Everything was perfect.

And just because there was nothing standing in the way of me being completely happy for the rest of my life didn’t mean something terrible was sneaking up behind me.

That shadow was nothing.

I could ignore it.

Twenty-Two

Cheyenne

On Monday morning Mariah popped her head into my classroom before school while I was restocking the pencil trays on each kindergarten table.

“Hi, Miss Cheyenne!”

“Good morning, Mariah! How was your weekend?” Since Cole had worked Saturday and Sunday, we hadn’t gotten a chance to hang out, although we’d talked on the phone both nights for hours. Going to sleep after hearing him say I love you had brought the sweetest dreams I’d ever had.

“It was good,” she said enthusiastically. “My dad took me skating on Friday and he told me about you guys.”

I nodded, perching on the edge of a table. “That’s what he said.”

“I told him about the kind of love you were looking for.” She sighed and shook her head. “Hopefully, he was listening.”

“I’m sure he was,” I said, hiding a smile. “Thank you.”

“I hope you guys get married,” she went on, her eyes lighting up. “And then you can have a baby. I told him I wanted a little sister, not a little brother, but I guess I’d be okay with a little brother too.”

“Oh—oh my.” I put a hand over my stomach. “Well, we haven’t really talked about that yet.”

“I know.” She grinned. “I’m just really excited.”

Two more girls entered my classroom—I recognized them as former students, now fourth graders like Mariah. I stood up and smiled. “Good morning, girls.”

“Good morning, Miss Dempsey,” they recited together.

“You coming, Mariah?” one of them asked.

“Yes,” she said. Then she threw her arms around me. “Have a good day, Miss Cheyenne.”

I patted her shoulder. “You too, sweetie.”

Then she rushed out, saying to her friends, “She’s my dad’s girlfriend now. They’re probably gonna get married.”

“Lucky!” one of them replied.

I laughed, but it was easy for me to see how Cole might have suffered a bit from whiplash if he’d been expecting any objections from her. She clearly had none.

While I was eating lunch at my desk, I got a text from him.

Cole: Run away with me.

Me: Right now?

Cole: Yes. To the new house. I have the key for a few hours.

Me: I can’t get there until four at the soonest.

Cole: But Moretti will be here by then, and you’ll want to have your clothes back on.

Me: That is a definite yes. But I’d still love to come by after school.

Cole: Do it.

He gave me the address and I told him I’d be there by four o’clock. Then I asked him if he wanted me to bring Mariah along.

My phone vibrated with a call from him, and I answered it.

“Hey,” I said. “I just have a few minutes before the kids come in from recess.”

“No fair, they get you all day.”

I laughed. “So should I bring Mariah with me to the house?”

“I’m sure she’d love that. I’ll let my mom know she won’t be on the bus and call the school as well. They’ll get a note to her to go to your classroom after the bell. Does that work?”

“That’s perfect. We’ll see you at four.”

“Can’t wait. I love you.”

I smiled, knowing I would never get tired of hearing him say those words, or saying them back. “I love you too.”

After school, Mariah came to my room and we headed over to the new house. She babbled nonstop on the drive about how excited she was to move in, what color she might paint her room, and the bunk beds her dad had let her pick out online.

“They won’t be delivered until January, but Daddy says that’s okay because we probably won’t be able to move in much before that anyway. There’s lots of work that needs to be done.”

I parked in front of the house behind a white pickup and Enzo’s SUV. As Mariah and I made our way up the walk toward the old brick house with a white wraparound porch, I couldn’t help smiling. It was gorgeous all covered with snow, but I could imagine it in the spring with tulips and daffodils in the beds by the porch and green leaves on the towering weeping willow to one side. Cole came out the front door and waved.

Mariah ran the rest of the way, racing up the steps to stand next to him so she could welcome me. “This is the porch,” she said as I approached.

“The porch that needs a new coat of paint,” Cole added.

“I love it,” I said.

“Daddy says we can get some rocking chairs and maybe even a swing.” She looked at him. “Right?”

“Right.”

“That sounds heavenly. I love reading a book on the porch in summertime.” I climbed the steps, and Cole kissed my cheek.

“How was your day?” he asked, opening the front door.

“Good. Yours?”

He shrugged. “The estimate for the renovation is getting a little scary, but Moretti seems to think we can keep it down by using some repurposed materials and doing some labor ourselves.”

“That’s good,” I said, entering the front hall with a gasp. “Oh, Cole.” Wide-eyed, I looked around at the high ceilings, wood floors, and natural light pouring in the windows surrounding the door. I put a hand over my heart. “This is beautiful.”

He shut the door behind us. “Not yet, but it will be. Come in, and we’ll show you around.”

Mariah led the way into the living room, where I was charmed by the fireplace, the tall windows, and what I could see of the parquet floor, revealed where someone had pulled back the musty old carpet. In the dining room, I admired the bay window and antique chandelier, which Cole hated but Mariah thought was fancy. In the kitchen, I said hello to Enzo and smiled at another guy, who was kneeling on the floor with a tape measure extended across the room.

“Cheyenne, this is Kevin Dodson. He’s going to be doing most of the kitchen remodel. Kevin, this is my girlfriend, Cheyenne Dempsey.”

Already on my way to shake Kevin’s hand, I nearly fell to the floor in a dead faint when I heard the word girlfriend.

I was Cole Mitchell’s girlfriend! How was that even possible?

I practically floated upstairs, where Mariah flitted from room to room, chirping about which one was hers, which one was her dad’s, and which room could be the baby’s.

“Baby?” Enzo’s eyebrows shot up and he looked from me to Cole to my stomach. “Is there something I don’t know?”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Yes. My daughter is crazy.”

“There’s no baby,” I said, laughing.

But later, when Enzo and Mariah were heading back downstairs, Cole tugged my hand and pulled me back into his bedroom for a kiss.

It was a deep, long, passionate kiss that made my heart race, my toes tingle, and my stomach muscles tighten. His hands traveled over my back and down to my ass.