“What are we celebrating?” a deep voice asked.
She turned and Michael was walking up.
Lucy ran to join him, throwing herself into his arms. “I thought you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.”
He hugged her close, and the world felt infinitely warmer. “My meetings ended early. I thought I would come out and lend a hand.”
He’d wanted to be home.
“I’m so glad.” She kissed him and her feet found the ground again.
“You’re back!” Ty ran across the festival ground and then her men were hugging in that back pounding masculine way.
River passed her a glass as the men started talking about Michael’s trip. “Hey, I talked to Van. I asked about that woman he was so obviously into, and I have gossip. Such good gossip.”
Lucy took the champagne. “What?”
“She’s staying at the Movie Motel,” River said, her own glass in hand. “She introduced herself as a lieutenant, so she must be military, and she asked about finding someone.”
“Who?”
“She’s looking for her father,” River explained.
“Huh.” She didn’t know anyone in town who had a kid she hadn’t met. Or at least heard about. The woman had looked to be in her late twenties. Maybe early thirties. “Does she not know her dad’s address?”
“Apparently this is a first meeting, daddy-doesn’t-know kind of thing. And yes, she went to his place, but he wasn’t home. There was a note on the door she didn’t understand. Something about taking to a bunker,” River said, her eyes wide.
Holy shit. “She’s looking for Mel?”
River nodded. “Mel has a daughter he doesn’t know about and she’s military, and I’m super excited about what happens next. It’s so freaking good to be back in Bliss.”
Lucy held up her glass. “It is.”
After all, there was no place like home.
Mel gets a big surprise when the whole Bliss crew returns in Unexpected Bliss, coming in 2022.