Jane bit her lip. “I…was going to talk to you about that, actually,” she said, “about staying in Wackernagel.”
“Really? You want to stay here? You’ve been saying all along how you can’t wait to go back to Indy.”
“You know me, always keeping my armor up.” Jane’s normally porcelain white skin took on a pinkish hue. “I’ve been seeing someone…”
My eyes bugged out. “What? Details. Please.”
“Hell no.” Jane crossed and uncrossed her arms in the universal “no way” sign. “That’s all the information you’re getting.”
“Name?” I asked. “Gender? Species?”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “They are indeed a human being. Anyway, the two of us had been talking casually since last Christmas, but we got to spend a lot of quality time together while I was here, and we have discussed moving in together.”
“Wow.” I blinked. “Wow.”
“So, regardless of what you decide, I’ll be staying here in Wackernagel. If you do go back to Indy, I’d love it if you let me work remotely.”
“I hope it won’t come to that.” I glanced at the door to our room, where Dani now stood, hair windswept. She ran her fingers through it.
“Brennan brought me on his motorcycle,” she said. “It was…utterly terrifying.”
“You’re here.” I sat up straighter.
“Well, you climbed out a window for me. I felt like I had to come.”
Jane slid off the bed and made her way to the door. “Let me know if you need anything.”
Dani stepped over to me. She hovered several feet from the bed. “So.”
I swallowed. “So. First, I want to apologize for everything that’s happened over the past few days. I was overwhelmed by the rewrites, and I was sad about what they meant for our time together. I thought ripping the bandage off was the right play,” I said. “It wasn’t.”
She sat down on the bed next to me. I started to reach for her hand but stopped myself. I’d give her all the information and leave it up to her to decide when, how, and if we’d connect physically.
“Secondly, I’m sorry I tried to give you that money. I should’ve known you wanted to pay for Kelsie’s rent yourself.”
Dani shook her head. “I’m sorry about my reaction. Or, well, overreaction. All I saw was some guy trying to step in and take care of things for me. I should’ve realized you were only trying to be nice.”
“I should’ve picked my moment better.” I chuckled. “It was pretty bad form to hand the woman I’d been sleeping with a wad of cash during our final farewell.” I drew in a deep breath. “And I should have asked you first if it’d be okay.”
She took my hand and squeezed. All the tension drained out of my body and I felt a sensation of warmth filling me from the top down. “Matt, I meant what I said before. I don’t expect more from you than you can give me. I understand our thing is short-term, and you’re on a deadline—”
“I’m not anymore.”
“You’re not?”
“No.” I smiled. “That’s what I fell out of a window hoping to tell you. I realized the book they were asking me to write wasn’t one I believed in. So I told the TV people they had free reign to do what they wanted, and I’m going to read over the original manuscript and send that back to my editor.”
“What does that mean?” She frowned.
“It means I’m no longer rushing to finish a book by the end of the year,” I said. “It means I have time to spend with you…if you’ll have me.”
She leaned down and kissed my lips. “You can have me.” She hugged me around the neck. “And I want you for as long as I can have you.” She pulled away and looked at me sadly. “I guess we’re back where we were, then?”
“Not…necessarily,” I said. “I’ve been saying all along that I had to go back to Indianapolis, but that was me standing rigidly in the past, holding on to hope for a life that no longer exists.” My chest filled with a new kind of hope, one rooted in the future. “I’m ready to move on, to start a new life.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, what if I move here to Wackernagel?” I said. “No pressure on you, and I can look for a house as far away from your parents’ as poss—”
She cut me off by throwing her arms around my neck again. “Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. I love it here. I feel at home here. You’re here.”
“What about Jane?” she asked.
“Well, interestingly enough, Jane has been seeing someone here as well, and apparently it’s pretty serious.”
“Oh my god, who?”
“No idea. She won’t say.”
Dani leaned in and kissed me again then looked down at my unflattering hospital gown. “You know, this is a pretty awful way to try and get out of your own party.”
“That’s what Jane said.”
“I mean, wouldn’t it have been easier just to go?”
“Which is exactly what I’m going to do.” I waved to the doctor in the doorway, who had my discharge papers. It was time to go home and watch the premiere of The Saga with Dani by my side.
Chapter Nineteen
Dani
When the episode ended, everyone in Matt’s living room stood and cheered. Well, everyone except Matt. He remained in his spot on the couch, leg propped up on the coffee table. He did raise his glass in a toast, however.
“Congratulations!” he said. “What an exciting episode! Brennan!” Matt’s eyes hunted around the room for Brennan, who was sitting off in the corner with my teenage daughter on his lap. (The two of us would need to have a discussion about that later.) “Brennan,” Matt shouted, “amazing job as Markys. Dave and Kristin, you definitely improved on my stilted dialogue.”
Everyone in the room chuckled.
Since I was already standing, I started grabbing plates and cups and hauling them to the kitchen. A few people stopped me on the way to compliment the food and décor, and I thanked them. But when I got to the kitchen, the folks on Gerald’s team grabbed the dishes from me and carried them away. “You’re off duty,” one of them told me. “Let us handle this.”
I thanked them and wandered into the dining room, which was empty since everyone was off watching the show and celebrating. I touched one of the ornaments on the fir tree Una and I had decorated. My heart felt full and happy. Matt was staying in Wackernagel. Gerald liked my idea to teach cooking classes at the owner’s club. My family was all together for the holidays. Things were starting to fall into place.