LILY WALKED OUT of the hospital later that night, physically and emotionally drained but with a peaceful heart. Her father would be transferred to a rehab facility tomorrow and then be released to come home a few days after that.
She’d spent the past four hours at his bedside, visiting with her dad and her two sisters, who’d both head back to their own lives the following morning.
The homecoming should have been awkward or laced with the familiar tension of their fraught sibling bond, but all of the difficulties of the past seemed to fade away in the joy of their reunion. Even sharing the stories of dozens of failed auditions hadn’t carried its usual weight. No one in her family was disappointed in her. On the contrary, they seemed happy to have her home.
That could be just the initial reaction, but it was enough for now. Helena and Meg had left an hour earlier with instructions for feeding Chloe her evening meal.
Alone in the room, Lily and her dad had watched sitcoms and eaten pudding cups, and a sense of contentment had covered her like a warm blanket.
As she crossed into the hospital parking lot, her fingers itched to pull out her phone and call Garrett. He was the person she most wanted to share this moment with. In their hours together, she’d confided so many of her hopes and fears about returning to Magnolia, and he’d made her feel like everything would turn out for the best.
Now it had. Everything except him driving away.
A familiar bark broke the silence of the evening, and she turned to see Chloe standing under one of the parking lot lights with Garrett Dawes holding on to her leash.
Lily’s breath caught, and she remembered that morning in the diner when he’d explained the involuntary function of breathing to her.
“Are you kidnapping my dog?” she asked as she approached, heart pounding so hard she could almost feel it banging against her ribs.
“Just borrowing her,” he clarified. “I met your sisters.”
“Oh.”
“You seem just as smart as they are, in my opinion.”
Lily let out a small laugh as she reached out to love on her giant dog. Chloe whined and licked Lily’s hand. “I’m not sure you know them well enough to judge.”
“I know you,” he said, the rough timbre of his voice sending shivers along her skin. “I’d like to know you more, Lily.”
“I’m not exactly a long-distance relationship type of girl,” she forced herself to say. As quickly as her feelings for Garrett had developed, living on different coasts wouldn’t work given how wholly he’d captured her heart.
“Me neither.” He made face. “Not the girl part,” he clarified. “But the rest. I don’t want distance between us. This sounds completely strange, but I think I fell in love with you somewhere between Amarillo and Memphis.”
“Wow.” Lily inclined her head as joy zipped through her. “It took you a whole two days? I was long gone for you by the time we hit the New Mexico border.”
“Thank God,” he breathed and reached for her, drawing her close and wrapping her in his arms like he never wanted to let her go. His mouth fused to hers in a kiss that set her soul on fire.
“I had no idea if I’d ever find a place to belong,” he said when he finally pulled back. His dark eyes were intense on her, filled with so much promise and love. “But you’re my home, Lily Wainright. My north star. I tried to drive away, but I didn’t get any farther than the town water tower. I want to be with you. I want to make you happy and hold you when you’re sad. I love you.”
She grinned and blinked back the tears of happiness that clouded her vision. “I love you, too. And I better be the first person who gets to read the next great novel from Garrett Dawes. I will always be your biggest fan.”
“Always,” he promised and kissed her again.
In that moment, Lily knew she’d truly come home.