Page 66 of Needing You

And thinking about those two subjects in the same beat had me wrinkling my nose with my cheeks flaming. Will’s love of how adventurous I’d become in the bedroom was addicting, but damn him for making me suggest that when we had our son’s game to get to.

“I totally forgot,” I said with a laugh. “Good thing you’re such a good dad.”

“Oh, I’m a great dad. In fact, after Jackson’s driving test tomorrow, I’m taking him out to test drive a new ride.”

“Really? What kind of ride?”

“A motorcycle. He wants to be just like Uncle Sammy,” he replied with a wink. I felt the smile fall from my lips with a thud, but before I could open my mouth to start yelling at him about being a freakingterribledad and an idiot if he thought I was going to allow him to get our son a motorcycle for his first vehicle, he grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. “I’m kidding. We’re checking out a Subaru. The commercials say it’s the safest car out there, right?”

Settling into my seat with a sigh, I shook my head at him. “You’re gonna be worse than Jackson at giving me gray hair. I can already tell.”

“Fine with me,” he replied. “But whenever you go gray, you’ll still be hot as hell, even when you’re an old lady. I’m glad I’ll be there to see it.”

I playfully swatted his arm as he pulled onto Main Street, content in knowing that he would be. In fact, he’d be here through every stage of our lives from now on. And even though we’d missed out on so much time together, I believed with every bone in my body that we were right where we needed to be.

EPILOGUE

WILL

Kate’s hand in mine, we crunched on fallen autumn leaves and entered Walker’s through the front doors. Shouts went up, people clapped, and Sammy hollered from where he stood pulling drinks at the bar. He and Jake were serving while Jackson sat at one end, chatting with Ellie. He clapped and whistled along with everyone else when he saw us.

Kate had insisted we have our engagement party whenever Brenna and Connor could come if there was any chance of it, and her future sister-in-law was more than happy to fit us into her busy schedule.

And the beaming smiles we saw on Brenna and Connor’s faces as they clapped along with everyone else confirmed it—it was necessary for us to all be together to celebrate this, and it was a fucking cherry on top of all the other good stuff that’d been happening lately.

Eric and I were getting along better than we had since we hit puberty, and Kate, Jackson, and I were finally living in our new house. We were still working on filling it up with the right furniture since they hadn’t had much at their place, but there was plenty of time for that, and coming home to Kate every night was a dream. Honestly, sometimes this all felt like an actual dream.

Our family dynamic had truly come together. Apparently, Jackson had been rooting for us since before we’d even considered dating, and he liked to brag that he knew we’d end up together. And even in the late-night hours waiting for him to get home from a friend’s house or some god-awful high school party after I got back from work, I couldn’t begrudge him that claim. But damn did he love to whip out his little teenage dirtbag smirk at Walker family dinner every Sunday and claim he’s the one who made it all happen.

It could be worse, though—he could hate me. Or hate us together. And thank God that wasn’t the case.

“There they are! Come here, you two.” My mom hauled me to her with one arm around my shoulder, and seconds later, Kate was smashed against her right next to me.

“I am so excited for you. I love you both so much, and I’m so proud of how you’ve come back together.” She loosened her grip a touch and turned to Kate, her eyes glittery with tears. “And you? I’m so glad to have another daughter. So happy you’re joining the family.”

“Thank you. I can’t imagine another family I’d rather join,” Kate said, genuinely smiling.

Gratitude filled me for what had to be the thousandth time. My mom had been pretty angry with Kate—though who hadn’t in those first days?—but she’d quickly moved from that place to one of forgiveness, acceptance, and love. She’d embraced Jackson and Kate so fully that she was already known as the “team grandma” for Jackson’s football team, and I didn’t think Kate’s bakery would have a bigger advocate when it opened.

Eric rightly got a lot of credit for keeping the family together and certainly for keeping the business going, but we owed Mom a lot in that regard too. I’d come back here knowing I had a lot to atone for—in many ways I still felt I was working on that, though no one made me feel that way anymore. But I always knew she’d take me back with open arms, just like she’d embraced Kate and Jackson.

“Love you, Mom,” I said, leaning in to kiss her cheek.

“Okay, you two, go hobnob with your fan club,” she said, her voice a touch wobbly with emotion.

We linked hands again and circulated the room. Brenna and Kate hugged, and I shook Connor’s hand. When I’d lived in New York, I’d spoken to Brenna here and there, but we’d started texting and talking a lot more now that I was back in Granite Springs.

We might still be long-distance siblings with the biggest age gap of us all, but coming home had fixed something between us that I hadn’t realized was broken until then. And I was damn glad to be more involved in my little sister’s life, especially since it meant hearing firsthand how good it was now that she had Connor. If possible, they both looked even happier than they had on the day of their wedding.

Fuck,I couldn’t wait to marry Kate. I wanted her to be mine in every way. Call me old-fashioned or whatever, but I wanted the ring, the signed paper, the shared address, and the kids. We’d done it in a reverse-order kind of way, but all that mattered to me was that we were here. Celebrating our plans to be together for the rest of our lives.

Kate had a line of admirers come to congratulate her, including several of the servers at the diner and the cook who no doubt had his heart broken when I came back to town—sorry, sucker.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw April standing in front of Eric. They both had their arms crossed, glaring at each other.

“Whoa, what’s up there?” I asked, nodding toward the pair.

Kate shook her head. “I hate to say it, but I think April might drive your brother more insane than you do.”

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