But this just wasn’t her city. It was a great place, but she hadn’t found an apartment to rent yet, so she was still living in a convenience hotel, and she hadn’t spotted a job she wanted, so she was currently temping.

That’s what everything here felt like to her—temporary. Not like home, and after two weeks, it should feel like home.

She supposed she’d just have to up and move again.

The problem was, she didn’t want to get out the map and find yet another place.

She was tired of city hopping, tired of traveling around.

She missed Hope. She missed her family and her friends.

She missed Carter. Every night as she lay in bed and stared up at the ceiling, she replayed their last conversation over and over in her head.

The things he’d said to her had been awful and painful and devastating to her heart.

Only this time, he’d been right.

She had judged him, laid all the blame on him, and hadn’t allowed herself to forgive him for the past so they could take a shot at having a future together. She hadn’t trusted in him, and because of that, she’d cost herself a chance to have a forever with the one and only man she had ever loved.

It had taken that one last ugly blowup for her to see the mistakes she’d made.

And because she hadn’t trusted in Carter, and in her own heart, she’d done the only thing she really knew how to do and do well—run.

But running was no longer the solution to her problems.

Now she was afraid that no place was ever going to feel like home again, because home was Hope.

She had to go home.

She had to go home to Carter. And hope and pray that he’d take her back.

Chapter 35

THANK GOD EMMA knew where Molly was, and she was gracious enough to tell him. Otherwise, Carter would have had to start from scratch and travel city to city, because no way in hell was he willing to give her up.

He’d have plenty of time on the drive there to figure out exactly what he was going to say to her, so he grabbed his bag and punched the button to lift his garage door.

He stopped when he saw Molly’s car pulling up in the driveway behind his truck.

He walked toward George, still cringing at the sound of the vehicle’s coughing and sputtering as it shuddered when she killed the engine.

Molly got out of the car, and his pulse did a NASCAR last-lap race as he watched her. She had on black jeans and boots, her hair loose around her shoulders. She wore a red long-sleeved shirt with a black scarf. It took everything in him not to jerk her into his arms and kiss her until she admitted she felt the same way he did about her. She glanced down at his duffel bag.

“Going somewhere?” she asked.

“Yeah. To Oklahoma City to find you.”

“How? Oh . . . Emma.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m not there anymore.”

“I can see that. Come on inside, it’s freezing out here.”

He turned around and went to the door, opened it and held it for her, taking in that sweet vanilla scent of hers as she breezed past him.

He shut the door and followed her into the living room.

“So . . . you were coming to find me?”

“Hell, yes I was coming to find you. To tell you that leaving was a mistake. And to talk you into coming back.”

Her lips curved. “That’s . . . nice to hear.”

“Why did you come back?”

She took a deep breath. “Because it wasn’t home to me. I thought I needed to leave, that my new adventure waited for me in the next city. Turns out I was wrong, Carter. My next adventure is right here.”

Now it was his turn to hold his breath.

“Provided you can forgive me. I’ve been wrong.” She stepped closer to him. “All these years, I’ve been wrong, about everything. You were right. I did hold you accountable for what happened, and I didn’t trust in our love. The problem was, I did still love you. Everywhere I tried to run, that love went with me and I couldn’t get away from it.

“Now I’m back to face it, to see where we can go with it. If you’ll have me. Will you?”

“Yeah. On one condition.”

She frowned. “What’s that?”

“You need a new goddamned car. Like yesterday.”

She let out a soft laugh. “Okay.”

“And I like you working with me. I still need you. But only as long as you want to.”

“That’s more than one condition.”

“True. Okay, we’ll negotiate that second point.”

“Okay.” Molly drew in a deep breath. “I love you, Carter. I want that future you’ve been promising. In this house. With a dog and maybe a few kids.”

He arched a brow. “A few?”

She got even closer. “Yeah. A few. Are you okay with that?”

He swept his arm around her waist and pulled her against him, needing to feel that connection he always felt when their bodies touched. “Yeah, I’m okay with that. I love you, Molly. I always have. I always will. Forever.”

“Forever.”

Molly cupped her hand around Carter’s neck, and as soon as their lips connected, she knew at once that she was home. Finally, forever home.

She never intended to leave again.