Page 56 of Arctic Panda's Secret Mate
Haisley let her breath hiss from her lips as she felt all the tension leak out of her. “And you’ll be in charge of it?” Would it be awkward to work for Tristan? Haisley didn’t think anything with Tristan could be awkward.
“Oh no,” Tristan said, giving her a moment of alarm. “Youwill. Mal was extremely impressed with you, which is pretty hard to do, and Scarlet said she’ll only complete the deal if you agree to sign on as the property manager. She’ll send you the offer in a few days after the lawyers have looked it over.”
Anoffer.
An offer for everything she’d never even thought to ask for.
Tears welled up in Haisley’s eyes for no rational reason and Tristan swept her up into his arms. “Don’t cry. You don’t have to say yes. We can go to Shifting Sands instead, or I don’t know, New York City? Pick anywhere. We can run off in the wilderness and I can forage, well, bamboo probably doesn’t grow here, butwe’ll find something to eat. Are the mushrooms here poisonous?”
Everyone else was cheering and talking and Haisley had to laugh and hug Tristan as he twirled her around as if she weighed nothing.
“Our pilot is waiting,” Conall reminded them gruffly, after everyone had shaken Haisley’s hand again in congratulations and she’d wiped her tears away and assured them that she’d take the job.
“And I’m dying of heat in this coat,” Magnolia said, fanning herself. “I am looking forward to being back in a place where I can wear the same clothing inside that I do outside.”
“I miss the grass,” Gizelle said.
“I miss the bikinis,” Breck said.
“I miss the beach,” Saina said, pulling her hat over her ears.
“I miss my feet,” Lydia said, and they all laughed and started to trickle outside to the van until only Tristan was left.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised, giving Haisley a long, lingering kiss. “Maybe I can talk Mal into doing it with a portal so I don’t have to ship everything.”
“I can’t believe that I’m nodding along to that like it makes perfect sense,” Haisley confessed. “Two weeks ago, I didn’t even know about shifters, and now I’m going to be running a lodge for them.”
“We’re just like normal people,” Tristan promised. “Except that we have animals in our heads, we hang around naked more than usual, and we recognize our soulmates at first sight.”
“That’s all,” Haisley said, stroking his jaw and staring at his face to memorize every dear plane of it. “Perfectly ordinary. I’ll miss you,” she whispered.
He kissed her again. “I’ll miss you so much.”
From outside, the van honked.
“I have to go,” he said plaintively, not moving.
“I know.” Haisley gave him one final kiss and then zipped his coat up to his chin. “Stay warm. I’ll see you soon. I… love you.”
“I love you,” he echoed, and Haisley followed him, holding his mittened hand, all the way to the bottom step of the front porch. She stood there, waving forlornly, until the van had disappeared around the curve of the driveway and its last distant rumble was lost in the silence of the snow.
Her ears were freezing.
Haisley numbly returned to the chalet and closed the door behind her, leaning against it.
It was soquietwith all of them gone, just the way she’d wanted it in the first place.
And it washers.
It was the happy ever after she’d never expected.
And she couldn’twait.
EPILOGUE
Haisley looked amazing in a bikini, even though she joked self consciously about her Alaska tan and slathered on the sunscreen.
“Are yousureyou don’t want to move here?” Tristan teased her.
