“I do want to add quickly before we move on,” he says, “that if you weren’t cool with me owning your house—like, if you were pissed at me and felt awkward about it—I would’ve deeded it over to you. I never would’ve held that over your head.”

“So you’ll deed it to me now?” I ask, testing the waters.

He reaches for my hand and laces our fingers together. “Pretty sure when I marry you that you’ll own half anyway.”

I don’t know whether to laugh, cry, or say a prayer that I don’t wake up from this wonderful dream.

“I’m going to marry you, Miss Clark,” he says, biting his bottom lip. “I’m going to marry you, put as many babies inside you as you’ll allow, and dote on you until you’re sick of me.”

“Easy on the doting, sir. I like my own personal space.”

He laughs in a way that makes me think he doesn’t buy into the idea of personal space. Oh dear. How will I ever manage?

I grin at him. “Can we still live at my house? At your house? At the house?”

He squeezes my hand. “I know things have been really easy with us.”

“Yeah.”

“But some things are going to have to change a little bit, Palmer.”

I furrow my brow. “Like what?”

“Like we can live at the house, but we’ll need to get a security system. That’s one example.”

“Really?” I think about needing a security system in Bloomfield. It’s unnecessary. Unless . . . “How much money do you have, Cole? Ballpark it, no pun intended.”

“How much do you think I have?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. A couple of million? That would be a lot.”

He bursts out laughing.

“Don’t laugh at me. I don’t know how much athletes make!”

“Palmer, I’m worth many, many millions of dollars.”

Many, many millions? Holy shit.

“That makes me super uncomfortable,” I say.

“Then let’s not talk about it. Let’s talk about the possibility of remodeling the house and making it exactly the way you’ve always dreamed of. Maybe a big bathtub?”

“Ooh. And maybe a new dishwasher?”

He laughs again like I’ve lost my mind.

I sit quietly as we pull into the driveway. We climb out of the car when Val pulls in. Ethan jumps out of her car and barrels straight for Cole.

“You are here!” he says.

“I told you to trust me.”

He did? “When?”

They look at me and chuckle.

“Call me!” Val shouts, winking.

“I will! Promise!”

“I’m holding you to that!”

She backs out of the driveaway, honking her horn in celebration.

My spirits soar so high that I’m not sure if I’ll ever come back down.