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Gray lifts Luddy off his shoulder only to gasp in shock. “My potatoes turned into a little girl. Can I still eat you?” He ducks his head into her rib cage and pretends to eat her.

“No! You can’t eat me, Daddy.” London shouts through peals of laughter.

“London? When did you get here? The craziest thing just happened. I picked up this bag of potatoes, and then it started talking. Turns out they were actually a little girl. How did you miss all of that?”

Luddy starts laughing so hard she drops her forehead onto Gray’s shoulder. When she can finally take a deep breath, she cups Gray’s cheeks. “You’re so silly.”

He noisily kisses her nose. “You ready to go home?”

She nods, her body slumping against his as if she’s run out of steam to keep herself awake.

Grayson holds out a hand to help me off the couch. Caroline and David walk us to the front door, saying good night to each of us.

“Oh, I keep forgetting to talk to you,” Caroline says to me. “You already know we’re hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year, but we wanted to ask about inviting your mom. Would she be interested?”

“That’s really sweet of you. Probably not, but she would appreciate being invited. I figured Jacob and I would spend the morning with her, and then come over to your house after?”

“Then we’ll plan to have dinner that afternoon. Maybe hang out with the Basils the day after.”

“Now that’s a plan I can get behind,” David says with a nod.

“It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without Stan’s famous apple pie, would it?” Caroline points out.

With that, we say a final goodbye, and Gray gets a half-asleep London into her seat. Today turned out to be a great day despite the way it started, and it’s all because of this incredible town and the people who live here.

It’s hard to understand how I didn’t see it sooner. How did I not realize I was so unhappy living that far from home?

Was I so scared of feeling like a failure that I didn’t want to see all the cracks that had been growing in my life?

I suppose it doesn’t matter. In the end, I wouldn’t have Peanut without all the things that came before them.

And that makes it all worth it.

CHAPTER 27

Grayson

Isettle my cowboy hat on my head and then shove my keys and wallet into my pockets. As usual, I’m ready long before the girls are. Bending over, I scoop up Russell. “Those girls are going to give me grey hair.”

He licks my chin as I get him settled in his crate. He whines for a few seconds until he gets distracted by his chew bone.

My parents offered to have a sleepover at their house tonight so that Kylie and I can go out one more time before the craziness of the holidays hits and we’re too busy to have time to ourselves.

We’re both ecstatic to have a whole night together without worrying about a nosy little four-year-old waking up and wondering what we’re doing.

I’ve never experienced having my heart shoot straight out of my ass, but when I heard London’s tiny little voice asking what I was doing to Mama while I was balls deep inside her, I got a good idea of what it would be like.

Let’s just say we’ve started utilizing the lock on our bedroom door when things get X-rated a whole lot more.

Kylie comes striding into the room wearing distressed jeans, a tight black T-shirt that’s ruched on the sides, and a black leather jacket.

“You’re a fucking dream. I think we should just stay home. Fuck getting dinner. You’ll be my dinner.” When my gaze finally gets back to her face, she’s blushing.

“I feel massive. I have no idea if I’ll be up for dancing much tonight.”

I pull her into my chest, arranging her so she’s sideways and I can tuck her under my chin. “We really don’t have to go out, Ladybug. I’d be happy to drop London off and come back here to stay home.”

“No, I want to go. In a couple short months, we’re going to have a newborn and a four-year-old. Getting time alone will become scarce.”