Page 48 of Pumpkin Spice & Orc Cinnamon Roll
“So I’m not gonna promise you riches. Or perfect days. Or that I’ll never screw up again—because I will. I’m still me.”
She lets out a watery, “You’re impossible.”
“But I will promise this,” I continue. “I willneverleave again. Wherever you are—this town, this glade, that shop—you’re it. You’re the place I put down roots.”
Tessa sucks in a sharp breath like she’s about to speak—maybe something teasing or clever—but instead she just lets out a tiny, wrecked sound and tackles me.
Literally tackles me.
One second she’s kneeling, and the next she’s got her arms wrapped tight around my neck and she’s knocking me flat into the leaf bed with a force that nearly jars the sapling out of my hands. The forest erupts in a whirl of golden leaves and stunned silence.
From the bushes, “YESSSS!”
Tara’s voice cuts through the trees like a horn blast, followed by an extremely undignified shriek of laughter and the sound of someone tripping over a branch.
“You said you weren’t gonnaspy,” Tessa calls, not lifting her head from my chest.
“You said you weren’t gonnatackle,” Tara calls back. “We all lie sometimes!”
I groan and bury my face in Tessa’s shoulder. “She’s going to retell this storyforever.”
“You know she’s drawing sketches already,” Tessa mumbles against my coat.
From farther off, Bramley’s voice pipes up, gruff as ever. “Wasn’t crying. Just got sawdust in my eyes from those damn lanterns.”
“No one believes you!” Tara yells back.
Tessa lifts her head at last and looks down at me, cheeks flushed, eyes shining, curls wild from where they’ve escaped her ribbon. “You asked,” she whispers, voice shaking. “You really asked.”
“Figured you were getting tired of waiting on me.”
She leans down, presses her forehead to mine, breath warm and steady now. “I was never waiting, Drogath. I washoping.”
I let the sapling roll to the side, just for a second, so I can wrap both arms around her and kiss her like this ridiculous, heartfelt, absurd moment deserves. Like we deserve.
When we finally pull apart, we’re both breathless, surrounded by golden leaves and the faint smell of cedar smoke drifting through the trees. Someone starts clapping. I think it’s Bramley. Someone else is definitely crying now. Might be Maude from the co-op. Or Tara. Or hell, even me a little. I won’t admit it.
Tessa brushes hair back from her face and looks down at the sapling between us, nestled gently in the leaves.
“So,” she says, wiping her nose on my sleeve without asking. “Where do we plant this thing?”
I grin, sharp and crooked. “Wherever you damn well want. It’s your forest now too.”
She grins back. “Then I want ithere.So we can come back next fall and see how it’s grown.”
I nod once. “Then here it is.”
And as we dig together, our fingers coated in rich earth, laughter still ringing around us, I think—no, Iknow—this is the only kind of legacy I ever needed.
Her.
And the roots we’re building. One season at a time.
CHAPTER 25
TESSA
Maple Hollow has always loved an excuse for celebration, but give this town a wedding—ourwedding—and it turns into a full-blown harvest fair with just enough chaos to keep things interesting and more help than I know what to do with.
