Page 26 of Oops I Fell For The Lumberjack Next Door

She lifts her head. Her eyes are clear. Brown, warm, no walls behind them.

"I'm not going anywhere, Briggs." A smile. Small, real, unguarded. "But we're alternating cabins. Because Princess Buttercup is getting separation anxiety and your dog keeps trying to eat her."

"Tinsel doesn't eat cats."

"Tinsel tried to put her entire head in his mouth yesterday."

"That's affection."

"That's attempted murder."

She laughs. Full, deep, the sound vibrating through both of us. I pull her close. Kiss her temple. Hold on.

Outside, the porch light is still burning. It's been on for three nights. Tomorrow I'll turn it off, because the woman it was burning for is right here.

My phone buzzes on the nightstand.

Mom:

Thomas Parker says there's a woman walking barefoot through the trees between your properties. In pajamas. In September. Please tell me this means what I think it means.

Me:

It means exactly what you think it means, Mom.

Mom:

FINALLY. I'm making pot roast Sunday. She's invited. Non negotiable. Also tell her I have cinnamon muffins.

Me:

I'll tell her.

Mom:

I KNEW those sight lines would pay off.

Margot reads the texts over my shoulder. She's laughing so hard Princess Buttercup would be jealous.

"Your mother has been waiting for this."

"My mother's been waiting for this since the day you moved in."

"She called the kitchen window 'good sight lines.'"

"I'm aware."

She settles against my chest. Her hand flat over my heart. Tinsel clicks into the room, circles three times, and collapses at the foot of the bed with a groan of a dog who has finally gotten what he wanted.

Through the window, the tree line between our properties is dark. Forty feet of pine. The distance between two lives that orbited each other for fifteen years without ever touching. Until a broken porch, a burst pipe, an escaped cat, and a woman in pajamas crossing the property line in bare feet closed the gap for good.

I press my mouth against her hair.

"I love you."

"I love you too." She looks up. "Also, your porch light is still on."

"I know."