by Brenda Novak
Swallowing hard, she told herself to hang on a bit longer. “Wow. It’s big.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” she heard Cheyenne mutter, and unwrapped it to find forty yoga mats. He’d gotten her the practical gift she’d suggested—but at least he’d gotten her a lot of them.
“This is wonderful,” she said. “I really...need these.” She looked at Catherine, one of her yoga students, who sat nearby playing with Wyatt. “Won’t having so many of my own mats be handy?”
Catherine nodded, but even her smile seemed forced.
Presley got to her feet. “Thanks a million for coming,” she told everyone. “And for all the lovely gifts. This has been the best birthday ever.”
It was a pretty transparent lie, but they all hugged her, wished her a final “happy birthday” and drifted off to their own homes.
“You okay?” Cheyenne asked as they started to clean up.
“Of course,” she replied, and promised herself that soon she’d be able to crawl into bed.
Cheyenne grabbed her arm when she moved toward the kitchen to throw away some paper plates. “You can go now, if you want. It’s past Wyatt’s bedtime, anyway.”
“He’ll be fine for a few more minutes. I don’t want to leave you with this mess,” she said, but she wished she’d taken Cheyenne up on her offer when she heard Dylan, his voice low and angry, talking to Mack.
“Where the hell is he? He has me go buy yoga mats and thinks he’s covered?”
Mack saw her standing nearby and cleared his throat, which caused Dylan to turn.
“Shit. I’m sorry, Pres,” he said when he realized she’d overheard.
Tears sprang to her eyes, but she blinked them back. “Don’t worry about it. I appreciate you getting the mats. They’ll...they’ll come in handy.”
“He would’ve done it himself, but he didn’t have time. He said today was crazy. He’s still coming, by the way. At least he was the last I heard. He called a little while ago.”
“It’s a long drive.” She’d been saying that all night, but no sooner had those words come out than her phone buzzed.
It was another text from Aaron.
I’m finally here, babe. I’m so sorry. I just need a quick shower. Then I’ll be over.
It’s okay, she wrote. Everyone’s gone.
So you’re coming home now?
Yes.
Good. I’ll meet you at your place.
Presley let her breath seep out as she stared down at his words. What was she going to say when she saw him? She wasn’t sure she could pretend it hadn’t hurt that he’d been so cavalier about her birthday.
“I guess he’s here,” she told Dylan when she saw him frowning at her.
“Great. Where?” he muttered. “I’ll kick his ass.”
“Don’t be mad at him,” she said. “I was warned, right?”
He gave her a hug. “If that brother of mine had a brain in his head, he’d know what he has in you.”
“You can’t make your heart love someone it won’t. I think that’s a line in a song, isn’t it? Or something like that.” She chuckled mirthlessly. “Who can argue with such wisdom?”
There was nothing he could say to that, nothing anyone could say.
“We’ll keep Wyatt here while you go talk to him,” Cheyenne said.
She allowed that because Wyatt was still so wound up she had no idea how long it would take to get him to sleep. And she had to tell Aaron that he was off the hook, that he didn’t need to return to Whiskey Creek anymore, not to see her. They’d given a relationship their best shot, but he obviously didn’t care about her very much. He hadn’t even offered an excuse for missing her birthday party. That was what stung the most. If he’d had a good reason, maybe she could’ve forgiven him. But even Dylan was mad.
It was hot outside, one of those rare nights that brought no reprieve from the summer heat. But Presley’s house was close enough that she wouldn’t have to be outside for long.
She’d barely rounded the corner before coming to a halt. She’d assumed Aaron would be inside, having a shower, as he’d said in his text. He had his own key. But he stood waiting for her, leaning up against the side of a big U-Haul truck. His pickup was hooked to the back via a tow dolly.
What was this?
So surprised that she forgot to be upset, she hurried over. “What’s going on?”
He wiped a bead of sweat from his temple. “Sorry. I’d hug you, but I’m filthy.”
“From...”
He indicated the truck behind him. “What does it look like? I’ve been moving.”
“But...I don’t understand. You rented that house in Reno. You signed a lease for the shop. You just moved up there three weeks ago!”
“And I just figured out that it was all a mistake, Pres.” Shoving away from the truck, he stepped closer and rested his hands on her shoulders. “The past three weeks have shown me that I can’t live without you.”
Presley couldn’t believe her ears. “What are you saying? You’re moving back?”
His lips twisted into a wry grin. “I already did. Everything I want is right here.”
In the truck. Her mind was reeling. “But you–you paid rent on the business and your house. You’re locked in for a year. You’ll lose thousands of dollars if you walk away.”
He winced as he scratched his head. “Yeah. Not the smartest move I’ve ever made. I’ll do what I can to salvage it—maybe hire a manager and some techs to run it. If that doesn’t work, I deserve the financial loss for being so slow on the uptake. Somehow I thought we could carry on pretty much the way we were, that I could escape my past and start over without losing you. I even thought that maybe you’d be willing to move up there at some point.” He gave her a rueful smile. “But I just couldn’t see you leaving what you’ve established here. Which meant I needed to be the one to make the sacrifice.”
“But...that’s such an expensive decision!”
“You’re worth it. The past three weeks have been the most miserable of my life, Pres. I go to work. I come home. Nothing has any meaning without you and Wyatt.”
Presley was still so shocked she couldn’t even speak. She stood there, gaping up at him and that big truck behind him.
“Tell me you’re glad I’m home,” he said. “Because it’s been a long, hard day and it was this moment that kept me going.”
She finally found her voice. “Of course I’m glad! But...I would’ve helped you. You didn’t have to pack and move by yourself.”
“I thought I could do it quicker than I could,” he explained. “I wanted to surprise you at your party, but–” he wiped his hand across his face “–that was easier said than done.”
“So what are you going to do with the real estate you’ve leased?”
“If I decide not to have someone else run it for me. I’ll see if I can sublease it. That’s all I can do.”
“And your brothers will be okay with that?”
“Any loss will be my loss alone, since I’m the one who took the risk. I’m just glad I negotiated a good price and the right to sublet if I want. That might make it possible.”
“But...your brothers. I just saw them. They can’t know you’ve changed your mind, or they’re the best actors in the world!”
“No one knows. I was afraid it would spoil the surprise if everyone was smirking and whispering when they ran into you.”
The tears she’d been holding back for most of the night began to slide down her cheeks, only now they were happy tears. “So you’re really back? For good?”
He leaned down to kiss her lips. “That’s right. And I won’t ever leave you again.”
When she threw her arms around him, he muttered another quick warning about how dirty he was, but
she didn’t care. She would’ve hugged him even if he’d been covered in mud. She’d never been happier in her life. I won’t ever leave you again. Aaron had said that, and he didn’t make promises lightly.
“I was so mad when you missed my party,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry about that, babe. If I’d realized that I was going to blow it this badly, I wouldn’t have bothered with the surprise. But once I decided to come back, I couldn’t leave my stuff behind. I wanted to pack up and get out of there as soon as possible.”
“It’s fine. Having you here, in my arms, that’s all I care about. You’ll be okay with Anya and Natasha...and your father, when he gets out?”
“I’ll have to be,” he said. “Did you like the yoga mats?”
She nodded. He could’ve given her a bucket of water from the hose and she wouldn’t have cared now that she had him home for good.
“I’m glad. I’m hoping you might like this even better.”
He pulled away long enough to extract a small wrapped box from his front pocket. When she glanced up to meet his eyes, his smile was slightly crooked. “Another reason I was late. I had the plan laid out so perfectly in my mind, and this was part of it.”
Presley’s heart pounded as she accepted the gift. She told herself not to get excited, that it couldn’t be a ring. But it certainly felt like one.
She drew a calming breath, trying to prepare herself in case it was a necklace or earrings instead.
“Aren’t you going to open it?”
Her eyes were burning again. She didn’t want to cry, but she felt so hopeful and vulnerable and in love. She prayed he couldn’t tell that her hands were shaking as she ripped off the wrapping paper and opened the velvet box.
Her breath caught in her throat. It was a diamond, all right: a huge solitaire, bigger than anything she’d ever dreamed of owning.
“Do you like it?”
“It’s gorgeous!” she said. “The most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. But...it must’ve cost you a fortune. And with moving back, and having to pay on those leases until you can find someone to take over, I’m afraid we should return it.”
She heard him chuckle. “No way. You deserve to come first for a change. I wanted you to think it’s the most beautiful ring you’ve ever seen. That’s why it took me so long to decide. It’s not easy for a guy. There were hundreds to choose from,” he complained, as if the whole process had been harrowing indeed.
She laughed. “You did well. I love it.”
“Will you marry me, Pres?”
A ripple of pure excitement ran through her. She’d gone from opening yoga mats to a stunning engagement ring, complete with wedding proposal. While she’d been moping around her party, she’d thought this might be one of the worst nights of her life. Now she knew it was the best.
“Are you sure you want me?” She knew that probably wasn’t the usual question a prospective bride asked her groom. But Aaron had been so wary of commitment.
His lips curved into a confident smile. “Would I have asked if I wasn’t?”
She laughed again through the tears that were slipping over her lashes. “No.”
“There you go. I wanted to be sure I was doing it for the right reasons, not out of a sense of guilt or obligation but because we were good together, right for each other. I had to screw up my whole financial picture to finally realize it, but...I’m there now. And we’ll recover eventually.”
We’ll recover. That had a nice sound to it.
She gazed down as he slid the ring on her finger. “Wow. Would you look at that! It’s so big I’m afraid I might get mugged.”
“No one had better hurt you, ever, or they’ll answer to me,” he said. Then he cupped her face in his hands and wiped her tears with his thumbs. “Presley?”
For a moment it seemed as if her little-girl self, the grimy waif who’d had to steal food from Dumpsters to survive, was watching her from one side—watching her adult self step into a fairy tale. “What?”
He kissed her, tenderly. “I love you.”
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460328569
COME HOME TO ME
Copyright © 2014 by Brenda Novak, Inc.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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