13. Shane

13

SHANE

ONE MONTH LATER

“So you’re telling me that cotton candy and Moon Pies were both invented in Tennessee?” Rowen asked.

We were talking to a man in a cowboy hat who had showed up here at the Hard Spot Saloon a little over an hour ago.

“And Mountain Dew, too,” the cowboy said, holding up his beer bottle.

“So Tennessee just makes sweet things, I guess,” Rowen said, reaching over toward me on the seat next to his. He rubbed my leg, giving it a little sweet.

The man in the cowboy hat gave us a look. For a moment I was worried he was going to give us shit for being gay, but soon a dimpled smile appeared on his face.

“Hell, I need some of what you two have,” he said, shaking his head as he finished his beer. “I’m going to go chat up that guy down on the other side of the bar. Do you guys know him?”

We glanced over to see a man with slightly greying hair on the opposite end. He was sitting alone, nursing a beer of his own.

“I haven’t seen him,” I said, “but he looks like he’d enjoy some cowboy company, for sure.”

“Going to shoot my shot,” the guy said. He winked at us. “Have a good one, boys. I know you will.”

Rowen leaned in and kissed me once we were alone.

It was Thursday night at the saloon, and while it wasn’t as busy as it got on the weekends, the place was fairly full. We’d been here ever since I got off work down at the inn, and Rowen had been telling me good news before the cowboy had come over to chat with us.

“So the theater company wants to work with you full-time?” I asked.

Rowen nodded. “They don’t have much money, but luckily that’s the one thing I can do without,” he said. “I’m going to try my best to grow the troupe, bring it statewide, maybe even make some regular trips to Knoxville and Nashville.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “Do you miss the faster pace of New York?”

I watched his lashes as he glanced down at the bar, then looked back up at me. “I thought I would,” he explained, “but the longer I’m here, the more I feel at home. I was good at what I did in New York, helping run the acting school. But it never felt like what I wanted to do forever. I liked teaching students, but… it was so cut-throat. It’s not like that here.”

I nodded, trying to keep my composure on the outside even though inside I felt like I had a whole cheerleading team jumping for joy. The loud clack of people breaking up a cluster of billiards balls from a pool table came through the air, reminding me of the night Rowen and I had met—and how far we’d come since then.

He liked it here.

Rowen really liked it here in Tennessee, even though it used to seem like the middle of nowhere to him.

I sure as fuck liked having him here, too.

“That makes me so happy,” I said. “Tennessee loves you, too.”

He smiled. “I think I like it when you speak for the whole state of Tennessee.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I slid it out thoughtlessly, glancing at an email I’d received, expecting it to be the usual junk mail.

My whole body froze as I read and re-read the notification on my screen.

“They want us on the show,” I said, my voice breaking as I spoke. Already I felt tears welling up behind my eyes. “I—I thought they forgot about us.”

Rowen leaned over and read the notification. It was from the Fixer Brothers official email account, and the email was unmistakable.

Congratulations, Shane and Rowen, for being selected to star in an episode of The Fixer Brothers: Couples Edition!

“Fuck yes, Shane!” Rowen shouted, leaping out of his chair. By the time his arms were wrapped around me, tears had already broken off from my eyes, falling down my cheek.

“I thought they forgot about us,” I repeated in a whisper.

It had been over a month since we’d last heard from Shawn and Nathan Wood, and I’d been convinced my house wouldn’t be selected for a renovation. I’d thought it was over. That they must have picked someone else.

“You’re going to get your house renovated, and we’re going to be on your favorite show,” Rowen said, hugging me tight and rocking me from left to right.

“What’s the celebration?” a bartender said from behind the bar.

“We’re going to be on the Fixer Brothers TV show,” Rowen told him, finally releasing me from the hug.

The bartender nodded at us, then reached over to give each of us a high-five. “Congrats, guys,” he said. “That’s reason enough to have a drink on the house.”

“You’re going to be on the Fixer Brothers show?” a woman at a booth nearby asked, getting up and walking over to us. “That’s my favorite, too. How cool.”

“Hey, Em!” the bartender called over to a different guy working behind the bar. “You like the Fixer Brothers, right? This guy’s going to be on the show.”

“What the fuck? That’s awesome!” the other guy said, coming out and fist-bumping us. “Hey, when they’re in town to film, tell them to come for drinks here at Hard Spot. We’ll take good care of them.”

“I will,” I said.

“I knew they’d want you,” Rowen said. “It was a done deal, as far as I was concerned.”

“I never could have done it without you,” I told him, meaning every last word. “I mean, literally , because it’s a couple’s edition. But… I never would have had the confidence, even on my own.”

His eyes sparkled. “I knew you had it,” he said. “It’s called the it factor in the acting world. You’ve got it, Shane.”

“God, I haven’t even opened the full email.”

I looked down, tapping on it, opening it up. The last part of the email made me emotional all over again.

Not only did we love you and Rowen as a couple—we also loved the location of Bestens, Tennessee, and all of the small-town charm it has to offer. We also loved when you shared memories of your beloved grandmother, and we will be sure to honor her on your episode of the show, as well.

Rowen was reading it over my shoulder, and he squeezed me close as he read the last line.

“Your Gram would have been so proud of you, Shane,” he whispered. “I wish I could have known her, but I feel like I can, through you.”

I sucked in a breath. “Thank you so much,” I told him. “And she would have loved you, by the way.”

“You think so?”

I nodded. “She would have been your best friend. And congratulated me on being with someone so smart and funny and handsome , too.”

“What do you think she would have said, seeing that you got on the TV show?”

I pulled in a breath. “She’d say you fucking did it, kiddo ,” I said.

I swore my heart could burst. I didn’t know how something could feel so beautiful, even through the pain we’d both had in our lives.

But it was beautiful.

Nothing would ever be perfect, and I knew life would never be without pain. But with each other, it would be a good fucking ride.

I knew I was leading with love. Just like Gram always wanted me to. And even though it was way too early to say it, I knew I could see myself falling deeper and deeper in love with Rowen every day. I could see myself continuing that forever, as far as I was concerned. Nothing was guaranteed, but I knew that I had something real with him.

Something I wasn’t going to turn away from.

“You want to know something else Gram always used to say?” I asked Rowen.

“What?”

“When you know, you know .”

He let his gaze linger on mine, and I was pretty sure we were thinking the exact same thing.

We both knew.

Knew that this was only the beginning of our love, and that it was magic.

“I’m falling in love with you,” I said simply, feeling his hand tighten a little on my waist.

He swallowed, nodding slowly as he watched me. “I’ve been falling in love with you, too, Shane.”

I exhaled, listening to the perfect sounds of laughter and music all around us in the bar.

“ Fuck , I’m so lucky,” I said.

“I’m the lucky one. Now I’m going to drag you out onto that dance floor, whether you like it or not,” he said. “Because if I keep looking in your eyes here I’m going to start crying, too, and nobody needs that.”

I puffed out a laugh. “You are my favorite. Hell yes. Let’s go.”

He dragged me out onto the little dance floor and we got lost in the music. I danced knowing that this was the start of something beautiful. Something I never thought I’d have.

The magic had been right there.

And I was going all in with Rowen—leading with love, with a full, fierce heart.

Because he was so fucking worth it, and… yeah, maybe I could admit that I was, too.

Yee-haw.

Thank you for reading! Need more Christmas goodness? Check out my previous novella, Christmas With My Best Friend’s Dad , or my full-length novel A Boyfriend By Christmas . They’re both some of my favorite books I’ve written, full of the holiday spirit!

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Xoxo,

Raleigh