"What does that mean?" I asked him. "You made everything right?"
"It means exactly what I said, Mist. Got my head out of my ass, stopped trying to keep everyone happy and realized the only person whose happiness I need to concern myself with is you. Put family and friends on notice about the way things were going to be. And one of those things was we wouldn't be around if Yvette was and my sisters needed to straighten themselves out, otherwise, I was walking."
"You said that before. Or something like that."
"I know. And I didn't keep that promise and I lied to you about it. That won't be happening ever again. You freaked me out when you said you wanted me to leave forever and that made me take a hard look at how I'd been treating you."
"What about when Yvette calls? You don't think you'll go running back to her?"
"No, I know I won't be. I'd show you that she's blocked, but I deleted her contact."
"Someone like Yvette will find a way to get through to you, no problem."
"She can try, but I'm not going to respond."
"And how are you going to avoid her on family trips to Sevilla?"
"You and I will go by ourselves at a different time. Or we can travel to other places that we'd both like to see. I don't much care what we do as long as you're with me."
"You're just going to give up your family? Just like that?"
"If I have you, I'm not giving up my family. And I know you're talking about my parents and brothers and sisters, but if it means keeping you in my life, then yes, I'll give up everyone else in my life, whatever it fucking takes."
"Izan, I don't know how realistic that is. I know how much you love your family, and I can't see you just walking away from them."
"I can. I'm not saying it would be easy, Mist. Not at all, but compared to what my life would be like without you in it? I couldn't take that because I know you're the woman I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with, and I won't let anything interfere with that. You bore the brunt of it when I was trying to play on both Team Mist and Team Family -- it was a total clusterfuck. Now, I'm completely, one hundred percent on your team, as I should have been all along. If my family wants to see us, they'll start rooting for our team. Yours and mine."
"You can understand why I'm having trouble with this sudden turnaround, right?"
"Of course. You aren't in my head, so you don't fully understand the why behind it all and that makes it hard for you to believe what I'm telling you. That just means I need to work at proving I'm going to keep my word. Well, I'm not going anywhere and you'll believe in time."
"I want to believe," I said softly. "But you're right. It's going to take a while before I can know it's not just lip service and pretty lies."
That new song that had rocketed to the top of the charts had become my anthem in the last few days, and I'd been belting it out right along with the singer.
"That's more than fair, Mist."
A soft whirr behind me alerted me to my dad and Light pulling up in the electric golf cart. Just about every family on the commune had one because it made getting around easier.
"Heard you were here, Izan," Dad said when we both turned to him. "And I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're kind of in a time crunch. Don't know if there's any way you can help out, but Philo needs a brake job on the truck he uses to haul the livestock trailer for the rescues. He needs to pick up eight Highland calves first thing tomorrow morning for your grandmother, and he was expecting to have the weekend to work on the truck."
"I'm talking with Mist right now," Izan said. That was new. Izan always jumped in to help when he was asked.
"Go," I said. "We were at a good stopping point and the rest can wait. As my grandmother says, sometimes the flavor improves if you let the sauce simmer a bit."
"That kind of scares the hell out me. Makes me not want to leave you alone to think about what a stupid dick I've been to you."
"It's not bad to think things over, Izan," I said. "It's the whole point of why I came to the seclusion cottage."
"What was first on your thinking agenda?"
I wrinkled my nose because I knew he wouldn't like the answer. "What life without you was going to look like."
"That's definitely not going to work for me," he frowned, then he drew me to him and kissed me. And kissed me. Oh, did he kiss me, and I never even thought about our audience.
"Move that near the top of the list, Mist. But that's not even close to the most important thing about us -- that would be feeling more alive than we've ever felt before in our lives when we're together. Everything's better when I'm by your side."
"Izan," I said, relatively sure that was his name as my brain scrambled to recover. "If what you said is true, if you stick to what you promised, if you don't let me down again, that may have changed what I'm going to be thinking about."
"If?"
"Yes, Izan. There are a lot of ifs in what you just told me."
"I meant every word I said, Mist."
"You also assured me you meant it when you said you were going no contact with Yvette, but after only one month, you gave into her pressure and were secretly in touch with her. So it's going to take me a hot minute to see if you can stick your landing this time. You need to make a believer out of me."
"I can understand why you feel that way. And I'll show you until you understand and see how serious I am. I'll turn you into a believer."
"Mist," Dad's low voice cut in quietly, "just send Izan over to Philo's when you're done."
I looked over at my dad and little brother, having almost forgotten they were witnessing this.
"No, Dad, seriously, it's OK," I assured him, moving back from Izan. "You can take him with you now."
Stepping up to me, closing the gap I'd just made between us, Izan gently turned my face back to him.
"I can live without anyone but you, Mist. So I'm dead serious. You are my choice, you're the one I need for the rest of my life and no one else is going to be allowed to get in the way of that. You're not getting rid of me. That's not going to happen."
Then he walked to the golf cart and hopped in the back seat, turning to watch me until they were out of sight.
Walking onto the seclusion cottage's tiny porch, I went into the house and grabbed some stones my grandmother had left, then returned to the porch and settled in one of the two rocking chairs. Holding some fluorite for mental focus in one hand and some clear quartz in my other hand for clear thinking, I took some deep breaths, letting my mind empty until the only thing left was Izan. Our relationship, from the beginning until now. His words and promises. His lies. His new, determined attitude. I just let them all float through my mind like clouds in the sky, not staying on one too long, just recognizing the thought and moving on to the next.
Later that night, I got a text from Izan.
Just finished brake job. Heading home unless you want me to stop by.
No. I'm still thinking.
Think all you want. I'll still be here when you're done thinking. I love you.
The next morning, around eleven, I got another text from Izan.
Mind if I stop by now?
That puzzled me because it was the middle of the work day for him. Maybe he'd called in because Dad had kept him out too late last night with the brake job? But that didn't seem reasonable. Izan always went into work, no matter how tired he was. His work ethic was stellar, and whether it was at the family restaurant or helping others with mechanical issues, Izan worked hard and wouldn't stop until a job was completed.
OK, but when the calves get here, I need to help Aggie with them.
An hour later, that rumbly, throaty engine growled to a stop next to the cottage. I'd been outside painting when he called and had just continued working until he pulled up. Izan walked over to me, a smile on his face.
"Everything OK?" I asked, not sure quite how to read that particular smile.
"It's good," he said. "It's all good."
"Why aren't you at work?"
See? I wasn't my mother's child. She would have waited for the explanations to unfold organically, in the universe's timing. Me? I had to know and I had to know now.
He crouched down by my chair, took my paintbrush from me and put it on the bottom canvas holder. Then he turned back to me, taking my hands in his.
"I quit my job today, Mist."
"What? Why?" I never would have guessed that if I'd been given a hundred guesses.
"I had a couple of visitors who stopped by, and they weren't there to talk about work. So, as promised, I quit."