She sucked in a shaky breath. “What did I do to deserve you? I thought… I don’t know what I thought. I just… Gabe…” I love you. Her throat went as dry as cement. What was wrong with her? She cleared it hard as she flipped on her blinker to turn into the little village of Elsah before it came into view. Towering, mature trees blocked the entrance on both sides until she was practically upon it, adding to its hidden-gem allure, but she’d memorized the turn by now and could find it on autopilot. “I don’t know why it’s so hard to find the words. It’s just… It’s different with you. It’s real.”

“I know. And that stuff about deserving; you may be forgetting how extraordinary you are. If anything, it’s the other way around. But I’m good going with us being a good match for each other.”

She laughed softly. “Me too. Thank you. For everything.”

“You’re welcome. You know, I had something I wanted to tell you, too, but I’ll wait till I see you in person. I’d better hang up and call my mom to let her know she doesn’t have to do a rush clean of her house.”

“Tell her thanks, please, and I’m excited to meet her. Both of them. This weekend could work. I’ll be back Saturday afternoon. And please tell her I’d love to bring something.”

“I’ll tell her. And hey…”

“Yeah?”

“Enjoy that dog. Just try not to let him pull a Samson and get used to hogging the other side of the bed, because it’s not going to stay empty long.”

She laughed. “I won’t. He’s sleeping on the floor. Promise.”

“Good, because none of the places your sister has lined up to show me have room for those California kings. And with both of them on the bed, we’d need one.”

After a shared laugh, she said goodbye and hung up, regretting she hadn’t made the decision to swing by his place before heading home. She should have told him in person. It enamored her to him even more to realize he probably felt the same way but wasn’t holding it against her. He seemed to understand her fears even better than she did.

Maintaining the mandated snail’s pace of a speed limit, Olivia drove through the picturesque town reminiscent of stepping back in time to the late eighteen hundreds, complete with cobblestone sidewalks, gazebos, and even an old dance hall. As if anticipating that the drop in speed indicated a bigger change, Morgan poked his head between the seats.

“Hey, buddy.” She pressed her forehead against his soft jowls. “We’re home. For the time being, anyway. But you know what they say. ‘Home is where you hang your hat.’ What matters is that we’re together.”