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“What the hell is going on with that?”

“My sentiments exactly.”

“All right. I’ll work on that too.”

“Thanks, man.” Wes sent the details of the text Bailey had received, pocketed his phone, and used both hands to send Matt soaring again. “Dean says it’s a rare key. That he’s narrowing down manufacturers. And he’ll look into the text message.”

Bailey stood beside him as he pushed Matt. Wes wanted to reassure her but had little to offer until Dean had more time.

“Wes,” Matt called as he whizzed up. “I want to get down now.”

“All right. I’ll stop pushing.”

Matt dragged his heels into the plastic mulch until the swing had slowed enough to jump off.

“Are you ready for a snack?” Bailey asked Matt, blond hair mussed from soaring on the swings.

“Uh-huh.” He repositioned his glasses.

“Are you still up for the library?” Wes asked.

Matt nodded and took the applesauce pouch she offered.

“Then let’s go. We can walk from here.”

“Which way?” Matt asked, skipping ahead.

“Follow the sidewalk and head right.”

Matt held up his fingers to see which one didn’t make an L, then looked over his shoulder to confirm he was heading the correct way. Wes nodded. “You got it.”

They crossed the street together and walked toward Main Street. Matt ran ahead, stopping and starting at each driveway. Bailey took Wes’s hand. His thumb smoothed over her knuckles as they walked. Every part of this felt right.

“Should we talk about last night?” she said.

“We can talk about anything you want to, sweetness.” Falling asleep next to her. Playing ball with her kid. Walking hand-in-hand on a summer morning. Wes was game for anything she threw at him.

“I know you said you weren’t rushing me.”

“Still not.” Even after last night. It had been incredible, and still he wanted more. More of her. Of them. Of this.

She drew out a breath. “Is it too corny if I say that I really like you?”

This woman. A vise locked around his chest, aching in the best way. He lifted the back of her hand to his lips and kissed it, casually, as if he’d been kissing her for years. “I’d say thank fucking God.”

Because at this point, he was contemplating how to restructure his entire life to be whatever she needed. That would probably scare her back to Northern Virginia. It should have scared him straight into Vivian’s office so that he could be reassigned to another job. But he wasn’t scared.

He was hopeful in a way he hadn’t been in years. Crazy how he’d blamed her for everything that had gone wrong, and now Bailey was the reason everything was starting to make sense.

Chapter Twenty-One

They walked into a white house with black shutters and bright red double doors, Granite Creek’s library. The air smelled like paperbacks and cinnamon sticks. Hand-carved wood signs directed them down the old, creaky floor, past community flyers and wall notices, to the children’s and reference sections on the first floor, adult fiction and nonfiction on the second floor, and a genealogy and local records division on the third floor. A sense of homecoming wrapped its arms around Bailey and hugged her.

She followed Matt, who trailed the cartoon cutouts on the wall into the children’s section. He stopped abruptly. “Hi, Grace.”

Grace stood with another woman at a carpeted reading nook. “Hi, Matt. Welcome to the library.”

Wes had been trailing behind them, feverishly texting someone for the last block. “Oh, hey, ladies. Dean’s going to stop by in a few minutes.”