Comfort and Joy
Page 11
“Are you sure you can’t stay for dinner?”
“Yeah, we really need to get home. Izzy’s starting day camp at the art center tomorrow morning, so we all need to get back on a normal sleep schedule after three days out here in the wild.”
It was always a big production to get the kids packed up and out the door, but eventually there were hugs all around and promises to see each other soon, and Jessie and his family took off down the mountain. Dakota and I watched them go. Then we went inside and curled up on the couch, and I grinned and said, “I thought they’d never leave.”
“You love it when they’re here.”
“I do, but it’s impossible to mess around when we have company. This cabin just wasn’t designed for privacy.”
“That’s way too true.”
Dakota pushed his sneakers off his feet and put his baseball cap on the end table, and I crawled onto his lap and gave him a kiss. Then I said, “Jessie’s lobbying pretty hard to get us to move to San Francisco. You and I have been talking about this for months, and maybe it’s time to finally make a decision.”
“I think we should do it. As much as you love it out here, I really believe you need more of a challenge than helping me run our little bar. It kept us busy once ski season kicked in and we started drawing tourists from the hotels, but there’s only so much we can do the rest of the year in such a small town.”
I thought about that before saying, “You know, the guy who owns the mini mart is always talking about wanting to buy the bar. He can’t pay much, but if we sold it to him, that would mean the place could stay open for our regulars.”
“That’s true.” After a pause, he said, “Dante wants this bad, and he’s really been trying to sweeten the deal. Did you see that last building he sent us pictures of? It’s in a great location, and it even has an apartment upstairs. It needs a lot of work, but he says it’s ours rent-free if we want it. That’s pretty tempting.”
The cat jumped onto the couch and curled up by our feet. “Should we really raise our cat above a bar, like a tawdry saloon girl?” Dakota chuckled at that, and I said, “Seriously though, would you be happy in the city?”
“I’m happy wherever you are. Besides, it wasn’t like I moved out here with the intention of staying forever. It was just supposed to be a temporary solution while I tried to get my shit together.”
“But getting a new business off the ground could mean long hours, and we’ve been doing so well with finding a balance between work and free time.”
“We’re talking about a much bigger operation with plenty of employees. You and I wouldn’t have to do everything ourselves.”
I chewed my lower lip for a few moments before saying, “I have so many ideas for that building with the apartment.”
Dakota smiled at me. “It sounds like we’re doing this.”
“Only if you and I both swear that we’re not going to let work take over our entire lives. Also, we need to make a point of spending plenty of weekends here at the cabin. That’s important.”
“I’ll gladly hold you to all of that.”
“Then let’s call Dante first thing tomorrow and tell him we’re in.”
He asked, “Are you absolutely sure about this?”
“I’m as sure as I need to be. We’ll give this new business venture our best shot, and if it doesn’t work out, we’ll come up with something else. We have the cabin and my savings to fall back on, so it’s not the end of the world if we can’t make a go of it.” I kissed him, and then I admitted, “Honestly, if it was just me, I might be afraid to take a chance. But the fact that we’ll be doing this together makes all the difference.”
“I feel the same way.”
I got up and pulled him to his feet. “Come on, let’s go celebrate in the bedroom.”
“I’ll race you.”
“You’re on.”
He tried to gain the advantage by picking me up and tossing me onto the couch, and we both started laughing. I ended up pulling him down on top of me, and we rolled over each other. Then he held me tight and told me, “I love you so much, Jed.”
“I love you, too.” I’d said those words many times over the past few months, and they always brought the sweetest smile to my boyfriend’s handsome face.
You’re invited to join Alexa Land’s Facebook Readers’ Group.
To subscribe to Alexa’s email newsletter, follow this link.
Visit Amazon for more books in the Firsts and Forever Series, available on Kindle Unlimited.