Shelby had planned to go straight to Lucky from Chicago, but decided to reroute an extra day to visit Nashville. It was a little harder doing touristy things with City, since places like the Ryman Auditorium didn’t allow dogs. But City was a great walking companion and she loved the clean streets of Nashville. People often stopped her to ask about City. Dogs made friends, she realized.

City was a perfect gentleman—or gentledog, as she started to think of him, sitting back on his haunches when people asked if they could pet him. He smiled his tongue-wagging smile and nuzzled strangers’ hands. He also, on occasion, growled softly, always at the kinds of men whose glances made Shelby nervous. She had her pistol in the truck, but City made her feel more secure.

At night, City curled up next to her in the bed of the Airstream, his nose against her feet. After two nights of this, Shelby didn’t know how she had ever slept alone. Somehow this dog had revealed her deep loneliness to her by filling a part of the void. But just a part.

Jake’s texts continued as Shelby neared Texas and she responded more and faster. She had rearranged her travel plans to go along the coastline, and stopped to see the beach in Biloxi. She let City off the leash and he tore through the beach in tight circles, kicking up the sand as he spun and leaped. It made Shelby a little nervous to have him off the leash—she couldn’t imagine losing him now. But the only time he strayed from her was when she put her toes in the ocean. He didn’t seem to like the water, or maybe just the waves, and darted away, whining nervously, only to run back to her, then dart away again. He finally sat waiting, continuing to whine, until Shelby’s feet felt itchy.

“Don’t like the water, boy? Probably better. If you try to swim at home, you’ll be gator bait.”

But then Shelby realized that it wouldn’t be for long. The forty-five days were almost up. She would return home only to have to pack everything she owned. The thought filled her with anxiety. Jake seemed to be thinking of this too. His texts had turned from light to serious, even as they slowed down, like sending more weighty texts meant he had to say less.

This last text made her blush. Would he understand what she meant? Was it too subtle? Too obvious?

When he didn’t comment on it, she felt both foolish and relieved.

When the truck’s wheels touched down on the Texas side of the Sabine River Bridge, Shelby made her way to the Texas Welcome Center with its big, metal star in the parking lot. She took a selfie sitting under it next to City. You couldn’t see all the points of the star from the angle she had to hold the phone, but she sent it to Jake anyway.

Jake didn’t respond, which made her heart feel bruised. It was the first time she had sent him a picture. It felt very vulnerable. Not having him answer made her feel worse. Maybe he didn’t get it. Maybe he didn’t want it. What were the rules to what they were doing, anyway? She waited a long time, phone in hand, then finally gave up. City wanted to walk.

After going to the bathroom, Shelby walked City along the wooden boardwalks over the swamps behind the welcome center. She ignored the sign that said no dogs, and no one said anything. When she reached the end of one of the boardwalks, she called her daddy.

“Shelby!”

“Hey, Daddy.”

“How’s my girl? It’s been too long! I was worried, but your mama said that we needed to give you space.”

It was hard still to hear him talk about Mama in the present tense. But she thought about what Jake had said about David and being honest.

“Is she still there?”

“Pumpkin, she’s here to stay. I know this is hard. Will you be alright with that? I know that she would really like to talk with you.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready,” she said. “I think I want to, but maybe not yet. Soon?”

She could hear her father smiling through his voice. “I think that she can work with soon. It’s your timing. When you’re ready, she said. Now when are you coming home?”

“I’ll be there in about an hour.”

“An hour! Shelby! We haven’t even gotten things ready!”

“What’s there to get ready?”

“Never you mind that. I can’t wait to see you, sweetheart.”

“Daddy? I got a dog.”

“Well, I’ll be. Maybe that’s just what we need around here. Bring him on. Or her?”

“Him. And he’s the best. You’ll love him. I mean, you don’t have a choice, but even if you did, you’d love him.”

“Well, you drive safe. I hope you took lots of pictures. I want to see every single one.”

Shelby hadn’t taken a lot of pictures. She meant to, but it was weird to take a bunch of selfies, and she realized three states in that although things were beautiful, having so many pictures of scenery got boring. Her favorite picture was the one she’d sent to Jake. That he still hadn’t responded to.

Maybe she had been misreading what was going on in the texts. Texts were easy to misunderstand, though she thought after the past few days, she had a sense for his tone and his humor. It doesn’t matter anyway, she reminded herself. Not like he’s here.

As she headed past town, a few people waved and she honked and waved as well. Shelby rolled the window down, just a little, so City could put his head out of the window. She still didn’t trust fully that he wouldn’t jump out or run away, so made sure it wasn’t open too wide. He had his paws up on the door so his muzzle could stick out, sniffing the air.

“Now don’t get used to this,” she said as they turned down her driveway, canopied with live oaks. “It’s pretty, but not ours anymore. We’ll be moving…somewhere. You seem pretty good with change, so you’ll be alright. Me? I don’t do change. You’ll have to help me out.”

As she reached the end of the tree-lined drive, her stomach lurched. Shelby sucked in a breath. The house was gone. Some of the foundation was still visible, the cement columns standing a foot or so high, holding up nothing. A muddy yellow backhoe sat next to it.

Her thoughts zigzagged through her head. Why didn’t Daddy tell her? She just talked to him. Where was she supposed to go now? How did this happen so fast? Where were their things? Why had no one told her?

She opened the door to the truck and got out slowly, not bothering to put a leash on City, who stayed close to her ankles as she walked over to where the house had been. The ground was soft and muddy. She was shocked at how small it looked now that the house was gone. Is that how tiny the house had really been? Tears stung her eyes and she leaned over, hands on her knees. City nudged her hand and she scratched his ears, grateful for something to do.

“This was the house, boy. I grew up here. I—” She couldn’t speak anymore through the tears.

City’s head jerked from underneath her hand, his ears pointing at alert as he looked toward the lake. He barked once, a warning, then began to run.

All she could think about was T-Ball. “City!” she shouted as he bounded away. Shelby started after him at a sprint.

That’s when she saw Jake, standing on the dock.

She stopped where she stood, about fifty yards away. City reached Jake and nuzzled into his legs as though he’d known Jake his whole life. Absentmindedly, Jake leaned down to scratch City, who wriggled happily, then sat on Jake’s foot, leaning against his legs. While he scratched City, Jake’s eyes never left Shelby.

It felt like a dream. Her house: gone. Jake: here.

Shelby began to walk toward the dock, keeping her eyes fixed on Jake’s face. As she got closer, she could see that he was smiling, but also looked hesitant and maybe a little afraid.

Her own face had a mask of confusion. Underneath it, her heart leapt at the sight of him standing there and she knew that it was confirmation of what she truly wanted. That gut reaction: beyond happy to have him there.

But why was he here? And where was Daddy? Mama? Her house? She caught sight of T-Ball’s dark, ridged head cutting through the water slowly. At least T-Ball was here.

“Jake,” she said, stopping a few steps away from him on the dock.

“Shelby,” he said, and then his smile won out over the other emotions. He looked like he wanted to hug her, and she wanted that too, but she kept her distance and he did too. “Is this City?”

She looked down, where her dog was still nuzzling Jake, begging to be scratched. “What do you think? He seems to like you fine, but I’m not sure he’s a great judge of character.”

“Oh, I don’t know. He chose you, didn’t he?” He continued to smile, but Shelby held back. There was so much between them still. He seemed to sense this and gestured to the bench. “Want to sit?”

Shelby nodded and sat down on an edge of the bench. Jake sat on the other end, leaving room between them. City took up the space between their legs, looking out over the water where T-Ball hovered nearby, one black eye fixed on them. The sun was starting to go down over the trees to their left, lighting up the water with red and gold. The summer insects warmed up for the nighttime performance. Shelby sat on her hands. It was too hard otherwise not to reach for him.

“I have so many questions,” Shelby said.

“Where do you want to start? I’ll answer anything.”

“Where’s my house? Where’s my Daddy? Why are you here?”

Jake sighed. “I had hoped that things would be a little further along here, but I underestimated how slow things move in Lucky.”

“What things? What are you talking about?”

Jake stretched an arm out across the back of the bench. Since they were sitting on opposite sides, his fingers just grazed her shoulder. “A lot has happened in the past week or so. I need to tell you about it, but I have to say a few things first. I know I put this in a text, but here it is in person: I’m sorry, Shelby. I’m sorry that the deal I was making included this land. I didn’t know when I met you. And then when I did, it had already happened. I should have said something, but couldn’t figure out how. I was selfish and scared. I thought you’d hate me and I didn’t want to lose you. Will you forgive me for that?”

Shelby nodded, not looking at him. She was afraid if she did, she might cry. “Yes. Thank you. I’m glad you’re here. I didn’t want to stop talking to you. Even if I was mad.”

“I should have chased after you when you left L’Auberge. I mean, I did come after you right then, but I couldn’t find you. And then I thought maybe I’d talk to you the next day, but when I came back, I saw you with Matt and thought you and Matt…well…”

“You thought I got together with Matt?”

“Well, you were driving away in his truck with the Airstream behind. I was confused, but it looked like something more than it was.”

“Oh,” she said. She hadn’t thought of that when she saw him that day. She was just upset he didn’t come after her and didn’t think of any of the possible reasons why. There was silence between them for a few minutes before Jake started talking again.

“I bought this place back from the mayor. So, it’s yours.”

Her head snapped toward him. “You what?”

He gazed at her, warmth radiating through his blue eyes. “I know that it’s kind of a big gift.”

She couldn’t speak, still reeling from this.

“I know it’s a lot. Will you listen for a few minutes? And then if you still want to argue or say no, I’ll respect that.”

“Okay. Start talking.”

“I need you to understand. Even though McClure jacked up the price, classy man that he is, it was still nothing to me. Nothing. I know I told you I have money. I don’t like to talk about it much because people get the wrong idea or they try to take advantage or it just makes them uncomfortable. But I have more than a lot of money. When Xan and I took the company public last year, we both made over a billion dollars. I could have bought your house a hundred times over and not have had it make a dent. I’m not trying to brag. I just want you to know.”

Shelby swallowed. The amount of money he was talking about didn’t seem real to her. She felt torn. Yes, she wanted her place. But it still made her feel like she owed him.

“I can’t pay you back.”

“I don’t expect you to. I don’t want you to. Please, Shelby. Let me give you this back. It was yours anyway.”

“And the mayor just let you buy it back?”

“Well. Like I said, he jacked up the price. And tried to get me to marry Daisy again.”

Shelby’s mouth fell open. Jake smiled. “I told him that he was too late. I had my eye on marrying someone else.”

She closed her mouth with a snap and looked out over the water. She felt a flush in her cheeks. Usually he was the one doing all the blushing. Jake stared intently at her, but she couldn’t return the gaze. Not with what he was saying.

“You…”

“I’m getting ahead of myself,” he said. “We’ll come back to that.”

“I…” Shelby’s brain felt like mush. Too many questions, too much excitement. “So where did the house go? And where is everyone?”

Jake’s fingers tightened on her shoulder and he sighed. “This part I’m really sorry about, but it couldn’t be helped. McClure made sure we did a full inspection before signing, just to make sure everything was in order. But the house had lost its structural integrity. We had to tear it down.”

When she had seen the empty space on the lot, Shelby knew. But a part of her had wild hope that it had simply been moved. The property was gone, but they kept the house and used a trailer or whatever they do to move things. It wasn’t a great house, but it had been home. All her memories were contained within the walls. She thought then of Gracielynn and how she had said that people were who made a house into a home.

“MASH,” Shelby said. “That’s why you asked?” She gave Jake a sideways glance. He was looking out over the water now, where the light was fading.

“Yes. I wanted…I want…” He ran his other hand through his hair. “I feel like I’m doing this all wrong. I did it wrong and I’m telling you wrong. I’m not good at this.”

Shelby reached across to his knee. The touch startled him and he looked down at her hand with wide eyes, then at her face.

“Jake,” she said. “I’m listening. It’s okay. Just talk to me.”

“I wanted to get you a new house. Have one built. Or…something. But it was all too fast and I started too late. Your dad also told me that I was rushing ahead a little bit, taking things out of order.”

“You talked to my dad?” This is the question she asked, but what she really wanted to know was what things he was taking out of order. “Why didn’t he tell me when I called?”

“I wanted to tell you myself. Since that was a mistake I made before. I didn’t want to make it again.” He took his hand from her shoulder and grabbed for her hand, still resting on his knee. He turned it over, tracing her palm lightly with a fingertip.

“I wanted to make a grand gesture.”

“I think saving my land is pretty grand.”

He beamed. “So, you accept?”

Shelby nodded. “I can’t imagine not living here. But I think we should talk about me paying you back. Just what the bank paid me for this place.”

“We can talk about that, if you want. But I think the money would be better spent on getting your Daddy and Mama a permanent place. It might be crowded with all of us here. Then we just need to get us a house.”

We. Us. The words were tricky and took a moment to settle in Shelby’s brain. Her heart seemed to understand first, picking up tempo until it was racing. Then her cheeks flushed again.

Slowly, Shelby turned to look at Jake. His eyes searched hers and she could see a flicker of worry there, but his mouth was curved up in the white-toothed grin she loved.

“Us? You want to get us a house?”

“That was the other thing I talked to your Daddy about. While I’m not ready to pop the big question—yet—I have your father’s permission. I figured you’ve had a lot of proposals and I needed to make sure that I was going to be the one to get a yes. I know I’m revealing my hand here, but I promise to keep the proposal itself a surprise. For now, though, I’ve rented a house in Lucky. I plan to stay as long as it takes to get a yes out of you. Unless you want to tell me no right now—no to this crazy plan of dating. Or courting, or whatever you call it. I just want to get you to say yes now, and then save a yes again for me later. Not too much later. Soon, but not yet. I want a chance to show you that I love you and just how much.”

It was too much. Shelby stood and City got to his feet, too, watching her to figure out where to go next. The sun dipped below the tree line, leaving everything bathed in the soft, forgiving light of dusk.

“Shelby?”

She heard the sound of Jake getting to his feet. She sensed him standing behind her and knew that she only had to turn and she would be in his arms. City nudged at her leg. Mouth open to speak, she spun around to face Jake.

Jake was waiting, and before she could speak, he pressed his hands gently to her face and drew her face to his. When his lips met hers, the thoughts and worries that had been pinging around her brain disappeared. Shelby let herself get lost in the tenderness of his kiss and the way his hands slid from her face to her neck and then circled her waist, pulling her closer. She pulled away, breathless, and smiled up at him.

“Hey—we can kiss standing up!”

He grinned back and traced the curve of her jaw, sending a rush of blood down her neck to her chest. “Yes…but my back might be sore. I basically have to bend over halfway. Totally worth it, but I definitely can’t kiss you standing up straight.”

“Unless…” Shelby narrowed her eyes and Jake looked startled as she grabbed him around the neck and jumped up, assuming he would catch her. His arms went underneath her hips as her legs wrapped around him.

“You’re not going to make me line dance, are you?”

Shelby giggled. “Only if you stop kissing me.”

He covered her mouth and silenced her giggles with another round of kisses that left her breathless. Only when she heard City whining did they pull apart.

“I think your dog is saying he doesn’t like our PDA.”

“City? He loves PDA. I think he’ll be a good reminder to keep things PG. And he’s not my dog. He’s our dog. Kind of a deal breaker. You want me, you get the dog.”

Jake kissed along her jaw and found her mouth again before pulling back so she could see his eyes. “Moving kind of fast with him, aren’t you?”

She gave him a gentle smack on the shoulder. “He’s not the only one I’m moving fast with. Want to complain?”

“Nope.” Ignoring City’s whining, Jake found her mouth again and Shelby relaxed into the feeling of being swept away.