Page 16 of Forever In Willow Creek

And something else had just begun.

Later that afternoon, she met Luke at the shop.

He was under the hood of an old Chevy, his shirt sleeves rolled up, grease smudging the edge of his jaw. Zoe walked in quietly and leaned against the frame of the bay door, watching him for a moment before speaking.

“I turned it down.”

Luke looked up slowly.

His eyes searched hers. “The promotion?”

She nodded. “Gone. Just like that.”

He set down the wrench and walked toward her, wiping his hands on a rag. “How do you feel?”

“Lighter. Terrified. But mostly… like I can finally breathe.”

Luke studied her face, as if trying to read the spaces between her words.

She smiled faintly. “This isn’t just about you. Or this town. It’s about me realizing that the version of success I’ve been chasing wasn’t mine to begin with. I inherited it. I shaped myself around it. But it never really fit.”

Luke nodded, quietly taking it all in.

She reached for his hand. “And I’m done trying to be someone I’m not.”

They stood there for a moment, nothing between them but the hum of the world outside and the slow, shared rhythm of two hearts beginning to beat together.

“I’ve got fears,” Luke admitted. “I’m good at hiding them. But they’re there.”

She squeezed his hand. “Then let’s be scared together.”

He laughed, just a little, the tension leaving his shoulders. “That might be the most honest offer I’ve ever had.”

They moved to the back of the shop, where the bench overlooked the open stretch of fields behind the property. It was quiet. No traffic. No pressure. Just sky and space.

Zoe leaned into his side, her head resting against his shoulder.

“You know,” she said, “if you had asked me a few weeks ago what I thought I’d be doing right now…”

“You would’ve said fighting for a seat at a conference table with a three-hour commute and a cold sandwich for dinner.”

Zoe smirked. “Exactly.”

He turned his head to press a kiss to her temple. “And now?”

She exhaled. “Now I’m thinking about planting something. I don’t know what—flowers, maybe herbs. Something that grows.”

Luke’s smile deepened, soft and proud. “You’re already growing.”

They stayed like that until the sun dipped low behind the trees, the sky stained in pink and gold. Neither spoke. They didn’t need to.

Sometimes letting go wasn’t about giving up, it was about making space for something better to begin.

Chapter 13: Opening Up

The rain had come and gone again, leaving Willow Creek drenched and glistening. Zoe walked barefoot through the grass outside the cottage, the ground cool and soft beneath her feet. The storm had washed everything, clean—the air, the streets, maybe even her own heart.

She looked up at the sky, streaked with fading light, and for the first time, didn’t feel the urge to run, fix, or prove anything. She just wanted tobe.

---