Chapter Thirty-Five

"Are you sad to be leaving here?" Noah asked, tossing his knapsack into the back of her pickup.

Marlie looked up at the apartment building. "No. Not at all. This place was never my home." It had been a prison of her own making.

She hefted her suitcase into the pickup. Sad, pathetic . Sad, that she didn't own a stick of furniture. Pathetic, that what little was hers actually fit in the back of a small, antique pickup truck. Maybe it was better that way. A fresh start with a new house, albeit a rental, and new furniture.

The sky was overcast, a shade of gray somewhere between slate and pewter. A gust of autumn wind brought with it a chill, and she zipped up her jacket. This really was a new beginning with Noah in her life. There was nothing like the love of a child. Perhaps she'd been greedy, hoping for more. If only she hadn't fallen in love with a man who could never love her back.

" Now can we get a dog?" Noah grinned slyly. "You said we couldn't get one because your apartment didn't allow them, but now we have a house, so…"

She laughed, remembering how Aiden never forgot a single word she said when it came to justifying something he wanted. "I did say that, didn't I?" This was the first time she recalled something Aiden had said without her heart breaking into a million jagged pieces. "As soon as we get settled, we'll go to the animal shelter and look around."

"Okay." Noah nodded, though not as enthusiastically as she would have expected. "It won't be the same as Blue, though."

"No, it won't be, but he or she will be yours, and you'll love him or her just as much as you love Blue." She draped an arm over his shoulder and urged him to the truck. "We'll have to set some ground rules. Rule number one, you'll be the one walking the dog in the rain, sleet, and sno—"

Tires screeched to a stop. A large SUV parked behind her truck, blocking her from getting out. The passenger door opened, and her heart did a not-so-little somersault.

Evan .

"Blue!" Noah ran to the dog and dropped to his knees, laughing as Blue licked his face like an ice cream cone.

"Hi," Evan said, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. "I heard you were moving."

"Uh-huh." She nodded, not knowing what else to do, because hadn't they already said all there was to say?

His dark brows drew together. "I missed you."

"I've missed me, too." It had taken three long years, but finally, she was on the right track. Nothing would derail her ever again. "What are you doing here?" Just when she was about to start a new life—without him —and he showed up unannounced and uninvited.

He cleared his throat, drawing her attention to his Adam's apple and the strong lines of his neck. "I need to tell you some things."

"What things?" Not that she wanted to know. Not really. "Actually"—she feigned looking at a watch that wasn't on her wrist—"we have to get going." She started to turn away.

"Wait." He grabbed her arm, releasing it just as quickly but not before a delicious shiver zinged up her neck, making all the little hairs at her nape sway back and forth.

If only the merest touch from him didn't send messages to her body that her brain and common sense didn't want to read.

"Gracie wasn't in the cemetery."

Her throat suddenly felt scratchy, and she had to blink at the wetness backing up behind her lids. No matter how angry she was at him for showing up here like this, it was impossible not to feel the grief in his words. "I'm sorry. I'm sure this has been difficult for you and your family."

He nodded. "It has been, but we've made a decision. Tomorrow, I'm taking my folks to order a headstone for Gracie. It's time to buy a plot in the cemetery by our house."

"Oh, Evan." Unconsciously, she reached out to touch his arm but let her hand fall away before she did something stupid, like wrapping him in a big hug and never letting go. "How are your parents handling everything?"

He let out a deep sigh. "They're dealing with it, trying to move forward. We all are."

"That's probably the healthiest thing to do at this point." From firsthand experience, she knew their grief would never completely go away, but this was a start. She glanced at Noah, who'd taken Blue to the only bit of grass on the property. Blue lay on his back, with his legs kicking in the air as Noah gave him a tummy rub. "Look, we really have to get going." Because her heart couldn't take much more of being near him, being in love with him and not being able to touch him again the way she wanted to.

"Marlie, wait. Please ."

No , she wanted to say. This was only dragging out the kind of suffering she was determined to put behind her. Every instinct screamed she should run from him as fast as possible. The pleading look in his eyes was the only thing keeping her feet glued to the pavement.

"I'm transferring off the Child Abduction team," he said. "It's keeping me from having a life of my own. A personal life."

"That's a big step and a good one." As a psychologist, she knew this was the best thing he could possibly do for himself. "I'm happy for you. I really am. You deserve to have a good life." Everyone did.

"I'm glad you think that." He grinned, transforming all the storminess on his face into the same handsome man she'd met weeks ago and fallen crazy in love with. "Because I want to have that life. With you . And Noah. I want you both to move in with me. I know it's too soon to ask you to marry me, but please . Live with me. Life's too short, so let's give this a shot."

Huh? Her mouth must have dropped to the asphalt. Did he just ask me to move in with him and get married?

"Marlie?" He took her hands, bringing them to his lips and kissing them.

"What? N-no. I-we can't move in with you. We just rented a house."

"I love you," he said simply.

"What?" She was repeating herself, wasn't she?

"I love you so much I can't think straight." He squeezed her hands. "I love you so much I can't breathe without you in my life. I'm sorry I was such a blind jackass that I didn't see the most wonderful thing when it was standing right in front of me. You . I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Please say yes."

Yes. No. Don't be stupid.

Her heart was breaking with the need to hurl herself into his arms and tell him she loved him right back the same way, but nothing had changed. He'd said he was making some positive changes, but that didn't mean his life would transform overnight. Being with him was a risk she couldn't afford to take. "Evan, your life is going in a different direction. Your sister will always be—"

"Gone. One way or the other, she's gone, and I've accepted that, just like I've accepted that I wasn't to blame for what happened. I won't look for her again." In his eyes, she glimpsed the pain it took for him to make this soul-deep acknowledgment.

"What's going on?" Noah asked. "Why do you look like you're gonna cry?"

Because however she answered his question would determine the rest of her life, and she was scared to death of making the wrong decision.

She took in the three of them: Evan, Noah, and Blue.

Could they really all be a family? If not, the alternative was to let Evan drive away, out of her life forever. That thought had her heart breaking with the kind of sadness and loss she never wanted to experience again.

Just then, the sun peeked through a break in the clouds, its rays shining down and illuminating the sincerity in Evan's eyes. In that fateful moment, her doubts cleared away with the clouds. "There's been a change of plans," she answered on a sniffly inhale. "We're moving in with Evan and Blue."

"Yesss!" Noah fist-pumped the air, then did a high-five with Blue.

Evan picked her up, spinning her around as he buried his face in her neck. He set her back on her feet and kissed her. "I love you," he said softly.

"I love you, too." She kissed him back. Deeply, thoroughly, and with all the love she could pack into one kiss.

Noah groaned. "Get. A. Room."