Page 147 of The Fixer

“You’re not planning on moving in there, are you?” She loved hearing the panicked edge in his voice. It warmed her all over.

“Why not? You’re turning it into something gorgeous … and right on Bowen Street.” She couldn’t help but needle him.

He craned his head and looked down at her. “I thought … I hoped … Why don’t you just stay here with me? I could set up a home office for you. Besides, you’re going to have to sell it off to close out Helene’s estate.”

“Actually, I have a plan I’ve been considering for a while now.” He hummed in encouragement, and she ran with it. “I’d like to buy it.”

He jerked, and her head slid off his chest. She propped herself on her elbow and rested her free hand over his heart. Her eyes locked onto his slate-green ones, their hues shifting with the late-afternoon sun slanting in through the window. God, she loved looking into those eyes. They held bottomless depths that led straight to his soul. She could easily get lost in them and never find her way back.

“Just hear me out,” she insisted. “I want to buy it so I can turn around and sell it to Hailey and Noah on a lease purchase that’s favorable for both parties. That way, the estate’s wrapped up, Mary gets her money, Hailey will have her dedicated bookstore, and the two lovebirds can spread out a bit.”

“And what doyouget?”

“I get to invest in this up-and-coming historical tourist town and make a difference. What do you think?”

He reached up and ran his fingertips down the side of her face. “You’re putting down roots, Joy Holiday.”

Her eyes misted. “I am, aren’t I?” She’d finally found a home, and she thought her heart might overflow and burst.

“I love the idea, and Noah and Hailey are going to love it too.” He kissed her with aching tenderness. “You have a big heart, princess.”

She laid her head back down on his chest, smoothing her thumb over his bare skin. “I think that’s the last of the problems looking for a solution.”

His baritone rumbled through his chest. “No, there’s still one mystery hanging out there that’s bugging me. I know about the sabotage and the thefts, I know who slashed my tires and why, but I can’t figure out how my medicine cabinet got so messed up.”

A blaze of embarrassment licked up her chest, her neck, her face. “Um, I have the answer.”

After she confessed—and they finished laughing—she told him how Estelle had tried talking her through the correct arrangement of a man’s medicine chest. “How far off were we?”

“Wayoff.”

“Oh no. Well, you can blame that on Estelle when she comes out here.”

“Is she coming soon?”

“Mm-hmm. I sent her a picture of Deputy Shane O’Brien in his uniform.”

Charlie burst out laughing. When he recovered, he tapped his chin. “Huh. That might work.” He gave her a suggestive smile. “How about we change the subject? I have something else on my mind.”

“Hmm. What might that be?”

“Let me show you.”

The floodgates of desire opened up, deluging her veins. Soon he was rocking her world with a well-coordinated assault, hitting all the right spots and making her see stars.

Chapter 41

Epilogue

Eleven months later

JOY WATCHED CHARLIE FROM her office window, and as it often did, her heart filled and overflowed. She loved watching him. He had converted one of his outbuildings into her dedicated workspace, and here she was surrounded by some furnishings from her old office in Chicago—a piece of her past. He had even walled off a closet for her overflow clothes. Winona got something new every week at the Vogue Vault, and Joy simply couldn’t resist. She’d packed on some pounds after leaving her meds behind, but her weight had finally plateaued, and she was a solid size eight. Okay. Sometimes it was a size ten, but everyone knew that cheaper labels were cut smaller. Not that it truly mattered. Charlie loved her curves and showed her with boundless enthusiasm every chance he got.

She and Sterling were still working out the flow, but it was coming together, and she’d learned how to reduce her visits to every other month. Fall River was home now, and she hated leaving it.

This new life? It worked.Theyworked. And she couldn’t be happier.

With the longer days, Charlie had been putting in long hours, pulling apart the depot in order to put it back together better than before. But he loved it, especially when he was able to reclaim one more piece of gingerbread trim or a newel post that he could free from years of paint and bring to its original beauty in his workshop.

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