Page 59 of With You Forever

Six Months Later

All across the country land, October sunshine.

The click-clack of Lacey’s heels sounds out over the concrete slab foundation. She glances down at the strewn tools and dust, glances up into the high beams of the house. The frame’s taking shape. She can practically picture her modern farmhouse. Bright white. Black trimmed windows. Views that go on for days.

A sound has her turning. Seth’s Bronco lurches into a spot beside her car. Out comes Seth, disheveled hair, plaid shirt rolled to his elbows, dusty boots, blue jeans.

“You’re late,” she says, arching a brow at her husband.

“Shit,” he says, slapping hands against the thighs of his jeans as he hops up onto the foundation. “Takin’ after you.”

She scoffs. “I’m never late.”

“Please. If it weren’t for me, we’d miss ninety percent of our flights.”

She sticks out her tongue at him, laughing now. Then she walks right into his outstretched arms. Seth rocks her in a hug and Lacey lets out a happy sigh. She’s ached for this all day. Seth’s touch. His tight squeeze. His steadying strength.

He pulls back and cups her face. “What do you think of the house?”

She tosses her hair and smiles. “It’s coming together.”

Just like Lacey.

Since her surgery, her life’s fallen into a sort of chaotic order. Her pathology results came back with good news—clear margins, which means her cancer didn’t spread. Five times a week for five weeks she did radiation. The treatment left her tired and nauseous, but everyone pitched in to help. Friends and family brought meals and helped with the housework; even Griff Greyson shuttled her to an appointment when Seth couldn’t break a gig. Now her cocktail for the next three years is Tamoxifen. The drug makes her tired and dizzy at times, but she’s learning to live with it. It’ll be three full years before she can end the treatment, but until then Lacey’s content.

She’s blessed to have such diligent friends and good doctors.

She’s learned so much the last six months.

Most importantly, how to cast aside fear and focus on what’s in front of her.

To just behere, with Seth, it’s more than she can ever hope for.

It’s all she wants.

Smiling at her husband, she goes on, “Do you know what’s right above us?”

“Heaven?” he drawls.

She rolls her eyes. “No, Seth. The master bedroom. More importantly ... the master bath.”

He steps closer, running his hands down her arm. “You know, I’m goin’ to miss sharin’ a bathroom with you.”

“Liar.”

He laughs, roving his eyes around the massive space. “Already plannin’ the housewarming party, princess?”

She palms his chest. “You know it.” She kisses him, then ruffles his messy shock of sandy-blond hair. “How was practice?” For the last week, the Brothers Kincaid have been busy laying down tracks for their much-anticipated new albumOut and Down. And soon, a tour.

“We burned it up today. Nashville ain’t gonna know what hit ’em.”

Lacey smiles, awe burning a hole in her chest. She’s so proud of the Brothers Kincaid. She thought she knew what went into a song, an album, only she didn’t realize the half of it. Seth and his boys work nonstop, and she already knows their tenth album is going to be record-breaking.

Seth slides his fingers through hers and squeezes, pulling her into him. Love flashes in his eyes. “How ’bout you? You okay today?”

Okay today.

Their reminder to each other to take it one day at a time. To live in the present because life is short.

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