still need help at home.

I could ask anyone. Could find someone else to help. But I don’t want someone else.

I want her.

“I need someone to stay at the house with Mack when I’m working,” I say finally. “Make sure she gets to school. Pick her up.”

Her eyes widen slightly, like she wasn’t expecting that. Hell, I wasn’t expecting it either.

She blinks up at me, like she’s waiting for the punchline. “You want me to help?”

I meet her gaze. “Yeah.”

I expect her to hesitate. To say she’s too busy, that it’s too much. But instead, she smiles. Soft and real, like the idea of helping means something to her. “Of course, Walker. I’d love to.”

Something shifts in my chest. Like I was bracing for something that never came. Like maybe, I was waiting for her to give me a reason not to do this.

She doesn’t. Instead, she just says yes.

She doesn’t know what that means to let someone into my life like this. And for the first time, I think—maybe I’m okay with it.

"Hey, Walker?" she asks with a hint of teasing in her tone.

"Yeah?"

"Can we write together in your secret cabin?"

I stare at the ceiling, "Don't push it, Red."

But I'd love to write music with her. I'm dying to writemusic with her. But she's already slipping into all the other corners of my life. Music is my only safe space now. The door I swore I'd never to open to anyone.

---