Max caught the beer Josh chucked across the counter.

“You’re sure?”

Josh took a swig of his own drink and reentered the numbers on the calculator. He ran a hand through his brown hair while he worked. He’d cut it close to his skull at some point in the last year, because he said it was easier to deal with when he and Ruby were traveling.

Another small change. If Max had learned anything over the past year, it was that it was how someone built a life—one small change after another.

His friend sat back in the chair. “Same result. That little twerp has brought in more money in the last quarter than you or I ever managed.”

“Bobby’s a retail savant. Who knew?”

Josh shook his head. “Holly, apparently. Does this mean we need to tell her she was right?”

“Hell no.”

Josh glanced out the window at the Airstream attached to his truck. As soon as they were done here, Josh and Ruby were headed back out of town. All evening, his friend had grown increasingly antsy, like every minute discussing their business plan and going over numbers was time he’d rather spend elsewhere. Max understood.

It was Josh who pointed out the obvious. “The store doesn’t need us anymore.”

They sipped their beer in silence, processing one more small change, the end result of dozens of other small changes over the year. It felt immense, the end of a chapter.

“It’s not like we’re selling it,” Max said at last.

Josh nodded, glancing around the hardware store that had so much more meaning for him than it could possibly have for Max. The place had once belonged to Josh’s father. “We can always come back if we need to.”

Max wondered if that day would ever come. Not anytime soon.

The front door opened, causing the small bell above the frame to trill. Ruby walked in first. If Max didn’t love his friend so much, he’d find it sickening the way the guy seemed to glow every time his wife was nearby.

Emma strolled in behind Ruby, and Max felt the same dopey smile spread across his face.

“Everything sorted?” he asked.

Emma nodded. “Of course. Ruby had to hide all her dirty magazines first, but the place is cleared for our house-sitting duties.”

“Why would I need to hide them? I stole them from you.” Ruby kept a perfectly straight face.

Max tugged Emma to his side and nuzzled her neck. “We don’t need dirty magazines anyway,” he murmured.

Not quietly enough, it turned out. Josh chucked a crumpled sheet of paper at them. “Get a room.”

“Don’t need to. We’ve got yours.”

Josh glanced at the ceiling. “We’re going to need to burn the bed when we get back.”

Max picked up the ball of paper and threw it back. “It’s a four-month trip, right?”

Josh nodded. “Does that still work for you?”

To his surprise, four months in Briarsted sounded like a long time. The last year had been a blur. There was so much to see and do in L.A., he felt as if he was constantly discovering new places. The city didn’t feel like home, and he wasn’t sure it ever would.

It didn’t need to. The woman he lived with, that was his home. His heart.

“It’ll be good. Emma’s opening her first boutique in New York. This way, she’s close enough to keep an eye on everything.”

“What about you?”

Max had done some security work in Los Angeles, but the work was sporadic. The rest of the time, he’d basically been, for lack of a better phrase, Emma’s cabana boy.

There were worse things to do all day than service Emma, but it wasn’t much of a long-term plan.

“I register on Monday.” It had taken him a while to find the right program, until he stumbled on a college an hour’s drive from Briarsted offering a Wilderness Leadership degree. Max sent in his application that same day. There were a few in-person classes this semester, then he could shift to an all-online curriculum. He didn’t know where he’d be looking for a job once he graduated. He only knew they could figure it out together.

Josh shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re actually going to college.”

Emma’s spine stiffened. “It’s a great idea.”

“Yeah, it is. Max has had a few of those lately.” Josh rose and shouldered his backpack. “We should get going. We’ll text when we make it to Indianapolis.”

Their goodbyes were quick, as if no one wanted to linger and make it harder. Then Josh and Ruby were gone, off on their next adventure.

Max flipped the sign to closed and locked the door behind them. They headed down the main street, his arm resting on Emma’s shoulders. It was late, and the streets were empty, the local businesses closed for the night. As they walked, he glanced in the windows of familiar stores. The bakery with its rows of doughnuts. The bookstore with a display of children’s books in the window. The jewelry store with the engagement rings in the…

Max slowed, then stopped. He couldn’t remember ever noticing the store window before, though he’d passed it hundreds of times growing up.

Emma stood at his side, waiting.

He pointed at a particularly shiny ring. “I’m going to buy one of those for you. Some day.”

“Okay.”

“Not today, of course,” Max added. Emma was well off, but he had six hundred dollars in his checking account after paying tuition—and some things he had to take care of himself. “Or are you still avoiding ‘the crippling shackles of matrimony’? Those were your words, right?”

Emma shrugged, unconcerned. “I said a lot of things that turned out to be wrong. That may be another one. Right now, I don’t need a ring to know you love me.”

It was so simple. He wouldn’t have guessed love could be like this—an indisputable, unshakeable truth they shared, on the good days and the bad.

And the good days far outnumbered the bad.

“Maybe you don’t need a ring, but I can show you in other ways.” Max thought of the king-sized bed waiting for them at the end of the street and decided window-shopping could wait.

Emma danced two steps ahead of him. “You got anything particular in mind?”

Max took longer steps, and she moved just out of reach. “I have a few ideas.”

“Make you a deal. If you beat me to the house, you can demonstrate all of those ideas.”

“And if you get there first?”

“You can watch as I demonstrate on myself.”

With a last evil grin, she ran off, jogging easily toward their temporary home.

Max wasn’t sure if he wanted to win or not.

It didn’t matter. When it came to Emma, the prize was always worth it. That didn’t mean he had to make it easy on her, though.

Grinning, he took up the chase.