Page 113 of Feels Like Home

Ithink I’d be a nervous ball of adrenaline anticipating the wedding even if Noble wasn’t a factor, but I’ve gone and complicated everything by adding romantic feelings to the cocktail of emotions swirling around my mind.

All these years I’ve managed to keep from losing my head and heart to a guy. My indifference has cost me more than one relationship over the years. Apparently, guys don’t like it when you don’t really care much about seeing them.

Who knew?

Maybe I was subconsciously keeping all of my feelings in a box reserved for Noble. There’s just never been anyone in my life I wanted to spend time with as much as him.

Nobody whose smile I craved as much as his.

When I hear about him working so hard to fix the things and people he broke, it only makes me more certain that the boy I knew is still in there somewhere.

He just got a little lost along the way.

And I finally found a way to move past that.

I’m not one of those girls. I’m not dreaming of being whisked away by a knight on a horse. I meant it when I said I’m not looking to be treated like a princess. But now, sitting in my kayak out on the lake, Noble in his kayak right beside me, I think maybe I was only ever made to love him. Maybe the whole idea of “soulmates” isn’t as foolish as I’ve always thought it was.

Over the past few days, we’ve seen each other off and on, rode horses and hiked, and cooked and cleaned together. I power washed the patio (again), and he power washed the stone in the sunken forest (again). He went to town for more twinkle lights while I painted a sign for the small concession shed and rearranged pots of beautiful fall flowers out in front of it.

I’m fussing and fidgeting, still struggling to believe I’ve thought of and accomplished everything.

He told me about his trip to see Rip McCauley, and I told him how Boone fell into the lake when he was trying to help me hang lights in the trees near the water.

We’ve watched movies and roasted marshmallows. We went for a drive just to see the sunset at a very specific spot in Glacier that has the best view in the entire state, and we’ve stolen more kisses than I can count.

And at night, when we’re alone, I’ve started to get an idea of what my life with Noble could look like.

And I’ve liked it.

I like it.

I like having him here.

It’s Thursday morning, the day before all the wedding festivities begin, and we’re sitting in our kayaks, surrounded by the placid water of Silver Lake, and he turns and looks at me.

He reaches for my kayak and pulls me toward him. “I could get used to this.”

“Yeah,” I murmur quietly, knowing that the truth is I already am.

We sit out there for a few more minutes, silent and soaking up what nature is giving, then row back to shore, haul our kayaks in and stow them on the rack.

We’re barely out of the water ten seconds when I hear a woman call out, “Noble Kane! Is that you?”

I turn toward the voice, echoing loudly against the water, and see a woman in jeans and a blazer standing on my back patio.

“Who’s that?”

“Oh, no,” Noble says.

“Noble! Finally! Get up here!” she calls out.

My heart sinks. “Oh my gosh.” I look at him. “You have a girlfriend.”

He frowns. “Hattie⁠—”

“Of course! Of course you have a girlfriend,” I say, more to myself. “I’m so stupid, I⁠—”

He frowns and cuts me off. “Is that what you think?”