“Are your guys going to miss having the company?” Jacob’s mom came over to ask. And that was nice too, the way she addressed both of them, not only Linc. Like the dogs were shared now, which he supposed they sort of were, especially if he was officially moving in.
“Yup. She’ll have to come visit. It was fun having her.” Jacob moved away from the herd of kids, toward the kitchen where vats of chili were bubbling away.
“What he actually means is that there was this overgrown terrier at the rescue, and he keeps telling me how easy three were.” Linc’s fond look was almost as nice as the arm he threw around Jacob. And that was good too, him feeling comfortable enough to do that, which hadn’t been the case their first few visits.
“It wouldn’t be that hard. Another dog bed—”
“That will get ignored.” Shaking his head, Linc laughed.
“Is that a yes, we can go look again?” He batted his eyes and tried to look convincing.
“You always do seem to get your way.” Linc tried for a stern voice, but the affection in his eyes gave him away.
“And you like it that way,” he countered. He trusted Linc now when he said that Jacob hadn’t talked him into this, that he wanted it too. He had months of proof built up, each day, even the hard ones, filled with little reminders that Linc cared in a way Jacob had scarcely dreamed possible.
“Help?” Linc looked at Jacob’s mom, who simply shook her head.
“Oh, no. Not me. He’s your problem now.” His mother’s gentle banter might be as close to approval as they were going to get, and Jacob’s chest went warm and tight.
“That he is.” Then Linc stunned him with a fast kiss on the head, right there in his mom’s kitchen, and Jacob was pretty sure every dream he’d ever held came true in that moment. He’d won the heart of Lincoln Reid. And maybe he sometimes wished their path to right there together had been easier, but he wouldn’t change the destination for anything.
* * *
Linc found Jacob out by the firepit, exactly where he’d expected him, draped over one of the lounge chairs, watching the flickering and spitting flames.
“Baby asleep?” Jacob sounded drowsy. He was undoubtedly tired. On top of the extra responsibilities with Junior’s dog, he’d been working long hours doing winter work for the forest service, having lucked into some seasonal employment before the next smoke-jumping season.
“Yeah.” Linc had offered to do bedtime so that May could say goodnight to her gym teacher friend. That and he wasn’t going to turn down time rocking Willow, who was getting bigger by the day now. “She went down easy. Song and a bottle and she was out like a light.”
“Linc, the baby whisperer.” Jacob smiled and gestured at the other chair. “Sit.”
Linc dragged the chair closer to Jacob’s.
“Let’s offer to keep the kids overnight some weekend soon.”
“Boy, ask you to move in, and all of a sudden, you’re throwing parties?” Linc pretended to be put out, but probably didn’t do the best job of it. He’d been nervous that Jacob might not agree to move the trailer and the rest of his stuff. Some people might say it was a little too soon. But those people probably hadn’t waited as long as them. Or been through as much.
“Hey, you heard my mom. I’m your trouble now.” Jacob laughed, then sobered, turning toward him. “Seriously, though, you okay with sharing your place with me? You’ve worked so hard on it...”
“Not that hard.” Linc waved away the praise. “And...maybe the place needs you.”
“Oh? How do you figure?”
“It’s waited a long time to be a home again, not just a place to live or a collection of memories. I might have a lot of past with that house, but you give it a future.”
Cheeks darkening, Jacob nodded sharply before looking off into the fire. He was silent a good while before softly adding, “I can’t erase the past you had before me. The one you shared with Wyatt, especially. And I don’t want to. Not for anything. And I know I’m not him, and I’m never going to make up for his loss, but I’m not sorry that I get your future either.”
Linc sucked in a hard breath. They didn’t talk about Wyatt much at all, but he was always there, an uncomfortable conversation waiting to happen. But for once, Linc wasn’t going to shy away from the topic.
“You don’t have to make up for anything. You’re... This is different.”
“I know.” Jacob’s tone was sadder and more resigned than Linc liked, so he reached over, touched Jacob’s face.
“I never felt anything for him like what I feel for you. Not even remotely the same ballpark. He was my best friend, but you...you’re my...everything.”
“Thanks.” Tilting his head, Jacob kissed Linc’s fingers. “But you miss him.”
“Of course I do. We all do. But I’m done feeling guilty for choosing to be with you. I hid my feelings behind my friendship with him way too long. It almost cost me you. I’ve had a lot of time to think these last few months...”
“And?”
“I like to think that even if he was around, I would have found the courage to be with you. To stand up to him. Because you, what we have together, it’s important. Sure, the promises I made to him mattered. But the ones I want to make to you, maybe those matter a little more.”
“You want to make promises to me?” Jacob’s voice was little more than a puff of air, but the hope there was enough to prod Linc to keep going.
“I do.” Linc’s hand shook against Jacob’s skin, and he had to draw a shaky breath. “I mean, if you’re gonna talk me into that third dog, I guess I better make an honest man out of you at some point...”
“Well, when you put it that highly romantic way...”
“I love you.” Linc might not have many pretty, flowery words, but he had those and they meant something. “I love you, and I want to promise you forever. As long as I’ve got, I’m yours.”
“Okay, that’s more like it.” Jacob’s eyes were shiny, even in the dim firelight. He kissed Linc’s fingers again. “I love you too. And there’s no promise I wouldn’t make for you.”
“Same.” Linc tried to tell him with his eyes how much he meant that. He was well and truly done running from what they had. Too many years he’d spent hemming and hawing about what was the right thing to do, when really there was only one right thing. Love. It was the answer to every question and doubt he’d ever had, the reason for his biggest regrets and the cause of his greatest happiness. And maybe that, more than anything else, was the biggest change of the past months. He was happy. Genuinely, abundantly happy. And that, that was worth darn near everything. Promising forever seemed like a bargain if it meant keeping Jacob by his side, keeping that happiness he’d found. He was worth it. They both were.