She could sleep through anything, even Easton’s hulking figure appearing in the doorway. “We need to talk.” He must have noticed her—how could he not—because Easton kept his voice low.

“Then talk.” Graham continued wiping down a smaller half-finished piece of art, considering his next cuts.

“In private.”

Glancing at Zoey, Graham nodded and followed his friend outside. It took a lot to rattle Easton, but he looked shaken.

“Lana’s got too much sway. The council is going to agree to the project.”

Inhaling a deep, steadying breath, Graham counted to three. Then ten. Then thirty. “So that’s it?” he finally asked.

“That’s it.”

Exhaling explosively, Graham folded his arms over his chest. Two days ago, it was the worst news he could possibly have imagined. But compared to what he was about to lose, Graham struggled to find the emotions he normally would have felt on hearing his town was about to be ruined.

“Maybe it’s for the better.” Nudging a cedar chip with the side of his work boot, Graham looked at the trees rising around him. “Maybe L will do this right.”

Easton didn’t seem convinced, but there was nothing either of them could do at this point. Discussing it only left them both without any ideas, so they talked about Easton’s climbing season instead. He was considering taking one more group up Mount Veil, the beast of a mountain not far from Moose Springs, but it was risky. This late in the season, the cold weather could hit fast and hard up there. Eventually, Easton went home, leaving Graham to consider his little home and what would become of it.

He went back inside his workshop, because contemplating his future felt a little rough right now. It was easier, better to contemplate her. Zoey was awake, sitting up on his workbench when he returned. Graham went to her, gazing down, memorizing her in that moment.

“You leave tomorrow morning?”

She nodded, sadness in her eyes. That just wouldn’t do.

“We’ll worry about tomorrow when it happens.” Graham kissed her again, soft, slow kisses, then he pressed his face to her neck, stealing one more kiss as he murmured, “This is your last day in Moose Springs. How do you want to spend it before we say goodbye? What is the epic adventure of your dreams?”

Anything. He’d do anything she wanted.

“No goodbyes. From now until I leave, I just want to do this.”

Smiling against her skin, Graham nodded. He’d always known she was perfect.

* * *

Zoey’s bags were packed. Her heart was shattering, but she’d wrapped cellophane and duct tape around what pieces were left, and she’d packed that too. It was time to go home, away from this amazing, wild place that had crawled into her soul.

It was time to leave the man who’d done the same.

“When will I see you again?” Lana asked, unusually subdued as she watched Zoey double-check their room for any forgotten items.

“When are you heading down the highway at midnight again?” Zoey shot Lana a little smile. “I’ll keep the coffee on for you.”

“Zoey? Be my assistant. Or just be my friend, and we’ll work out the finances later. I hate that we can’t spend the time together I want to spend with you. You’re the only real friend I have.”

Reaching out her arms, Zoey hugged her tight. “We both know that’s the best way to mess up a good thing. Let’s just stay in touch and see each other as often as possible.”

Lana hugged her right back, and when she pulled away, there were tears in her eyes. “Well, I don’t know about some people, but I adore the truck stop in Mudgeton. It’s the place to go, so of course I’ll be there.”

Deeply grateful for having Lana in her life, Zoey hugged her again, whispering goodbye.

The valet would have carried her suitcase, but Zoey only had the one. She wheeled it down the hall where Graham had asked her out to her favorite cinnamon roll breakfast, into the elevator they had used to escape the gala, across the lobby where Graham had lost his mind at the thought of her being left alone in the woods during a storm.

So many memories, too many memories. Good and bad and amazing and heartbreaking.

They’d already arranged for her rental car to be returned, so Zoey went to the desk instead.

An exhausted Hannah welcomed her. “Good morning, Ms. Caldwell. I hear you’re leaving us today.”

“I’m just Zoey,” she replied softly. Just Zoey. Just a tourist who was destined to leave. Maybe Graham’s ex would help him pick up the pieces of what this vacation had done to them. Maybe when Zoey got back home, she’d meet someone who could help her do the same.

“Are you okay?” Hannah asked, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “I know goodbyes are hard.”

Overwhelmed by Hannah’s kindness, Zoey had to fight not to cry.

“Some more than others.” Hesitating, she asked, “He’ll be okay, right?”

Intelligent eyes searched Zoey’s face, and Hannah’s expression softened. “He’s tough. A big marshmallow, but he’s tough as any of us up here. It’s not an easy life, but Graham’s made for it.”

Nodding, Zoey wiped at her eyes with the heel of her hand. “Good. Thank you. Umm, I need to have a car drive me to the airport, please. I called down yesterday to be put on the schedule.”

“I would, but I think I might get in trouble for letting you.” Hannah tilted her head toward the valet pickup. “He’s been out there for an hour, waiting on you.”

Through the windows, Zoey could see a moose-loved Dodge pickup truck was parked out front. A man who had changed her life, even as he opened her eyes, leaned against the hood. Gripping a single flower in his hand, he stared at the ground beneath his feet. Shoulders slumped, body language defeated.

Then Graham looked up, meeting her eyes through the glass. His gaze raked over her, his expression shifting to hunger, to pride, to so many amazing things as his body language changed.

Loving her hadn’t broken him. Her leaving, that was what was crushing them both.

“For what it’s worth, I was rooting for you two,” Hannah told her, smiling sweetly.

At her side, Quinn’s large eyes were gleaming. “I was too!”

Quinn burst into tears, leaving a groaning Hannah to attend to comforting her and Zoey to head outside.

“I thought we weren’t saying goodbye,” Zoey said, unable to keep from wrapping her arms around his waist.

“I couldn’t let the B team of Moose Springs’ rideshare drivers take you to the airport,” Graham told her, voice husky as he leaned down and rested his forehead to hers.

“What about the Tourist Trap?”

“What about it?”

Zoey exhaled a breathy laugh. “You’re incorrigible. You don’t deserve that awesome place.”

“Not at all.” Graham slipped the flower into her hand before kissing her. “I’m not letting someone else take my last moments with you.”

As she opened the passenger side door, Zoey found a roly-poly little stuffed moose sitting in the passenger seat, safely buckled in. Jake was in the back seat, his muzzle on his paws as if he knew something bad was happening.

“Jake picked that out. Something to remember us by,” Graham told her. The softness of his voice and the pain in his eyes couldn’t be hidden behind a plushy.

“He’s a happy moose.” Zoey climbed in the truck, hugging the moose to her stomach. “Thank you.”

She didn’t say that she didn’t need a happy moose to remember him. Forgetting Graham would be like forgetting how to breathe…impossible and painful when tried.

The drive to Anchorage was quiet. Every time Zoey opened her mouth to tell him they could stay in touch, they could text or call, they could visit…she closed her mouth again. They could, but all that would do was delay the inevitable.

Graham’s calloused, work-roughened hands gripped the steering wheel too hard, even though he smiled at her with that same lazy smile she loved when he caught her eye. Reaching over, he threaded his fingers through her own.

Unlike the poor steering wheel creaking beneath his clenching fist, he held her hand like it was as delicate as the flower he’d given her.

Rubbing his thumb across her knuckles, Graham pulled her wrist to his mouth, pressing the softest of kisses to the sensitive flesh. Then he pressed their entwined fingers to the top of his thigh as if holding her close just a little longer.

“Gonna miss you, darlin’.”

Four words, and they cut into her soul.

“You’re going to have a lot more free time to harass the poor tourists that come after me,” Zoey joked.

He opened his mouth to make a joke, then closed it. “You know what? They’re not so bad.”

Counting to three silently in her head, Zoey waited for the pinched expression to come to his face, as if his words tasted of sour lemons. “You’re so full of it,” she teased.

“Yeah, I hate them. Super-duper can’t stand them.” Shooting her a grin, Graham shrugged. “Sorry, Zo, I can only make exceptions for you.”

“Graham? People love you. It’s okay to let them.”

A pained expression crossed his handsome features, but Zoey plunged on, twisting to face him as the airport came into view at the end of the road.

“It’s okay to be good at something you weren’t planning on, and it’s okay to enjoy being successful.” She squeezed his fingers, hard. “Maybe it wasn’t the plan, and it wasn’t the dream, but you have a good life. You don’t have to be embarrassed by your success. Use it to make your dreams happen. Let the masses buy a million reindeer dogs and then go attack cedar logs with your chainsaw like a crazy guy. You’ve earned the right to have the things you want.”

Nodding, Graham didn’t say anything. But his eyes said it all as he pulled up to the curb in front of the airport and turned to her.

“I can park in short-term parking,” he offered, voice quiet, gaze scraping over her form. “I can wait with you for a while.”