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He held her face between his hands, his gaze never wavering from hers. She could see the seriousness in his expression before he spoke. “I should’ve told you before you left. I should’ve told you every damn time we talked on the phone afterward. So I’m telling you now. I love you, Amanda.”

Tears blurred her vision, but this time she didn’t care enough to fight them. She reached for him and gripped his shirt. “I love you too.”

His mouth came down on hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her as close as the center console allowed. There was nothing tentative about it. No uncertainty about what tomorrow would bring or where either of them belonged. Just Grady kissing her like he meant to make up for every night they’d spent apart.

When they finally broke apart, she pressed her forehead to his, unwilling to put any more distance between them. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting everything sink in. He loved her. He wanted her here. And while they still had a hell of a lot to figure out, the questions that had kept her awake at night in California no longer seemed quite so impossible.

When she opened her eyes, he was watching her.

“So, I guess that answers whether you want me in Antelope Rock.”

A smile spread across his face. “I thought I’d made that pretty clear.”

“You have now.”

He kissed her once more, and she let herself enjoy it without wondering when she’d get to kiss him again. For the first time since leaving Wyoming, she could think about what came next without an expiration date hanging over them.

Eventually, Grady pulled away. “We should probably get back on the road.”

Probably. Although sitting in a rest area kissing him for the rest of the afternoon had its appeal.

She reached for her seat belt. “I suppose Rissa might eventually wonder what happened to us.”

“That girl would have a search party organized before dinner.”

Amanda had no trouble believing that. She was looking forward to seeing Rissa again, along with everyone else she’d missed.

A few minutes later, they were back on the highway, her hand in his and a future in Antelope Rock waiting for them.

Epilogue

Amanda stood in the middle of Rissa’s dorm room at High Plains University and studied it critically.

Two lofted beds. Two desks. Two dressers. One narrow closet each. A shared window overlooking the quad. Enough storage to accommodate two eighteen-year-old girls for an entire school year without making either of them feel as though they were living inside a packed suitcase.

Not bad.

Actually, it was damn good.

For a room Rissa hadn’t been sure she’d have until eight weeks ago, it was even more impressive. After learning she'd gotten off the housing waitlist and been paired with another incoming freshman, Sophie Bennett, Rissa had tracked down her new roommate on social media. Soon Amanda and Sophie's mother had joined their group chat, and the four of them spent weeks planning how to make the most of every square foot.

Rissa and Sophie now sat side by side on one of the beds, staring at the phone between them.

“Oh my God,” Sophie said.

Rissa grabbed the phone from her. “No way.”

Amanda paused while rearranging the few remaining supplies on the desk. ‘What?”

“The room tour reel we posted already has over twelve thousand views.”

Of course they’d posted one.

The girls had been taking pictures and short videos throughout yesterday and today, documenting the transformation from two empty sides of a standard dorm room into the space the three of them and Sophie's mother, Elaine, had spent weeks planning.

Sophie lifted her gaze from the screen. “I bet it’s because we tagged you.”

“Not that I mind, but why?”