“Still got the imprint of the seat in front of me in my kneecaps. Plus my shoulders were taking up half the spot next to me that was supposed to belong to a nice old lady named Marge. Cost me my mama’s second-best cupcake recipe to get her to stop glaring, and if Mama ever finds out I gave it away, she’ll whup my ass for sure.”

Andra burst into laughter, starting up all over again every time she pictured him charming a hostile elderly woman with a cupcake recipe.

When she eventually quieted, there were just the soft sounds of horses in the stalls outside, the scent of hay and sex, and one big, beautiful man—a whole lifetime of unlived years quivering between them like a question.

“Are you sure we can do this?” she whispered. “Louisiana and Montana, my family and yours, all the . . . everything that comes with that?”

“I know it’s not perfect, Andra. But nothing is, not even me.” He smiled, so brightly it almost covered the uncertainty in his dark eyes. “What do you think?”

She lay down next to him and pulled him close so in this moment of all moments, he couldn’t feel alone. She knew the road they had ahead of them. It was bumpy, but it wasn’t impossible. They’d been through so much worse, back before they’d found each other.

“I think some things are better than perfect.” She smiled back. “And you make me believe in all of them.”

Epilogue

Two years later

LJ kicked the dust off his boots and nodded to his mama, who was sitting on her porch with her purse in her lap. “Going someplace?”

Mama pursed her lips, like she did when she was trying to hide a smile. “As a matter of fact, I’m headed down to Mona’s.”

“Want me to walk with you?”

“I’m perfectly fine and you know it.” She pushed to her feet. “You could have been back in Montana three weeks ago if you didn’t hate the snow so much.”

It was probably true. Since his paychecks had gotten bigger, she’d been able to cut back her hours at the restaurant, and her lupus was responding well to the extra rest. She didn’t have too many flare-ups these days, but Andra and LJ had gotten spoiled on spending winters in New Orleans even when she was well. The horses they brought with them seemed happier in the warmer temperatures, too.

“Can I help it if I wanted three more weeks with my beautiful mama?” He slung an arm around her shoulders and grinned. “And yeah, snow in Montana’s up to your belt buckle this time of year. I don’t mind skipping that.”