Page 171 of Castleton Hearts Boxed Set

“Exactly,” I said.

So, what now?

Neither of us said anything for what felt like a long time.

“I miss you,” Natalie said.

“I miss you too,” I said. The cabin was too quiet. Too empty.

“Can I come over tomorrow?”

“Yeah, do you want to have brunch or something?” I asked.

“That sounds perfect,” she said.

We coordinated when I would pick her up.

“I should let you go,” she said.

“You don’t have to. I’m not doing anything,” I said.

“Me neither,” she said. “It took almost an hour to get all the presents back to Gretchen’s place. I swear, they’re going to have to rent a storage unit for all the baby stuff. She’s happy now, though, because they can plan the nursery with the decorator.”

“How was everything with Wyatt?” I asked.

“She’s not happy with him, that’s for sure, so he’s in for a whole lot of groveling until she’s decided she’s had enough.”

I wasn’t going to lie, I enjoyed the idea of Wyatt groveling. It was good for him.

“He’d better step up. If he thinks things are hard now, just wait until that baby comes,” I said.

“I know,” she said.

We talked all into the night about our future niece, about all the people we’d seen at the party, and other silly things.

It was such a relief to be talking to her again. Even just an afternoon of weirdness had taken a toll on me.

Something was happening between us, and I wasn’t going to put any parameters or definitions on it. Not yet. Everything was new and confusing, but good. Very, very good.

* * *

My heart leapt in my chest when Natalie walked out the door and got in my car the next day.

“Hi,” I said, smiling so big that I thought my face was going to crack.

“Hey,” she said. We both sat there and stared at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing.

“I don’t know what to do anymore,” I said.

“I know,” she agreed.

“Let’s go to your place and we can figure it out there.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

* * *

“Wow, it’s so clean in here,” she said when we walked into the cabin.

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