Babies.
Horse rides.
Nights at the lake watching the fireflies.
Shopping sprees in New York.
Anything. Everything. Whatever I can make possible.
I will spend the rest of my life cherishing the woman who tamed me and gave me a reason to unlock my heart.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE
LOLA
Song- Beautiful Things,Benson Boone
Home.
The place my heart guided me to. Hundreds of miles away from New York. In the middle of a ranch. Surrounded by people who love me.
Not for what I post online. Or how I look in a swimsuit.
People who love me for who I am beneath all of that. A man who will pick my bloodied body off the floor and beg me to wake up. A best friend who never leaves my side. Who feels my pain as I do hers. And a little boy who stole my heart the second he smiled at me. Who carved his way into my soul. He might not be my son by blood, but he is where it counts.
I’ve even got siblings I never thought I’d have. Brothers. Ace and Colten proved they accept me with Hunter. That I am one of them.
My soul has never been more at peace.
And now I stand on the porch of our house, with a cherry-red welcome home banner across the wood. One hand in Hunter’s, the other in Wyatt’s.
“How does it feel?” Hunter asks.
“Perfect,” I whisper, fighting my emotions and failing.
The door swings open, and Violet races towards me and carefully wraps her arms around me. “I was going to apologize for bringing you to New Falls, Lola. I really started to regret it. After everything. But actually, I think you’re right where you belong.”
I choke on a sob.
“Never apologize. Bringing me here with you was the best thing you could have ever done.”
Despite the concussion, and thinking I was dying. Even then, I still wouldn’t have traded my time here. The love I found on this ranch.
Violet squeals and pulls back, and I burst into laughter as Gary headbutts her leg. “What the hell!”
Wyatt ushers his goat away, and Hunter watches him.
“I’m glad the goat had a go at someone else and not just me this time,” Hunter mutters.
I nudge his side. “He loves you really.”
He scoffs. “No. He really doesn’t, Lola.”
I laugh, listening to Wyatt chasing after his favorite goat. The rest of the crowd flows through the door. Ace and Colten, and then my parents.
I look up at Hunter, who has the face of a guilty man. “I told them they could stay on the ranch,” he says, leaning in and wrapping his arm around my waist.
“Not in our house, right? Like somewhere else?”