Page 98 of Make It Last

I’d grown up in this house and stayed here through college. When Brad asked me to marry him after we started working at the same company, I’d simply moved into his place. None of the furniture had been mine. I’d lived lightly, mostly because I’d been busy taking care of everyone else.

Boxing up my life felt like such a small task in the grand scheme of things. I had always been the one organizing everything, tracking the endless ticker tape in my mind of what needed to happen next. I knew my mom once had that ticker tape too. Hers had revolved around my sister’s health, while mine revolved around everything else in our family.

Before dealing with the boxes, I ran a few last-minute errands, odds and ends that felt mundanely symbolic, like tying off loose strings on a life I was folding away.

My phone buzzed. Glancing down, I saw a text from my mother.

Mom: Can you stop by?

Me: You know I’ll be back soon.

Mom: I know. But your dad and I need a little help.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. Lord only knew what last-minute crisis required my attention before I left.

You’re moving. You won’t have to fix everything anymore. I gave myself a firm mental pep talk as I drove back to my parents’ house.

“What is it, Mom?” I called as I walked through the front door. No answer. “Mom? Dad?”

My dad shouldn’t even be home yet. I stepped into the kitchen and stopped so abruptly my shoes squeaked against the tile. “Hey, Ava.” Tanner’s low voice rolled through me like thunder. My mouth fell open, and I just stared at him.

“What are you doing here?” I finally sputtered.

“I came to see you,” he said simply.

My heart pounded so hard it felt like applause inside my chest. I let out something between a squeal and a yelp and launched myself at him. Of course, he caught me. He was my personal firefighter-rescue guy after all.

His arms wrapped around me, strong and steady, lifting me effortlessly. “Hey, sweetheart,” he murmured into my hair.

“Oh my God. I missed you so much.” I leaned back just enough to cup his face in my hands, searching his eyes as if I needed proof he was real.

“I missed you,” he said, his gaze somber.

“What happened?”

“I’ll explain. First—this.”

Before I could ask what “this” was, he kissed me.

It was a full-on Tanner kiss. The kind of kiss that vaporized oxygen and every coherent thought in my brain. The kind that made the world narrow down to nothing but sensation and him. I lost myself in it completely.

Until I heard my mother clear her throat. We broke apart abruptly. “My mom’s here.”

“Well, yeah.” Tanner’s lips twitched. “She let me in.”

He eased me back down to my feet, but kept his hands on my waist. I stared up at him, memorizing every line of his face, my heart still galloping. He flew here. For me.

My mom just beamed at us.

“Is this why I needed to rush home?” I asked, my cheeks burning.

“Of course. I like your Tanner.”

“Oh, he’s my Tanner?” I glanced up at him.

He held my gaze, the promise in his eyes making my heart do cartwheels and my belly shimmer with sparks. He dipped his chin without saying a word, and suddenly I felt breathless.

“So this is why you’re moving to Alaska,” my mom said.