Page 36 of Choosing You

“Hales, wait,” she said, surprised at how calm her voice was.

“What? What’s the matter?”

“Look, I know that you were all psyched to move to a small town, but…” She shrugged. “I like Florida. All my friends are there. Most of our family is there. The beach is there…I don’t know. I just don’t see the appeal of all this. Especially the cold.” She shivered dramatically. “I love doing yoga on the beach and all the restaurants with ocean views. All I see around here are trees and more trees.”

“Then I think that sort of tells you what you need to do.” And yeah, her tone was full of misery and disappointment. “Part of me already knew that this wasn’t someplace you loved, but I thought you might give it a chance for me. And Will.”

“It’s fun to visit…”

“There’s nothing wrong with how you feel. This kind of life isn’t for everyone. I get it. But…Will’s a hometown boy. You might want to have a conversation with him about how he feels about the possibility of moving to Florida if you think this relationship has potential. The traveling back and forth is going to get old fast.”

As much as she hated to, she had to agree.

“I’m not ready to end things,” she admitted sadly. “They just started and…and…I want more time with him.”

“Then you need to talk to him. It’s only right. You’ve messed with him for three years. Don’t mess with him again.”

Sloane couldn’t even take offense at that statement because it was the truth.

She just wished it wasn’t.

Will knew he was getting curious looks at the garage on Monday and he didn’t care. He couldn’t wipe the grin off his face, and he wasn’t even going to try.

Sloane had stayed for the entire weekend. She left early that morning to go back to her sister’s, and they decided that she’d spend the rest of her time with her family before flying home to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. He hated waking her up and kissing her goodbye, but that was the way it had to be. Plus, after the disastrous conversation about the Donovans yesterday, he was pretty damn thankful that she was even still talking to him. It had been awkward, but he assured her he had nothing but love and respect for her family and that there was no ill will.

Although he was secretly pretty pissed at most of them because he was certain he had asked almost all of them if they knew the identity of his mystery kisser—a/k/a Sloane—and they all said no.

That was going to take him a little time to get over. For three years, he’d made a damn fool out of himself all around town and all along, they knew it was Sloane he was looking for.

But he would keep that anger and disappointment to himself because now they’d found each other, and all was right with the world.

Well…sort of.

The fact was that she lived a thousand miles away, with a job and a life there.

Not that she was overly enthused about it.

She said she wasn’t happy with her job right now and as much as she wanted to find another one, it just wasn’t working out that way for her. It seemed like the kind of job that could be done from anywhere—not necessarily only in an office or specifically in Florida—and if she was as good as he suspected she was, she could possibly branch out on her own.

And if they’d done more than leave the bed for sandwiches and something to drink—even after he put his foot in his mouth about her family—he might have thought to ask her to show him some of her designs.

But they hadn’t.

And now he was grinning again.

He hoped that she was going to come back in two weeks for the Meet in the Streets festival, and Will was already looking forward to it. He had already emailed Jade Donovan this morning and told her he wouldn’t be working at the kissing booth. He was done with that now that he found the perfect girl. And this time theywouldgo out and he couldn’t wait to introduce her to his friends and the people of Sweetbriar Ridge who had been witnesses to his crazy behavior over her for the last few years. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that there would be a collective sigh of relief that he finally found his mystery girl.

“Okay, we get it, we get it,” his boss Devin said as he walked across the garage toward him. “Obviously, you got laid this weekend. Quit looking so damn happy about it.”

Devin was grinning the entire time he talked, and Will just chuckled. “I seem to recall you having that same look when you met MacKenzie. Or do I have to remind you of how I ordered you to take the day off after that night when you carried her off over your shoulder in front of half the town?”

Shaking his head, Devin joined in the laughter. “So? Why didn’t you just call in sick today?”

Will shrugged. “Because I didn’t want to leave you shorthanded, and she’s here visiting family and needed to spend time with them.”

The next thing he knew, Devin was leaning against the Ford SUV Will was working on. “And who is…she? Seems to me I’d remember if you mentioned having a date. When you do, you normally talk about it the whole day leading up to it. Anyone I know?”

“Not really.”

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