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  Nate took a couple of steps back and dropped down to his chair, resting his elbows on his knee and his forehead in his hands. “You don’t have any idea.”

  “You’re right. I don’t know what you went through with your daughter’s mom. I do know Hailey really cares about both of you. She didn’t want to leave this time. Instead of giving in to her fears, she was willing to face them and give the two of you a chance.”

  Nate leaned over, pushing his fingers through his hair. “How can I keep her from everything she’s ever wanted?”

  “Why do you assume she doesn’t want you?”

  Jake didn’t wait for Nate to respond, just turned and left the house, closing the door behind him.

  Nate had reached for the brass ring once. He’d felt the cold metal against his fingertips, before it slipped from his grasp. And, here he landed.

  Jake’s point was valid. Moving through life day to day wasn’t living. Neither was keeping Lori and him behind a wall.

  And that’s why he’d pushed Hailey away. Doing so now had to be better than watching her shrink away from everything she could be.

  Nate forced himself out of his chair. The wait staff would be changing shifts at the diner and he called to let them know he wouldn’t be back. The first “sick day” he’d taken in over a year.

  Tomorrow was a new day, and he would step back into his old life.

  Now, he was trying to construct a healthy, yet comforting dinner for his family, with the odds and ends he found in refrigerator. He’d decided on chicken and noodles and was chopping carrots when he heard Anna’s car coming up the drive.

  The clacking of the knife hitting the cutting board released the sadness that had morphed into something deeper.

  When the back door opened, he turned to his sister and daughter with a painted on smile. “How was your day?”

  Anna hung her coat up on the hook and then helped Lori. “Better than yours. Or so I’m hearing.”

  Lori struggled to begin speaking. “Why… fight with… Hailey?”

  Nate tuned back to his food preparations, to avoid showing his daughter the depths of his pain. “News certainly travels fast.”

  Anna said, “We went by the restaurant. We wanted to surprise you and have dinner together.”

  “I had the same idea. Decided it was high time I made dinner for my own family instead of half the county.”

  He felt a tug on his pants and turned, looking down into the impatient eyes of his daughter. “I… like her.”

  Nate dropped down on one knee so he could look her in the eye, covering his mouth with his hand while he struggled to find the correct words. “I like her too, but she doesn’t live around here. She belongs in New York.”

  “That’s not what I heard.” Anna sat down at the table. “Aunt Wanda says you pushed her away.”

  “She was going to pass up a fantastic job offer to stay here. That’s not right. What was I supposed to say to her?”

  “Stay.” You should have said “we want you to stay.” Lori signed then turned and ran from the room.

  Nate stood and went back to cutting vegetables for a few seconds before tossing the knife back down to the counter. “Damn it! I should have listened to my gut and kept some distance between them.”

  “Don’t blame Hailey for this, she didn’t run. You pushed her away.”

  His sister was right, but he didn’t want to admit it. Not now. He had a bigger issue to deal with than his own breaking heart and followed his daughter to her bedroom.

  Through the cracked doorway he could see Lori sitting in the middle of her bed, picking at the knotted threads of the patchwork quilt. He knocked on the door and only entered when she looked up, making eye contact. He sat down on the side of the bed; picking up one of her plastic horses from the nightstand, he offered it to her.

  She took it from him, laid it on her lap, and ran her fingers over the mane for a moment. Why do people have to leave?

  “Honey, New York is where Hailey has lived for a long time. Her life is there. I told you that.”

  But Grandpa, Grandma, and my mom.

  This wasn’t the first time Lori had brought up the mother she’d never met, never known. It didn’t hurt any less. “Grandma and Grandpa didn’t leave you. They had to move to Arizona for Grandpa’s health. They love us, and especially you, and are coming home this summer for a very long visit.”

  She nodded.

  “I don’t know what to say about your mother.” Other than she was cold-hearted and he didn’t have a clue what he’d seen in her in the first place. “But she’s the one who’s missing out, because you are a wonderful girl, who I love very, very, very much.” He reached in and touched her chin, lifting it so he could look into her eyes.

  “You said… you like… Hailey.”

  “I do. Very much.”

  “You should… have…t-t-told her.”

  “I can’t.” Weren’t he and Lori the pair? It occurred to him the biggest reason he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to stay was the very same fears that Lori had. He was sick and tired of people leaving too. And he couldn’t bear to lose Hailey on any other terms than his own. He picked his daughter up and set her back down on his lap, hugging her tightly. “I promise you I’m never going to leave you. You know that, right?”

  “Love you,” she whispered in his ear. “You should… tell Hailey… we… want… her here.”

  ****

  Sure that Lori was screaming out in fitful sleep, Nate sat straight up in the bed. Instead, the house was silent. Eerily so. He reached out, grazing the pillow next to him. It still smelled vaguely like Hailey’s perfume.

  A searing pain ripped through his chest, as if his heart was being fed through a meat grinder. He picked up the pillow and brought it to him, resting his head on top of it.

  His daughter’s words echoed in his mind. Tell Hailey.

  Just tell her. That he wanted her to stay. That he never stopped wanting her in his life. That the nights he’d spent with Lori’s mother had been stupid, feeble attempts to get her out of his mind and heart.

  Every woman he dated since was compared to Hailey.

  What he felt for Hailey was more than a first crush. He couldn’t let it slip through his fingers, not without really trying to make a go of it.

  He picked up his smartphone from the nightstand, unplugged it from the charger, and brought up the web browser. After a few moments he was out of bed and into his jeans and a sweatshirt. He packed a duffle bag with a couple of changes of clothes. After tossing in the necessities from the bathroom, he made his way into Lori’s room.

  Turning on the light, he called. “Get up and get dressed, sweetie.”

  She sat up in the bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “It’s still… night.”

  “But we only have three and a half hours to make a plane, and it’s a ninety minute drive.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “To tell Hailey we want her to come home.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Hailey uncrossed and crossed her legs in the opposite direction, shifting her weight in the chair. The woman on the other side of the desk was her uncle’s friend from college. The one who had offered her the job as a favor to him.

  She had driven late into the night and returned to the road ridiculously early in order to make it home in time for the interview. Now, looking over the woman’s shoulders and out the window to the Hudson River below made her homesick. In ways she couldn’t explain—that didn’t make any kind of sense—it reminded her of the beach. Her and Nate’s beach.

  Her first instinct when she opened her eyes at five o’clock this morning was to call him to say hello. He’d be on his way to open the diner and they could chat in the peaceful ease of the early morning.

  Funny how something could become a habit in only a couple of days.

  Then she remembered how they’d ended it.

  She could feel the tears pushing against her eyes again and blinked hard, t
aking a deep breath before continuing. “I need to be assured that if a client comes to me with a case I feel passionate about, I have the discretion to take it.”

  “I hear what you’re saying. Young idealism is something the partners really liked about you. However, this is a business. We have to stay in the black. I am sure that we can write your contract to include some leeway though. Maybe a certain number of cases a year we could trust to your discretion.”

  It was a more than fair offer—more than she could have hoped for given her age and work experience. She wasn’t an A player, not at the top of her game. In fact, she was too young and too inexperienced to be making demands.

  The fact that this woman was even considering her requests only confirmed that it was all part of Rhonda and her father’s manipulations. Her family’s attempts to keep her from throwing away a promising career.

  No matter what Nate thought, the money didn’t mean more to her than home, more than him.

  Hailey looked down at her watch. Ninety seconds for her mind to swirl back to him. What was she doing here? No matter what her family wanted and what Nate thought, she knew she couldn’t do this.

  The walls were closing in, even the beautiful full glass one overlooking the water. Below was the city of concrete and steel that had once represented opportunity, choices, and the kind of life her little hometown could never give her. Now, it felt like a prison cell keeping her from the people she loved.

  She stood. Picking up her purse and letting it hang off her shoulder, Hailey reached across the desk. “Thank you, ma’am, for the job offer. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your faith in me and your willingness to work with my goals, but I’m going to have to pass.”

  The woman took Hailey’s hand. “I don’t understand, your uncle said—”

  “Yeah, my uncle doesn’t understand either. They think they know what I want, but they are looking at an antiquated set of goals I set for myself a long time ago. If I’ve learned nothing else in the last year, it’s what’s important. I’m not going to let that slip through my fingers again.”

  “We’re closed tomorrow for the holiday. Why don’t you take a couple days to think about it?”

  Holiday? That’s right. It was New Year’s Eve. Through everything that had happened the last few days, she’d lost track of the time, but the promise she’d made to Nate earlier in the week rang in her head. The only place she wanted to be at midnight was in his arms, kissing his lips, committing to a new, brighter future. “No. Thank you, but I don’t need any more time to think about it. I’ve spent too much time thinking as it is. It’s time to act.”

  The woman dropped back down behind her desk and shrugged. “I wish you the best, Miss Lambert. If you change your mind and want to get back in the big game, don’t hesitate to call me.”

  With a certainty that trumped every feeling she’d had before this, Hailey left the office and fished her phone out of her purse. The only way she would be back in Nate’s arms by midnight was to fly home.

  But she didn’t want to leave a single belonging here in the city. She knew that this life was her past. Her future—her home—was back in Caseville with Nate.

  Whether or not he was ready to admit it was what he wanted too.

  Unable to get a signal on the elevator, she waited until she was on the street to press on Nate’s name on the screen. She held the phone to her ear and walked west toward the subway station.

  It rang twice and then went to voice mail.

  Damn him, anyway. Why did he have to be so stubborn? Why couldn’t he accept that this was what she wanted?

  She waited for the beep then said, “I’m coming home. You owe me a midnight kiss.”

  Dropping her phone into her purse as she rounded the corner to the steps of the subway station, she ran smack into someone.

  Nate. But, it couldn’t be.

  It was.

  His jaw dropped. “I can’t believe, in this big, crazy, god-forsaken city—that I can’t stand by the way—I would run right in to you.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  He released Lori’s hand and threw his arms around her. “I was so stupid. I can’t live without you. And I came here to take you home.”

  A piece of her still remembered she was angry about how he’d pushed her away, but the bigger part of her that had just committed to making him take her back clung to him.

  Nate squeezed her tighter and kissed her temple, before stepping back and gripping Lori’s hand. No doubt the craziness of the traffic was overwhelming to her too. And it was much lighter than normal today given it was the holiday.

  Hailey touched Nate’s shoulder, leading them a dozen steps up the block. Standing in front of a restaurant, they were out of the flow of traffic. “How did you ever find me?”

  “I called Rhonda, made her tell me your address and where your interview was. She didn’t want to but eventually she gave in.”

  Hailey didn’t know what to say. Nate had left his diner and got on a plane with his daughter, to brave the big unknown and find her.

  “I know you’ve been offered everything you ever wanted here, and this,” He looked around him motioning to the streets, “craziness is what you consider your home, but what Lori and I have—maybe that could be home. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know I don’t want to give up on us so easily. You have to want it to, though. Don’t come back with us unless you’re sure you can be happy in our small town.”

  She could hear the tears cracking his voice and knew what it took for Nate to put his dented heart on the line. He was done teetering on the edge and willing to take that leap. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing left to consider. Hailey knew her heart, and Nate was finally ready to accept what he felt in his.

  But then, there was one more person to consider.

  Hailey turned her attention to Lori.

  She hadn’t said a word, only stood close to her father, observing everything said. Hailey dropped to one knee. “Is all of this okay with you? Do you mind if I move back home and date your father.”

  Lori’s head quickly bobbed up and down. A wide smile turned her lips. “Yes. I want th-th-that.”

  Hailey stood and stepped closer to Nate, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I want to go home. Check your messages. I’d already decided. I turned down the job and called you to tell you I was coming to collect on my New Year’s Eve kiss.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m positive. Can you stay here with me for a couple of days? I want to arrange to have all of my belongings shipped home and close out my lease. I don’t want to leave anything behind. No more looking back. I only want to focus on the future.”

  He ran a finger through the piece of blonde hair framing her face. “I’ve always heard New Year in Time’s Square is something everyone should experience.”

  She pulled her body tighter to his. “That’s not what I had in mind.”

  ****

  Nate was amazed, and felt—finally—like he could see a happy future for him and his daughter. Just a week ago, he’d never guessed it would be in Hailey’s company.

  After connecting on the street, they went to the offices of a moving company where she’d scheduled a truck and arranged to have boxes delivered to her apartment, paying extra to have it done that afternoon.

  He’d insisted they stop and have lunch, mostly because he and Lori hadn’t eaten anything but a doughnut from the airport kiosk hours before.

  She then brought them to her very small apartment in the West Village and began filling the boxes with her belongings. With he and Lori helping they’d made amazing progress in just a few hours.

  Shortly after dinner, they’d filled the last of the boxes they had and would have to find a place to get a few more before the truck came the day after New Year. They would then drive her car back home.

  Together.

  Surprisingly, he’d found the ingredients to make a chocolate mousse dessert in her kit
chen cupboards. Now, he dished his concoction into two bowls and put the remaining in the refrigerator, saving it for Lori who had fallen asleep on the floor waiting for midnight.

  He then popped the cork on the bottle of champagne he’d bought at the corner store and filled glasses. In the living room, he set the dessert tray on the coffee table and rejoined Hailey under the blanket on her couch.

  “And I thought my house was small.” He pulled her closer, thrilling when she wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled into his chest.

  “Space comes at a premium here. Besides, I’ve never needed more than this.”

  “Do you have any regrets?”

  She shook her head slightly then sat up, reaching for a bowl of his dessert. “If I hadn’t gone through college and law school here, I wouldn’t have ever known what was really important. Besides, I still want to be a lawyer. I just want to do it back home, near you.”

  He picked up the other bowl, took a bite of the mousse than filled his spoon again offering it to her. “It’s going to be difficult, building your practice from the ground up.”

  “I know. But I’m not worried. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I fight for what I want.”

  He kissed her lips lightly. “I’ve noticed.”

  The announcer on the TV began counting down the seconds to midnight. Hailey reached for the remote and turned it up a little. “Maybe I should have taken you down to Time’s Square, after all. This could very well be your only chance to see it.”

  Nate laughed. As the camera scanned the crowd from overhead, he knew they’d made the right choice about the evening. As confetti began to fall and “Auld Lang Sine” began to play, Hailey moved in again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and made good on her vow to kiss him at midnight.

  The first of many, he hoped.