The Country Guesthouse (Sullivan's Crossing #5)(32)

By the time he got to the rest stop, he was totally jumbled. He pulled up right behind her car and honked his horn. He put the truck in Park, jumped out, ran to her car door just as she was getting out. She had a mystified look on her face as she stepped out of her car.

Owen cradled her face in his hands, threading his fingers into her hair, and covered her mouth in a powerful kiss. Her lips parted, inviting him in, and he devoured her, so hungry. He couldn’t let her go completely. Against her lips he said, “I want a chance to fall in love with you. I need you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Noah is the best thing, too. I want you to stay. Please stay. Stay the summer. Let’s see what we know after summer and if you don’t think we’re a good idea, okay, I give up. But I think if we give it the summer, we’ll fall in love. I’m probably already in love. I must be. I’ve never felt so awful before.”

“Awful?” she asked in a whisper.

“You leaving gutted me. Please stay.”

“But Noah...”

He kissed her again. Long and deep. She wrapped her arms around him. “We have everything he needs. We have doctors and dentists and neurologists... Okay, maybe not, but they’re close enough. Physical therapists. Schools, babysitters, one Great Dane. You don’t have to worry about money. I don’t mean to say I don’t want you to work... Shit, I’ve never been good at this.”

“Good at what, Owen?” she asked. But she was smiling.

“Begging.”

She held him close. “Yes, this is what was missing.” Then she got up on her tiptoes and kissed him. Long and lovingly. He lifted her off her feet.

“Will you give it the summer? To see if you can stand me? To see if we three belong together? Because I know, firsthand, how suddenly happiness can be snatched away, and since you’ve been here, I’ve been so happy. If you’re happy, too...”

“I’ve been happy,” she said, her lips still against his. “So happy...”

“The summer, then,” he said. “For starters. Let’s at least give it the summer.”

“I think that’s perfectly reasonable. Yes, I want to find out.”

“Oh God,” he said, clutching her tightly to him. “Oh God.”

And then a small voice said, “Hey! Whatcha doing out there?”

  Owen wanted to be the one to tell Noah. He opened the car door and said, “Noah, you and Hannah are going to come back to my house. Hopefully for the whole summer.”

“How long is that?” he asked.

“Long,” Owen said. “Months. Till it stops being summer. Can you live with that?”

Noah’s face lit up in a huge grin, a light shining from inside the little guy. “I could do that,” he said. “Does Romeo know?”

“You can tell him.”

Noah was full of questions on the way back to Owen’s house. “Why do we get to go back? How long is summer? Is it almost a year? Can I fish today? Can I swim? Do I have to have quiet time again? Should I tell Sully? We could call him or we could go over there. We’re taking all this stuff back in the house, right? We don’t have to leave it in the car for summer, right?”

Hannah was laughing, but she was also driving. “Summer is a long time. Yes, we’re going to take all our things in and put everything away in the drawers and closets. Play a game while I drive!”

Owen carted all their belongings back into the house and while the boys hung out, fished, threw the ball for Romeo and read in the hammock for a while, Hannah was busy putting things away and calling her girlfriends.

“I’m staying for summer,” she said. “I’m staying to see if I love him. I’m giving it a chance to see if I love him like I think I do.”

“I had a feeling,” Kate said.

“I’m not crazy. You’ll meet him and you’ll know. I don’t fall in love fast or easy. I may have picked a couple of bad apples but not because I was impetuous—because they were wrong. Owen is...” Right, she thought. “I have to know. We’re happy here.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kate asked.

“Yes,” Hannah said. “I’m not sure of the outcome yet but it’s what I want. I wanted so much for him to say, ‘Let’s see if we’re right together.’ When you meet him, you’ll understand. He’s amazing.”

“Will this be okay for Noah?” Sharon asked.

“I think it will be the best thing for Noah, but you shouldn’t worry about that. I will always put Noah first and if it ever becomes a negative for Noah, I can have that car loaded in thirty minutes. But Noah loves Owen even more than I do.”

“You said love,” Sharon said.

“I’m not getting ahead of myself,” Hannah said. “I’m not sure it’s true love but it feels like it. That’s why we’re giving it the summer. Before the leaves change color, we’ll know if we should be together.”

“Hannah, you should wait. Don’t move in together so fast. Take your time.”

Hannah laughed. “I waited a year with my first fiancé. I waited two years with my second. Both were excruciatingly bad choices. Neither felt like this feels. How long should I wait? Owen makes me feel better about myself than both of those fiancés put together. And Noah is too young and sweet to have to leave behind another person he loves. We’re going to stay with Owen for the summer and if we belong together, it will be longer. I have shortcomings of all kinds but you must believe me—I will protect Noah. I love him to the moon and back.”