Page 104 of Back To Our Beginning

Was he talking about me moving to California?

“Yeah, I’ve considered it once or twice. Why?”

“I just know how much you love it here. It’s your home. It’s always been your…”

“You’re right. It is,” I nodded. “But I’m not afraid of change.”

He let out a deep breath. “That’s good to know.”

I frowned. “Is that it? Was that the big, dark conversation?”

He leaned forward and kissed me. “For now. It is, for now.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

I had seven more days until I had to fly back to California. The thought of leaving here was killing me. Leaving without Maddie would be like leaving half of my heart behind. I needed to make her mine.

Officially.

Hell, if I had my way, we would just fly to Vegas and get the deed done before I flew back to California, but after hearing about Drake’s wedding and Evie’s wedding, I knew that wasn’t going to fly.

At minimum, I needed to get a ring on her finger before I left. I considered who to take with me to pick out a ring for Maddie. It was definitely going to be one of her sisters. But which one?

Chloe! Her name exploded in my head, as I remembered Maddie hugging on Chloe right after she’d been rescued.

Yeah, Chloe would realize that I’d know her circumstances, but who in the hell cared? The important thing is she’d have an idea of what kind of ring Maddie would like.

Now all I needed was Chloe’s number.

I called Simon.

“Yeah?” Simon answered. “What can I do you for?” he asked me.

“I need to go ring shopping,” I told him.

“Congratulations, Beau. I couldn’t be happier for you. But don’t ask me to help you decide on one. It took me a whole day to find the right one. But I can tell you the name of a great jewelry store in Nashville, if that will help.”

“That would be great. I’m also calling for Chloe’s number. I want to take one of Maddie’s sisters with me when I go shopping.”

“If you can get her out of her apartment, that would be fantastic. Trenda and I were amazed when she showed up in Kentucky to visit Maddie in the hospital. She’s turned into a recluse. Trenda has confronted her, but that went nowhere. I suggested an intervention.”

“How’d that go?” I asked.

“Trenda isn’t for it. I said my piece, now I’m staying out of it. But if you could tempt Chloe out of her cave, that would be great.”

“I’m going to need her number. I’ll text her first. I figure she won’t answer an unknown number.”

“You’re right about that,” Simon agreed. “I’ll text you with the name of the jewelry store, too. I don’t remember it off the top of my head.”

“Thanks.”

After I hung up, it occurred to me I didn’t even know what Chloe did for a living. All I knew was she was living as a hermit in an apartment in Gatlinburg since she’d moved out from the home she’d shared with her husband, Zarek.

Maybe she wouldn’t be available on a weekday to go ring shopping.

I went into the laundry room and pulled out Maddie’s delicates that I had washed. I hung up what needed to be air dried and put the rest in the dryer on low. My phone pinged, and I read Simon’s texts.

I looked up the address of the jewelry store and saw that it was on the east side of the city. It was still fairly early, only nine-thirty in the morning. That meant that if we left soon, Chloe and I could get to Nashville in three-and-a-half hours, spend an hour dithering over a ring, and be back here by six, since we should miss Nashville traffic.