Setting my coffee down next to Sam’s, I loop my arm through his. “I want to be in your life too.” My heart speeds up, and I rest my head against him. “And I’d love to come be with you this weekend.”

“I can’t promise you’ll have time to write.” He flashes a grin. “I already know I won’t be able to keep my hands off you. Like I said, we need to make up for lost time.”

“We do.” I tip my head up, squinting in the sunlight. What happened to the rain I was promised? “It sucks that we’re finally together and you have to go to Chicago and I have to go to LA.”

“But we are together…as we should be,” he says firmly, and my heart melts. “We’ll figure things out because there’s no way in hell I’m letting you get away this time.”

“Oh, like you let me go last time?” I tease, pushing myself up so I can kiss him. “Luckily, I can travel frequently. I’ll come to Chicago this weekend and maybe you can come to LA the next time you’re off?”

“Yeah,” he says, cupping my face to kiss me again. “I get two or three days off in a row at least twice a month.”

I don’t like the thought of only seeing each other only a few times a month. I’ve been toying with the idea of leaving LA and coming back to the Midwest for a while now, but it took us over fifteen years to confess our feelings for each other. I’m not going to so much as hint at moving in together yet.

“When I get days off like that, I’ll come to LA,” he goes on. “And you’re welcome to come stay with me any time you want. Knowing you’re there when I get off work would be so fucking nice.”

“I will most likely be naked, waiting for you with a home-cooked meal.”

“Now you have to come stay with me.”

“As soon as I get this book finished, I’ll have more free time,” I tell him.

“Oh, right. You need the day to work, don’t you?” He puts his arm around me.

“I should spend the day writing.”

He smooths my hair back. “I’ll go then so you can work. I’d like to take you out to dinner tonight.”

I smile. “I’d like that too. What are you going to do today?”

“I don’t know. Mason is leaving tonight, so I’ll probably hang out with him, Rory, and Dean.”

“It’s nice you guys get to see each other every once in a while. Tell them I said hi, and I guess I’ll be seeing them again…soon.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sam

“He’s home!” Mason shouts as soon as I step into the house. He’s sitting in the kitchen, eating the rest of the pie, and snickers when both my mom and Rory come practically running into the room. “I almost had to call in a favor and report you as a missing person.”

“I was worried,” Mom exclaims. “You didn’t say anything about staying elsewhere last night.” She holds up her hands. “I know, you’re an adult, but I was expecting you home.”

“Sorry. I didn’t think about it.” I put my keys and phone on the counter.

“Where were you?” Rory asks, doing a terrible job at hiding her excitement. She knows exactly where I was last night. Not playing into her excitement, I look at the leftover biscuits and gravy on the stove. I’m fucking starving.

“I was with Chloe,” I say as I get a plate from the cabinet. Thinking about her sends a rush through me, and I have to stop myself before my mind wanders back to her soft lips.

“About fucking time,” Mason says with his mouth full.

“What?” Mom and Rory say at the same time.

Rory runs over, taking the plate out of my hand. “You’re serious?”

“Yes. I was with Chloe last night,” I say and try to take the plate from her, but she snatches it back.

“But how were you with her?” Rory presses, and I raise an eyebrow.

“You want to know details about last night? Like how we—”

“Ew, no!” Rory gives me the plate back. “Are you together now? Please tell me it wasn’t a one-night kinda thing.”

“It wasn’t. And yes, she’s my girlfriend now,” I say, and Mom joins in on the excitement.

“I always hoped you two would get together,” Mom coos. “I just love Chloe! And she’s so pretty and successful and—” Mom gasps. “She lives in LA! You’re in Chicago. What are you going to do? Certainly one of you is going to have to move. Have you talked about the future? That’ll make it difficult when you get married and have kids and—”

“Mom,” I cut her off. “We haven’t talked in detail yet. She’s been my girlfriend for less than twenty-four hours. I’m not going to talk about marriage and babies yet, and I know she won’t either.”

Mason gets up to put his empty plate in the sink. “It’s about damn time you two hooked up,” he says, clapping me on the back. “You should have twenty years ago.”

“I’d hope not,” Mom counters. “Sam would have been fourteen, which would make Chloe twelve.” Mom looks at me and smiles. “I’m happy you have a nice girlfriend who we know isn’t after your money.”

“That’s always a plus.” I fill my bowl with food and stick it in the microwave. “Where’s Dean?”

“Dad suckered him into helping with another project at the office,” Rory says, sitting at the table next to Mason. Dean’s a contractor, and Dad was all too excited to have a “professional” help him finish the million projects he started over the years. “He should be back soon. Why? Do you want to double date?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of just us hanging out. Chloe has to work on her book before she can do anything.”

“I’d like that.” Rory smiles. “It’s supposed to rain, want to see a movie?”

“Sure,” I reply, not even knowing what’s playing. No matter what, time is going to go by slowly. Adam starts fussing, and Mom rushes to get him. The microwave beeps and I grab my bowl, which I warmed up too much on accident, and join my siblings at the table.

“You can thank me now,” Mason says. “I knew you needed a push.”

Normally, I’d give him shit before giving in, but not today. Because I am so fucking thankful. “I did, so thanks for that.”

“Am I missing something?” Rory asks, looking up from her phone.

“No one but this dumbass missed it,” Mason says, but Rory still looks confused. “Last night he was still saying he didn’t have feelings for Chloe. Which we all knew was bullshit.”

“I wondered from time to time,” Rory confesses. “But I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I’ve always wanted a sister!”

“Don’t you have like a million sisters-in-law?” Mason asks.

“I have four,” Rory replies, rolling her eyes. “And Quinn is going to be so excited! She loves the Nightfall series. Have you told Archer yet?” she asks me. Archer is one of my closest friends, who I met during residency. He’s a surgeon, and we ended up in the OR together more times than not. We shared an apartment during the final years of residency, and he’s married to Dean’s sister, making him Rory’s brother-in-law now.