He’d been determined to give her space—other than the texting, of course—but staying away, and her radio silence, was killing him slowly.

And he’d probably mess up the staying-away-physically thing too if he could go to her and say he was sorry for buying the nursing home. But he couldn’t quite say that with any sincerity. He was sorry it had upset her. But he wasn’t sorry about the things he’d learned and the excitement he felt about the possibilities. Or the excitement he saw in the staff and the residents who were anticipating the changes.

He’d also go to her if he could and say he was going to be selling Sunny Orchard. But he hadn’t quite gotten around to doing a single thing about selling it yet either. It had only been two days. That was one excuse. But the truth was, it was because he didn’t want to sell it. He wanted to make it work.

“I do things just because they sound fun,” he said to Grant. “That’s true.”

Grant shook his head. “You’re missing a key part here. The things you do sound fun to you because they make the people you care about happy.”

Dax frowned.

“Painting your office yellow and furnishing it with beanbags sounded fun, not because you love beanbag chairs, but because every time I walk in there and sigh, it makes Aiden, Cam, and Ollie laugh,” Grant said. “I mean, I believe you like beanbag chairs, but you insist on them because of the chain reaction they cause in your friends. Me being in a room with beanbag chairs makes everyone feel lighter.”

Dax narrowed his eyes at Grant. “Even you?”

“Maybe,” Grant hedged.

That was good enough for Dax. He grinned. “Go on.”

“You might do a lot of over-the-top things and spontaneously decide some new activity or trip or project sounds fun, but it’s always about how those trips and projects will affect the people you care about. When it comes to people”—Grant pointed at Ollie, then Aiden, then himself—"you stick. Nine years, Dax. Lots of trips and projects and craziness, but we have been a we for nine years.”

Dax felt his smile die as he stared at Grant. He hadn’t been expecting that.

“And I think Jane is perfect for you,” Grant went on. “She’s had a tough time, and even if things with the nursing home work out and things with her sister get easier, everything she’s been through has impacted her and will stay with her. She’s someone you’ll get to spend a lot of time making happy.”

He blew out a breath. “God, I hope so,” he said fervently.

Grant nodded. “You need someone who needs to be made happy every single day. And she needs someone fully committed to doing that.”

Dax swallowed hard. He was definitely committed to doing that. He wanted to be that person for her. He typically looked for the good time, but with Jane he wanted to be there for it all. “So what do I do now?”

“Make sure she understands she’s one of your people. Everything else will make sense to her in time,” Grant said.

Dax stretched to his feet and clapped his hands. Then he wobbled a little. Maybe he’d had a couple of spoonfuls too many of the gummy bears.

Grant pushed him back onto the couch. “You’re getting on a plane early tomorrow.”

Dax frowned. Then nodded as he remembered. “I have a nursing home conference in Austin.”

Grant nodded. “That’s a good idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, you don’t know shit about running a nursing home, so yeah,” Grant said.

“But I need to go talk to Jane.”

“I’ll go talk to her,” Aiden said.

Grant shook his head. “I’ll go talk to her.”

“You will?” Dax asked.

“If anyone knows how crazy you can seem but can love you anyway, it’s me.”

Dax’s eyes got wide as he sat up straight. “Did you just say you love me?”

“I did.” Grant stretched to his feet.

“I love you too, Grant.” Dax was grinning bigger than he had in two days. And it wasn’t just because of the liquored-up gummy bears. He had amazing friends. He must be doing something right.

“Yeah, yeah.” Grant smoothed the front of his tie and stepped around the edge of the couch.

“I love you too, Grant,” Aiden echoed, with an equally big grin.

“Shut up, Aiden,” Grant said as he headed for the door.

“I love you the most, Grant!” Ollie called.

“I already regret everything,” Grant said then pulled the break room door shut behind him.

But they all knew he was lying.

Dax watched him go, unable to ease his frown. He looked at Aiden. “You really don’t think I should go find Jane? Or call her at least?”

Aiden shook his head. “You need to stop calling and texting her.”

Okay, so she’d told her friends about that. And Zoe had told Aiden.

“She’s with Zoe and Josie every night,” Aiden said.

That made him feel a little better. “I just need to wait for her?”

Aiden shrugged. “Yeah. I mean, you said everything you could say right? You told her you loved her. Nothing has changed on your end. You’re going to get your shit together and learn about nursing homes and you’re going to keep going with this and make it kick ass and show her you’re sticking around. But that will take time. You just have to be patient.”

“I’m not good at that.”

Aiden laughed. “No kidding.”

It came from having a lot of money from a young age. And being accidentally successful in everything he’d ever done. Dax knew that. But instant gratification was the norm for him, and he’d very rarely had it turn out badly.

Dax settled back against the cushions once again. “I’m not going to last long. I need a grand gesture.”

Aiden shook his head. “Just let Grant talk to her. Go to the conference and just… let it work out.”

Dax frowned. God, he missed her so damned much. What if it didn’t work out? What if she really was the one woman he could never fully win over? “Is she okay?” he asked Aiden. “Is she angry? Sad? What?”

Aiden shrugged. “She’s drowning herself in Zoe’s bakery case.”

Dax frowned. That didn’t surprise him. At least she was with her friends. And he had to admit, he was glad she was at least a little upset. Jane being fine without him was a really real possibility.

“Wouldn’t that be more like suffocating?” Ollie asked. “I mean, you have to pull liquid into your lungs to drown. Pie filling is kind of a liquid, I guess, but no way could you really breathe that into your lungs. Crumbs and icing and stuff could get stuck in your nose and throat, though, and block your airways. Which is suffocating. Besides, choking is absolutely the more common way to die from baked goods. No question.”

It took him a second to notice both Dax and Aiden giving him strange looks.

“What?”

“This is why Piper goes out to an alpaca farm to flirt with other men,” Aiden told him.

“She doesn’t go out there to flirt with anyone,” Ollie said. “She just likes alpacas. Evidently.”

“Uh-huh.”

Ollie rolled his eyes. “It has nothing to do with me.”