“How long do you think you’ll be gone?” he asked.
“I don’t know. It’s hard to say. How long will you wait for me?”
“Not very long at all, I’m afraid.”
She snuggled even closer. “Ah, I see. And just how long is ‘not very long’? A week or two?”
He sighed. “Oh, a little longer than that. I can probably hold out a month or so.”
“And then?”
“Then I’ll either have to find another girl, or come after you.”
“Gosh. Think I ought to worry?”
“Nah. Pickings are pretty slim around here. Small town, you know.”
“So,” Emily said. “One way or the other.”
“Yep. One way or the other. We’ll figure it out.”
The fire was very low; one of the logs cracked in half and dropped through the grate. Flames shot up, then quieted. Joe stirred and Emily lifted her head. “Hey,” he said. “Happy New Year. I was trying to get here by midnight, but—”
She stopped him with two fingers pressed to his lips. “Close enough,” she said. “I have a feeling we have quite a few New Year’s Eves ahead of us.”
He looked into her eyes, smiled and said, just before he kissed her, “A lot more than quite a few. A lifetime’s worth, at least.”
Hope Falls_Almost Merry Page 10
