“It’s my pleasure,” she told him. Then she reached up and put a hand on Steve’s cheek. “I wish I could have known you sooner.”

Steve looked a little choked up. Letty had been his mother. This was her childhood best friend. What wounds Letty and Didi hadn’t been able to heal, he was able to heal with Didi. At least a little.

He put his hand over hers on his face and said, “We have time for that.”

She smiled. “I look forward to it.”

Then Steve turned and left with the nurse.

Everyone else just stood quietly for a moment.

Until Didi asked Josie, “If we’re riding back with you, does that mean we can stop at the bakery for pie?”

The mood officially lightened, everyone laughed and Josie slipped her arm through Didi’s—the one that wasn’t holding Henry’s hand—and said, “Absolutely. Pie makes everything better.”

“We will be right behind you,” Jane, the ultimate pie lover, announced.

She and Dax stopped and hugged Cam and Whitney and Zoe and Aiden. So did Ollie and Piper.

And then it was just the four of them.

Cam settled on one of the waiting room couches near the far wall and pulled Whitney down beside him, while Aiden and Zoe took the couch closer to the door. They were together, but this way the couples could chat in private.

“So you know,” he said as Whitney snuggled into him. “I’d really love to have your grandma stay at the house and not move into Sunny Orchard yet.”

Whitney stiffened in surprise and looked up at him. “Really?”

“Really. Things are going great. She’s doing well. I love being with her. I know we haven’t had any really bad days yet and I know things will get worse. There may be a time when Sunny Orchard is the right place for her but…” He’d been thinking about it a lot over the past week as the end of his month with Didi had been getting closer. “I think we could keep her at home longer.”

Whitney didn’t say anything. She just studied him, a soft smile on her face.

“What?” he asked finally.

“I really like hearing you say we and home and talk about the future like that.”

His heart kicked hard in his chest. “Me too.”

“And, yes,” she said. “I mean, I love having her there. If that’s what she wants. And you’re up for it.”

“Turns out that Hot Cakes needs a lot less legal work than Fluke did and, well, I’m damned good at being a stay-at-home grandson.”

Whitney’s expression softened. “Oh, man. You really are sweet. Those tattoos and muscles are a total cover-up.”

He laughed. “Just with you. And Didi.”

“And your mom. And Henry. And your sister. And Piper. And—”

“Okay, so my badass reputation is trashed.” He grinned down at her.

“Totally trashed,” she said with a nod. “But… at least you still have the tattoos.”

“You like those, don’t you?”

“So much,” she said in a lusty sigh.

He kissed the top of her head. “Maybe we should get you some.”

She didn’t say no. He looked down at her.

“Whit?”

“Just thinking about what I would get and where,” she said. “Especially if you would want to lick them as much as I like licking yours.”

Predictably, hospital waiting room or not, his body responded to that. “I would,” he said. “Very much. And I have some very specific ideas about what and where if that is part of the criteria.”

She grinned up at him. “Oh good.”

Yeah, he was definitely in love with her.

One month later…

“A toast!” Dax announced.

Everyone quieted and turned to face him. Except Maggie and Steve. They were sitting in the chaise lounge chairs off to one side. Still, they were facing Dax.

Maggie was doing great, but it was late and she still got tired easily, especially at these big group gatherings. Though she loved them more than anything.

Of course, anymore, all of their gatherings seemed to be big group gatherings.

Whitney had been amazed to find out over the past month that she was actually an extrovert. She’d thought so in high school, but the last few years, she’d been fine at home alone or just with Didi. Now though, with this group, she loved getting everyone together and talking and laughing and joking and encouraging each other.

“I don’t know what the hell we were thinking, but I’m sure glad we bought Hot Cakes,” Dax said.

Everyone laughed and raised their cups.

“Lord knows there were about a million ways we could have screwed that up,” Dax went on. “But, thankfully, we had Whitney.”

Everyone turned to hoist their cups toward her.

Whitney felt her eyes stinging.

“You are our fearless leader, our cheerleader, our visionary and… our friend.” Dax’s voice got softer on that last word and he gave her an affectionate smile. “You’ve also made our most ornery partner into a freaking teddy bear.”

Everyone looked at Cam who was, of course, right beside Whitney. She grinned at him.

“And for that we do truly believe you are magical,” Dax said.

Whitney gave a little curtsy.

Cam pinched her ass when she straightened.

She giggled.

He always acted growly when they teased about how nice and sweet and cuddly he was now, but the truth was, he freely admitted it. He was downright domestic. Not only was Didi still living with them, but they were now also fostering kittens. Or Cam was, anyway. Whitney still wasn’t entirely sure how Paige had talked him into that, but honestly, seeing the big guy with the bulging, tattooed biceps bottle-feeding a kitten was even hotter than watching him bake cookies. And that was saying something.

“So it is long past time for us to finally make you, Whitney Lancaster, an official partner at Hot Cakes,” Dax said. “Thank you for saying yes when we asked you.”

Her eyes were stinging again but she smiled widely. “I’m thrilled.”

“To Whitney,” Dax said.

Everyone repeated, “To Whitney!”

“Now can we jump in?” Henry called as everyone drank.

Whitney laughed.

“Yes, now you can jump in,” Cam said. “But stay in the—”

Didi and Henry jumped into the swimming pool at the same time, throwing water up onto the patio and making Dax and Jane jump back, laughing.

“Shallow end,” Cam finished, as he watched them head for the slide. In the deep end. “Guess I’m going in for lifeguard duty.”

Yes. The party was at Whitney and Didi, and Cam’s, house. On the back patio. At 3 a.m.

And they were grilling burgers and drinking hard root beer.

No one was going into work tomorrow.

Whitney kissed him quickly. “You’re the best.”

“If you really loved me, you’d join us. In that red bikini I got you.”

“I thought that was for swimming when it was just the two of us.”

“Okay, sunrise swim. Just the two of us. And the red bikini.”

“Deal.”

She watched him head for the pool and her grandmother and his little brother. He stripped his shirt off, tossed it to the side, and then gave her one more look over his shoulder before diving in.