I LUGGED CASS’S SUITCASE down the elevator and out to my truck.

“Will it fit?” she asked nervously.

“It’ll fit. I have a truck. What the fuck do you have in here?” I asked, heaving it off the rolling cart when we reached the sliding front doors.

She smiled at me. “Hair products.”

“Jesus.”

We stepped out into the cold, wintery air. The sun was out, the world fresh and sparkling.

Cass bobbed at my side, a pink and red knit hat pulled over her head, hair falling over her shoulders, getting all mixed up with Pea who she was holding as she chattered like a little engine of happiness.

“And we can pick up my stuff at the apartment?”

“We’ll stop on our way west.” That sounded good. Headed west with my woman. And my dog.

Pea was licking her chin. Cass didn’t even try to ward him off. She hefted him higher and rested her other hand on his back, holding him safe.

“I don’t have much to pick up,” she said. “But I need to grab some clothes and my guitar. And my coffee cup pezzies. Although…” She eyed my truck. “They’re definitely not going to fit.” She shrugged happily. “So I guess we just ship them out right away.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Where you want to ship them?”

She squinted at me through the sun. “To Rangers, right? You said they’d like them. So, we make up care packages with my dispensers and coffee beans and maybe some…what? Magazines? How about candy?”

“You’re a smart lady.”

Peacock was squirming in her arms, so she set him down. He started barking and took off at a run, snuffling his snout under the snow and lifting it as he went, tossing snow over his head as he ran for no reason but the joy of it.

Cass bent and scooped up a handful of snow, packing it as she watched Pea romp. Then she angled me a look from under her dark brows and bounced the snowball in her hand once or twice.

I started to smile. “You don’t want to do that.”

“Do what?” She was all innocence.

“Get in a snowball fight with me.”

She grinned, then shrugged and threw it out in front of us. It arced high and landed a few feet from Pea. He went after it. Cass leaned against my side as we kicked through the snow, me dragging her heavy ass suitcase behind.

“We’ll ship that stuff out if you want,” I said, “but aren’t you going to want those coffee things when you set up shop?”

“Set up shop?”

“A new coffee shop. Isn’t that what you want to do?”

She laughed. “It’s about time for me to get a real job, stop dreaming my little coffee dreams. And I don’t have the money to start over, Trey.”

“I do,” I said.

Why the fuck should she stop dreaming? The world was going up in flames, people standing around stunned, like ‘what the hell happened here?’

We needed more dreaming.

Cass stopped short. “What?”

“I have money.”

She stared at me, her jaw dropped. “Money for what?”

I shrugged. “Set you up.”

“You’ll set…me…” Her words fell off, then she threw herself at me, hugging me, her knees hooking around my hips.

I dropped the suitcase and slid my hands under her ass. I was going to have to start a different workout program if this was going to be her m.o..

Peacock the Pup saw us doing something different and hit the brakes, came bounding back toward us, his little black and brown body hurtling through the snow.

“No,” she said, kissing my mouth. “No way. I’m not borrowing money from you, but thank-you. Thank-you for…believing in me.”

Her eyes were shining as she dropped back to her feet.

I put an arm around the back of her puffy jacket and pulled her close again, squeezing the puff, ‘til all I felt was her. “I don’t lend money, babe.”

She blinked. “Oh.”

“But I definitely collect interest.”

“Oh boy.”

I tipped her chin up. “I’ll start collecting tonight,” I promised.

“Okay.” It was all exhale. Peacock was running in circles around us, yipping excitedly, like we were his nucleus.

My heart felt pretty full.

I swung her suitcase into the back of the truck then scooped Pea up and tossed him gently in the cab. He clamored over into the back seat and pushed his nose up against the window, steaming it up, his tail going a mile a minute.

Cass walked to the far side of the truck and swung the door open, then looked at me through the cab. “I have a couple questions, Trey. Things we should probably hash out.”

I dropped my head. “Shit.”

“Do you like cards?”

I looked up a little. “What kind of cards?” I asked warily.

“Poker?”

I rested my forearm on the roof of the truck over my head. “Used to play a lot.”

“Yes. I know. If I remember, you and Ben drank a lot of beer while you played.”

I grinned. “You play?”

She sniffed. “I’ve learned.”

“Bring it on.”

She gave a clipped nod. “Okay. And…do you like to cook?”

“Why, do you?”

“No.”

“Fine,” I said. “Because I do, and I like the kitchen to myself.”

“That is not going to be a problem. Do you leave dishes in the sink? Overnight? Or…for days?”

This was no time to hedge. This was important shit. “I might do that last thing, but I’m flexible. If you need them cleaned up, I’m on it.”

She exhaled in relief. “Okay, because I’m actually not very good at it either, but I can be on it, if you need.”

I nodded. “We’ll flex on the dishes.”

“Okay. And for the record, I don’t care how much money you have, I’m paying my own rent.”

“Fine. I pay for anything when we go out.”

She sighed. “You’re so difficult to get along with. Is it going to be a problem if I watch TV late at night?”

“No fucking way. What do you like to watch?”

“Old stuff. Classic stuff. Sitcoms, old movies.”

I pictured watching sitcoms and movies with Cass, and my whole body relaxed.

She stuck her hands in the pockets of her puffy jacket. “Okay. Then there’s just one more thing.” She sounded serious.

“Shoot.”

Her hand slid out of her pocket and she beamed me with a snowball, right in the chest. Snow sprayed up over my face.

I looked down at the splatter, then stared at her in shock.

“You got to be sharp, soldier,” she said, grinning. “Or I’m going to get you every time.”

“Well, I’ll be sure to remember—” I said, then lunged through the cab and grabbed her arm before she could dance backward. She tried to pull free but I kept hold and she was laughing as I dragged her halfway into the truck, both of us leaning across the seat, stick shift pushing against my hip.

“You see how that goes both ways?” I asked.

“Okay, okay,” she gasped around her laughter. “I got it.”

I slid my hand to the back of her head and held her there. “You’re going to pay for that one,” I told her softly.

She pushed forward a little and kissed me. “How much?”

“You’ll scream when you see the bill.”

Her eyes were bright, her mouth curved in that happy smile, the one I’d made into my mission: Make Cass smile, like this, every day.

We spent a second there, kissing, then I released her, and we slid into the truck. Pea was running in circles around the back seat.

“How much money do you have, anyhow?” she asked, pulling the door shut.

“A lot. When I wasn’t deployed, I rented a small apartment, saved a lot. No wife. No kids.” No nothing. And now…Cass.

“Hm.”

“Does it matter?”

“Not to me, because you’re not giving me money for a coffee shop,” she said firmly as she buckled up.

“Damn straight I’m not. I’m investing in a coffee shop.”

She stared through the windshield a second, then turned to me. “Trey…an investor.” Her words were hushed. She put a hand on my thigh, her eyes shining. “That’s a great idea.”

“Yeah, I’m filled with them. In fact, I’m having one about your hand right now.”

She slid it up an inch as I revved the motor. “I pay great dividends.”

I threw it into gear. “Don’t I know it.”

Peacock put his snowy fat paws on the seat between us and pushed his panting, smiling face between ours as I backed up and drove my little family off to get our future.

I could see for miles now, and things didn’t look dark at all.

* * *