“I’m not asking you to leave.”

“You’re not asking us to stay, either.”

“Can the one be enough?” Finn’s pulse faltered then revved. She needed this time in Westbend, and who was Finn to steal that from her?

Ivy studied him, contemplative. Pretty. Even prettier now that he’d seen her heart on her sleeve while she’d worked alongside him tonight. “Maybe. I do need the place if I’m going to stay in Westbend with the girls. And the first week of work at the café has been great. It made me feel valuable and alive again. Not that the girls don’t do that. They do. But I want them to know the version of their mom who existed ten years ago.”

“I’m looking at that woman right now. I don’t know where you think she went, but everything you’ve done since you arrived here matches everything you just said about that old version of yourself.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Finn could only pray he wouldn’t come to regret passing up the second opportunity he’d had to send Ivy away...