Page 80 of Off the Beaten Path

Jodi regards the two of us, something softening in her expression. I don’t have to wonder if she’s pleased with the way things have turned out between us. She looks at me like I’m something she’s spent years praying for.

Extending the food in Holden’s direction, she says, “Well, I’m going to get out of here. You both did a wonderful job. Go enjoy that view.” She nods in the direction of the front door, and when I turn around, I realize you can see straight through to the back windows that open up to the mountains beyond. I’ll never tire of that view. It’s breathtaking.

Jodi leaves, her feet kicking up dust in the dirt driveway, and Holden hooks an arm around my shoulders, leading me through the front door. June is already on the back porch, sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs. From here, I can see her hunched over the friendship bracelet kit I didn’t even notice her carrying when she arrived.

“Too tired to eat?” Holden asks, his lips brushing my ear.

I hum under my breath, my eyes falling closed.

“Me too,” he murmurs. “Maybe we can just take a quick nap.”

“Sounds good to me.”

From the back porch, June yells, “I’m hungry!”

Holden sighs, his breath ruffling my hair, and I can’t help but laugh. I’m exhausted, but I’ve never felt lighter.

I nudge his side, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him toward the back door. “C’mon. The sooner we eat, the sooner we can go to bed.”

He nods, his chin resting against my head, his beard catching in my hair. “Okay.”

We shuffle out the back door, clinging to each other, the paper bags crinkling between us. As Holden sets the bags on the end table between the two Adirondack chairs and begins to sift through them, I crouch down next to June, inspecting her handiwork.

“Whatcha working on, June Bug?”

She flashes me a smile, one that’s sure to stop people in their tracks when she grows up, and turns the bracelet over so I can see it. The beads are in varying shades of green—pine, sage, and olive—and separated by plain white beads with black imprinted letters.

“Daddy said this is your little cabin off the beaten path,” she tells me as I read the words she’s spelled out.OFF THE BEATEN PATH.

A smile curves up the edges of my lips. “It’s perfect.”

Her eyes light up, bright as the summer sky. “Really?”

“Yeah,” I say with a nod. “I’ve been thinking of what to name this place. All the rental cabins have names. I think The Cabin Off the Beaten Path is just right. What do you think?”

Her head bounces enthusiastically, and when I look up, I catch Holden staring at us, that little smile hidden beneath his beard. He looks happy in a way I haven’t seen him before, like all his long-forgotten dreams are coming true in the most unexpected of ways.

I know the feeling.

June finishes tying off the bracelet, and when I extend my hand to her, she slips it around my wrist to nestle with the others she’s made me. It fits perfectly, and I smile, tracing my fingers over the beads.

“Thank you, June Bug.”

She grins at me, and I pick her up, settling her on my lap. Holden finishes pulling out the rest of the food.

He snorts a laugh, and when I look up, he’s pulling out a very familiar bottle of cheap strawberry wine from the bag. My favorite brand. “Special present from Mom.”

He cracks open the screw top and takes a long swig, his throat working, before he hands it to me, his face scrunched in disgust.

“That’s nasty. Way too sweet.”

I can’t help but smile as I take it from him, my mind returning to just a few months ago when I stood in the demolished kitchen of the cabin with Stevie, drinking this exact wine, completely unaware of all the ways my life was about to change.

I take a sip and flash him a smile. “No, I think it’s just right.”

“Thisspaceheaterisdoing absolutely nothing,” I complain, snuggling closer to Holden in the Adirondack chair, trying desperately to absorb some of his heat.

Holden snorts, his arms tightening around me. “I tried to tell you that.”

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