Tinsel (Lark Cove #4)(82)

“I’m not going anywhere.”

I’d meant what I’d said in the bar two weeks ago. Dakota belonged with me.

I hadn’t really meant to say it out loud. I’d come into the bar, shocked to see him sitting with Petah. But when he’d asked her where he belonged, the words had spilled past my lips.

With me.

I loved him. I hadn’t said the words yet. It wasn’t the right time. But I could show him how much I cared by being here.

The future was still hazy, but every moment spent in his arms brought different pixels into focus. I saw us sitting together over Thanksgiving dinner. I saw us exchanging presents on Christmas. I saw a lifetime of midnight kisses to ring in the new year.

In time, the gaps in between would sharpen too.

“My mom called this morning,” he said quietly.

“What?” I sat up off his chest, glancing over the back of the chair to the clock on the wall. It was only six in the morning and still dark outside. “What time?”

“About four.”

“Is she okay?” An emergency was the only reason someone would need to call at four.

“Koko ran into Petah at the grocery store yesterday.”

Oh no. “And Petah told her I was here.”

“Yep. Mom’s, uh, worked up.”

Other than it not happening sooner, it came as no surprise. I’d been waiting two weeks for this kind of call from his family.

Dakota had spoken to his mom every day, but their conversations had always been short check-ins to see how she was holding up. He’d avoided mentioning my arrival and my open-ended departure.

The day I’d come to Lark Cove, Dakota had told me all about his mom’s ultimatum to move home. He’d also told me how much he didn’t want to go back.

I think talking to Petah had helped him. As much as it irritated me that his ex-girlfriend had been the one to make an impression, I think only someone from the reservation, someone who knew him before, could have reinforced what he already knew.

It was no longer his home.

But until he convinced his mother and sisters of the same, they wouldn’t let up. They certainly wouldn’t accept me into his life.

“What do you want to do?” I asked. “Should I leave?”

I held my breath as he thought it over. The last thing I wanted to do was leave him. Dakota needed someone—no, not someone, me—here to help him through this rough patch. But if his family was going to throw up roadblocks and make dealing with the loss of his father even harder than it already was, I’d disappear.

For a while.

“No.” He pulled me impossibly close. “I don’t want you to leave.”

I sighed. “I don’t either.”

“We have to figure a lot of shit out. I need . . . I don’t know. I’ve had this image of how my future looked for so long. It’s what’s driven me forward. Now, with you, it’s different. I’m still not sure what it looks like.”

I twisted to the side so I could set down the coffee mug. “I don’t know all of the details. I wish I did. But do we have to tackle the future right now? Can’t some of it wait?”

“Yeah. I don’t think I could figure it all out right now.”

I put my hand on his face, his stubble rough against my palm. Then I laid a soft kiss on his lips. “I’m here. For whatever you need.”

“I need to work this out with my family. I don’t want to lose them. You either.”

“Then let’s go. Today. Let’s go see them together.”

It wasn’t going to be an easy day facing off with his family, but it was inevitable. The future was taking shape in my mind. Hopefully it was doing the same in Dakota’s.

And it was time to find out if his family was going to be part of our picture.




“Nice,” Koko deadpanned as she answered the door to Dakota’s childhood home with a scowl. “Dad’s gone so now you bring her home?”

“Koko,” Dakota warned. “Don’t.”

“You really do hate us, don’t you? That’s what Dad thought.”

Dakota flinched, hard.

I squeezed his hand tighter as I stood by his side, waiting for his sister to get out of the way so we could go inside. Her words were cruel. Too cruel. I understood she was grieving too, but she’d just crossed a line.

The pain on Dakota’s face must have clued her in. Her angry scowl began to fade. But still, she didn’t invite us inside.

It had rained the entire way from Lark Cove to Browning. The early November weather was gray and dreary. Its chill settled into my bones. My teeth threatened to chatter, but I clamped my jaw shut, pretending I was lazing on a sunny beach, not waiting for his sister to drop her attitude.

After what felt like hours, Dakota’s other sister, Rozene, came to the door. She pushed in beside Koko, her pregnant belly protruding between us, then mirrored her sister’s frown.

“Mom’s having a bad day,” Rozene said. “It’s not the time for this.”

“It’s never going to be the time,” Dakota shot back. “But we’re here so how about you stop acting like brats and let us the hell inside? It’s cold.”

There was no arguing with his tone.

The sisters shared a look and moved out of the way.