He was putting her dreams first and no one had ever done that. He wasn’t going to vanish on her. He would come with her. Or even stay here and hold everything together while she was gone, if that’s what she wanted. “Word,” she whispered, smiling when he looked at her in surprise.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah. All I need to make this work is my family, which includes you and your dad. But mostly what I need is you. And I need to be here with all of you, in Wildstone.”

He was already shaking his head. “No. No way. You’re not giving up your dream for—”

“I’m not. I won’t. While you were gone, I also applied here at Cal Poly, which I didn’t do in the first place because I thought I wanted to leave. I wanted adventure, but this is my adventure. You’re my adventure, Cam.”

His gaze searched hers. “You sure?”

She tried to shift even closer, but she was already on top of him. Understanding, he tugged off her blanket and opened his for her, where she made herself at home up against his chest, closing her eyes when his arms came back around her. Winding a hand through her still drenched and tangled hair, he brought her face close to his so he could kiss her, his mouth a hot contrast to hers. They were still kissing, and she was no longer cold, when she heard footsteps on the dock behind them. She looked up and found Emmitt, Gavin, and Winnie staring at them.

“Told you,” Winnie said. “They’re making up for lost time.”

Piper yanked her hands off Cam.

Cam did not yank his hands off Piper. He kept them on her. His gaze too. “What’s up?” he asked their audience.

“We could ask you the same thing,” Emmitt said. “Or question your sanity, going for a swim in February.”

“Love makes you do stupid things,” Gavin said sagely.

Winnie gasped, her head swiveling between Cam and Piper. “Love?”

“Love,” Cam said firmly.

Emmitt grinned.

Gavin grinned.

The old Piper would have rolled her eyes and denied it, and then said something snarky to chase everyone off. The new Piper could only nod with a dopey smile on her face, one that made Cam laugh.

Winnie smiled, but it wavered. “Piper, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’d like to blame the Bean, but I’m going to be a mom, so I figure I should probably at least try to grow up. I just want you to know, you’re important to me. So important. I love you so much, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything sooner. That’s not on you, not even a little bit. It’s all on me.”

Gavin nodded. “What she said. We are assholes, and we’re going to do better. You deserve that, and so much more.”