I’m bone tired when I get home. The same goes for Grace and Mom, but we all go to our rooms with smiles. Milton’s is back in a big way and the community really showed up for us, so it’s been a long, good night. At the same time, it was also a confusing one, because I haven’t been able to forget what Mattie said about Quinn and what Grace said about listening to him.

They made everything sound so easy.

My body sure wants to give him another chance, because it’s aching and burning. My heart is also saying, Hey, let’s give him a call, too, because it won’t stop pounding at me, demanding that I let Quinn in. It’s even telling me that he might not be the problem here — it’s me and my walls. Mom said as much.

I know as much.

God, it all makes me so tired, so I slip beneath the covers and go to turn out the light without even picking up my book. Then my phone buzzes with an email. Great. If I don’t answer it, it’ll be bugging me all night, so I check it out.

Fuck. FuckFuckFUCK. There’s a message from Quinn entitled Here’s the Whole Truth. My heart is beating so hard that I feel like it might trip over itself and take a big fall. Yearning pushes at my lungs, and my throat tightens with oncoming tears. This is it — a fork in the road. I can take super-safe Path A and delete this message, waiting for the day when he finishes with Climax and goes back to Marloe so I don’t have to see him again. Of course, if he buys a house here in Cherry Valley, I’m shit out of luck, but maybe by then he’ll realize I want nothing to do with him. But … God — the more I’m away from him, the more I know that I want a lot to do with him.

So is it Path B then? The scary path? The one that leads into the woods just like in every cautionary fairy tale I’ve ever picked up?

Before I lose my courage, I open the email and read it.

Gwen,

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I was so damned wrong to hide them from you. That’s why I’ve attached police reports and official documents so you can see everything. Not only did I get into trouble with the law when I was younger, but I had a habit of hooking up with women who brought me down. You’ll see it all here, but I’m only showing you the worst of me in the hopes that you’ll eventually be able to see the best of me.

From now on, it’s full transparency, and that includes letting you know that I don’t want to go another day without you.

The words blur in my sight, and his raw admission shakes me up so much that I have to wait a few minutes, absorbing this. I don’t want to go another day without you. I’m not going to cry. I’m just going to sit here and read every bit of what he’s sent.

After I do, I lie down in bed, staring at the ceiling. It’s true that he made mistakes when he was younger — selling some scary illegal substances and getting together with at least this one woman in the police report who went after him with a knife. None of it sounds like the Quinn I know — the man who just about gave us the shirt off his back. And I truly don’t think he is still the same guy.

To say that I get any sleep that night would be bullshit. I wake up before Grace — imagine that — to get the morning paper from the porch. I’m groggy and still bewildered, and I only get worse when I see what’s outside.

It’s a basket with a note. For Gwen’s eyes only. I think I know who it’s from, especially as I bring it inside and unwrap the three gifts according to the numbers they have on them. First, there’s a pretty red cashmere scarf with its own note: I hope this basket warms you up …

I smile. My heart feels like it’s rolling around in me, begging for attention. Then I open #2, a long box that turns out to be that board game Sorry!. Its note says: There’s no clearer way of apologizing … except if I could do it in person.

Oh, man. I’m starting to thaw at an alarming pace, even before I get to #3, which is a cherry pie from Screaming Beans. Its note? I am eating humble pie as we speak. Forgive me.

I hear Grace opening her door and shuffling into the bathroom, and once she’s in, I dart into my own room before she can see what I’ve got. Then I set the basket and its contents on my bed and stare at them. Damn Quinn. He’s breaking me down, but I’m still scared to death of what might happen if I let him all the way in. I’ve never done this before, been close to someone besides my own twin, who’s almost another version of me. I’ve never needed to be close anyone else.

I’m a such a disaster.

By the time I go to Milton’s to prep for lunch, Quinn’s still got a hold on me, and when I see an envelope taped to the front door with my name on it, all I can do is sob once, although it’s a laugh, too. I open it up to find a bunch of homemade coupons with cheesy things like Free Bear Hugs and A Shoulder to Lean On at Your Convenience written on them.

Damn him. He knows how to get to me. But what happens after I tell him that his full-court press has worked? Can I, Gwen “Let’s Make Life and Love Harder Than It Should Be” Milton, swallow her fear and actually let go enough to have a relationship?

I’m so useless during lunch and throughout the rest of the day that, after things speed up for the dinner rush, Mom has to pull me into the backroom and let Grace, Violet, Whitney, and Seamus take care of the counter and dining floor. As Irina works the griddle and frying station, Mom lightly pats my flushed cheeks.

“Buck up, Gwen. There’s a big night ahead of you.”

“I know. It’s another full house.” So I use the old ears trick, rubbing them between my fingers and thumbs to activate my energy centers. Then I nod. “Got it now.”

Mom smiles at me in a way that makes me wonder if there was another reason she pulled me back here, then Grace barges through the swinging door.

“Gwen, could you grab table eight?”

I’m about to tell her it’s her station and she can cut back on the chatter with the tourists at table six, but you know what? I love that we have a diner again. I love that Quinn gave this best-ever gift to us. I love …

Okay. I’m just going to get my ass out there to work.

Mom slaps me on the butt, and I send an odd glance to her over my shoulder. She’s sure peppy tonight. I take my order pad out of the pocket in the front of my apron and then go through the swinging door to the front of the house. Someone has put some old Cheap Trick on the jukebox — “I Want You to Want Me.” It’s the kind of song that’s been playing in the back of my head all my life, and I’ve just been afraid to sing along with it.

“Hey, Gwen,” says Anson Halloway as I pass by the counter. Next to him, Gary Darnell winks at me. As a matter of fact, a bunch of customers are staring, and as I approach table eight, I see why.

My breath snags in my lungs and my pulse screeches to a halt. Quinn is there. Yes, Quinn, with his thick, dark hair and his gray eyes that are filled with something that’s been frightening the shit out of me ever since I met him. Someone new is sitting across from him — longish brown hair tied at his nape, shoulders almost as wide as Quinn’s — but I only have eyes for the man who’s been trying to win me back. I only have eyes for his eyes, which are shining with such hope.

Things have gone quiet except for the music. Hell, I can either back away forever and leave behind the best worst thing that’s ever happened to me, or I can take another step forward.

Then another.

Another.

Before I know it, I’m in front of his table, hardly knowing that I had the courage to get there. It looks like Quinn is holding his breath just as surely as I am.

I don’t want to go another day without you …

Something ecstatic and full of longing pops inside of me, and I smile at him with everything I’ve been holding back.

“I can’t believe you never gave up on me,” I whisper.

As he slowly gets out of the booth, I drop my order pad and start to go to him, then he rushes toward me as I rush toward him, and when we come together in a fervent, crazy, what-the-everlovin’-fuck kiss, the diner erupts. Cheers fill my ears and my veins, tumbling through me like hot blood as I cling to him. When he pulls away from me just enough to look into my eyes, I know that I chose the right path, even though it was dark and scary and unknown.

He smiles down at me. “I didn’t know if all those apologies were gonna work.”

“I should send you a basket of my own sorries.” I reach up and tangle my fingers through his hair, dizzy with his clean, woodsy scent, getting so drunk off him that my head is spinning. “I’m difficult, Quinn. I’m impossible and—”

“And I love every bit of that. I love you, Gwen Milton.”

“Woot!” says Grace from somewhere nearby. It seems everyone else in this place gives their own woot as Quinn strokes the hair back from my face. I grab onto his t-shirt, taking permanent hold of him. I think this euphoric rush I’m feeling could be love, too.

Love. What else could it be?

As someone clears his throat next to us, everyone seems to go back to their meals and conversations, although I’m guessing they’re keeping their ears open for more good stuff. Quinn and I pull our gazes apart to focus on the man Quinn was sitting with. He’s got a sad yet determined look about him, and he’s smiling like he’s as happy for us as we are.

“This is Jerry,” Quinn says. “He’s the friend I helped out that night I was out late.”

That’s right. I never gave Quinn the chance to tell me what happened, and now I want to hear everything he has to say about that night. There’s so much we still have to talk about.

Jerry shakes my hand. “You’ve got yourself the best of ‘em, Gwen. Quinn’s a great guy. And if you ever have any questions about that psycho ex-girlfriend, just ask me. I was around in those days, and Quinn never laid a finger on that nutcase.”

“I know he didn’t.” Not only do I have the police report to prove it, but I’m sure Quinn’s side will match up to what the cops had to say.

Jerry looks a little choked up as he pats Quinn on the shoulder. “This guy’s made a real impact on me.”

I embrace my Quinn. Somehow he got the girl — the one who used to hide behind the counter reading her stories and letting the world pass by. Now she’s standing out here in the open, in his arms.

Tears gather in my eyes. “He’s had a good impact on me, too. And that’s why I fell in love with him.”

As his dark eyes light up, all those busybodies around us hoot and holler again, but when Quinn kisses me, everything disappears until there’s just us.