“Sorry! No. Not more excited, but maybe equally excited? And I love you too. It’s just that I had a lot of good times with your mother in her kitchen. I think I might like a nice kitchen of my own someday. I’ve never had a nice kitchen,” she says quickly, babbling like she does when she’s excited.

I quiet her with another kiss. “It’s yours.”

“I could bake you bread, and scones, and a cake on your birthday . . . They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

“You already have my heart.”

We kiss and hold each other on her sofa for a long time. When I finally pull back, I meet her eyes again. “You looked so sad when I first walked in.”

She nods. “I was happy to see you, so happy. But then I realized that I couldn’t put my arms around you, couldn’t hug you or kiss you or touch you, and that made me so incredibly sad.”

I brush my fingers along her collarbone. “Sweetheart, you can touch me as much as you want.”

This makes her laugh, and it’s the best sound.

“I missed you,” I say, pressing my lips to the top of her head.

You can’t appreciate the sweet if you never have the bitter.

And having Summer back in my arms is the sweetest thing in the world.

24

SUMMER

Two months later

There comes a moment when you know a house has become a home.

It starts as the smallest bit of warmth in your heart the second you step over the threshold, but with a little time, it spreads to your knees, then fills up the spaces between your toes.

You know it’s coming when the smell of dirty work boots and dinner in the oven isn’t just familiar, it’s comforting, like an old sweater that still fits, or a song you forgot you knew all the words to. It’s a perfect, special feeling that doesn’t come around too often, a feeling I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to feel again.

And then the Tate family changed all that.

The first time I stepped into this house, I was a stranger, only here for one reason—to convince a hotheaded hockey player to seek counseling. A few short months later, that hockey player isn’t so hotheaded, and the list of reasons why I’m here could stretch from Lost Haven to Massachusetts.

Reason number one? I’m madly in love with him.

Reason number two? I’m meeting his extended family, all of whom have flown from different parts of the country to stay in the cabins on the Lost Haven property.

Why? Well, that would be reason number three—

Logan and I are getting married tomorrow. And sitting here, surrounded by the people who are soon to become my official family, I’ve never felt so at home.