“The second wedding on the island is next Saturday, right? Will Taylor be here Friday night?” Phaedra asked.

I wiped down the last of the tables.

“Taylor leaves Thursday for Eakins. There’s a bachelor party on Friday night. I’m flying straight to Saint Thomas on Saturday,” I said.

A steady beat of knocking came from the door, and I looked up to see Gunnar standing there, pointing to Taylor standing next to him.

Kirby opened the door, letting them in, and I dropped my rag before throwing my arms and legs around Taylor.

Taylor pressed his lips against mine. “Hi, gorgeous!” he said, lowering me to the floor.

I kissed him again, and then I picked up the rag off the floor. My heart was pounding in my chest as if I’d just run a marathon. It didn’t matter how many nights I saw him standing on the other side of the glass. It made me feel the same every time.

Chuck walked through the swinging doors, putting a hand on his round belly. “What time did you leave Estes Park?”

“On time,” Taylor said.

Chuck laughed. “You must drive like a maniac. You need to quit that, boy, or you’re going to end up launching off a ridge.”

I grimaced.

Taylor bent down to kiss me. “I drove a little fast, but I was careful. I was in a hurry to get here.”

“It’s snowing,” I said. “You can’t drive fast and careful when it’s snowing.”

He stood up tall. “Obviously, I can.”

Gunnar and Taylor each took a seat on the stools, catching up and cracking jokes with Chuck and Hector. Kirby and I finished our duties, making sure not to leave anything for Hannah the next day.

“You guys coming upstairs?” I asked, drying my hands with a clean rag.

Kirby and Gunnar looked at each other.

Gunnar nodded. “Sure. I just have one paper to write this weekend. It can wait.”

We said good-bye to everyone, and then Kirby and Gunnar followed Taylor and me upstairs.

“The good thing about having a girlfriend who doesn’t drink?” Taylor was bent over in the kitchen, rummaging in my fridge. He wheeled around with a beer bottle in his hand. He popped the top with a smile and flicked the lid into the trash. “I know she won’t drink my stash while I’m gone.” He strolled over to the couch, making me bounce when he fell into the cushion next to me.

I leaned into his side, letting that relaxing wonderful feeling that filled the loft when Taylor was there warm me like a blanket.

He stretched his arm over the back of the couch, touching my shoulder with his fingers, and then he held out his bottle to Gunnar. “There are a few more in the fridge.”

Gunnar watched him take a gulp and then shook his head. “I’m going to need all my senses to pull off this paper.”

Kirby patted his knee.

“I don’t miss college,” Taylor said. “At all.”

“I like school,” Gunnar said, gesturing toward Kirby. “I don’t like being away from her.”

Kirby hugged his arm. “Just keep kicking ass, and we’ll be in Denver in no time.”

Taylor’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re moving there together?”

Gunnar looked both proud and excited. “I’ve just got to get some money saved up and find a place once I transfer.”

“Gunnar’s applying for the physician’s assistant program,” I said.

“Oh, yeah? That’s fucking awesome, man. Good for you.” Taylor held up his beer again, as a toast this time. He looked to me. “What are Phaedra and Chuck going to do when they lose you both?”

Kirby and I traded glances.

“What?” Taylor asked.

“Have you had any luck applying here?” Kirby asked.

“Nope,” Taylor said. “But I’m solid at the station in Estes.”

“But don’t you live with your brother?” she asked.

Taylor set his beer down on a coaster even though the coffee table was scratched and already covered in water rings. “Okay. You two have been discussing. Let’s hear it.”

I squirmed. “It’s just that … it feels wrong to leave Phaedra high and dry after all she’s done for me. And I’m not sure I’d like your brother as a roommate. I don’t really want to ask him to move out, and we have a perfectly good place here. I can save more if I stay here.”

“That’s not true. I told you I’d take care of rent.”

“And I told you it was fifty-fifty or nothing.”

“I’m here, maybe, five months out of the year,” he said.

“Until you get hired on here.”

“They’re not hiring, baby. I’ve asked—a lot.”

“Not yet,” I said, pointing at him.

He looked at Kirby and then back at me. “So, what do you propose? I keep up the commute until I’m hired on here? Or that I move here without a job?”

I winced. I knew suggesting either would be an insult. “If I move to Estes Park, you’ll be here in the Springs or somewhere else for up to half the year.”

“I told you. I have a full-time position at the local station if I want it.”

“I can’t leave Phaedra and Chuck, not right now. Kirby is leaving soon …”

Taylor blew out a breath, looking away from me. “I don’t want to keep doing this. I hate seeing you only on the weekends.”

“Should we go?” Gunnar asked.

We both ignored him.

“So, we’re at an impasse,” I said.

“And what the hell does that mean?” Taylor was more frustrated than angry.

He had been talking about us moving in together since Christmas, and I’d kept giving him excuses—everything from it being too soon to moving expenses.

“I don’t have a car. How am I going to get to work if I move into your condo?”

He shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. I can drop you off. It’s a shorter drive than coming here every weekend.”

“We don’t have to decide now.”

Taylor took a long drink, sucking the beer bottle dry, and then he took it with him to the kitchen. He tossed it into the trash can before opening the fridge to grab another. He twisted off the cap and threw it into the garbage, too, before returning to me in a huff.

“Taylor …” I began.