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Keeping the trip from him had been harder than she’d expected. They’d talked the night before, same as they had nearly every night since she left, and more than once she’d almost told him. Somehow, she’d managed to keep her mouth shut.

A meeting with Vividmark that morning kept her from taking an earlier flight, but the noon departure worked out perfectly. She’d gone straight to LAX afterward, knowing she could land in Jackson Hole with plenty of time to pick up her rental car and reach Antelope Rock before dinner. She might even beat Grady home from work.

She’d spent five weeks missing him—waking up in California wishing she was somewhere else, then going to bed with the same thought. She’d analyzed her life from every angle, talked things through with Fen and Madeline, rearranged her schedule, and finally accepted that only one person could answer the questions she still had.

And she wanted to ask him face-to-face.

She was already imagining Grady’s expression when he opened his front door and found her standing there.

Her phone trilled in her hand, catching her off guard. His name appeared on the screen.

Of course.

She slowed but kept walking, fighting the urge to laugh at the timing. Hearing his voice now, when she was so close to pulling off the surprise, felt almost dangerous. She’d have to watch every word until they hung up, especially if he asked what she was doing or why there was so much noise around her.

She answered with what she hoped sounded like a perfectly normal, “Hey.”

“Did you land safely?”

Her feet stopped.

The people behind her continued moving, forcing Amanda to step aside with her suitcase before someone ran into her. For a moment, she simply stood there trying to make sense of what he’d asked. Grady had no reason to know she’d been on a plane. Only Fen and Madeline knew.

“Land? What are you talking about?”

“I know you’re at the airport in Jackson Hole.”

Any hope that she’d misunderstood him disappeared. She moved farther from the stream of passengers, her mind racing through possibilities. She hadn’t told Rissa. Edith didn’t know. As far as Amanda was aware, the only person who knew exactly where she was right now was⁠—

“How?”

“Fen told me after I knocked on your door.”

Amanda stared across the terminal without seeing any of it. Her brain seemed to stall on the words knocked on your door. “What?”

“I’m in Los Angeles. I landed almost two hours ago.”

“What?” That time, she said it loud enough to draw a few looks from people passing by, but she ignored them. She was too busy trying to understand how Grady could be in California when she’d spent the entire flight picturing him at home in Wyoming.

“I flew out here to surprise you.”

She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers against her forehead. Of all the possible ways she’d imagined today going, this hadn’t made the list. At some point that afternoon, their planes probably passed each other in the air, and neither of them realized the person they were flying to see was heading the other way.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

His laugh came through the phone. “That was pretty much my reaction. I’m on my way back to the airport now, so stay there. Let’s not do this in reverse.”

Despite everything, she let out a giggle. “I can’t believe we did this.”

She should have been disappointed after spending most of the day anticipating the moment Grady opened his door and saw her standing there, and now that wasn’t going to happen.

Instead, something far stronger pushed the disappointment aside.

He'd gone to see her. Without knowing what she was planning or where their relationship was headed, Grady had flown to Los Angeles. Apparently, waiting to see her again had become as unbearable for him as it had for her.

“When can you get back here?”

“Fen got me on the first flight available. It’ll be late.”