One week later
"This is it. I'm sure of it," I declare.
"You sure this time, Darlin?"
"Yes, this is the spot," I say as Hunter comes closer with a shovel.
"Wait!" I stop him before he digs.
"Lemme ... just..."
I lay down flat on my back in the field and look up. "Maybe if it was night and there were stars... I could know better."
Hunter laughs as he comes to lie next to me.
"We might not find the exact spot," he says. "We were a little distracted."
I giggle at the wonderful memories. We are on our land, picking out a spot for the apple tree that's on the way. Shar insisted she gift us something, she's as excited as my folks. My dad is helping her pick it out and bringing her back soon. Hunter and I have been out here looking for a spot for some time. I got in my head that we need to plant the tree in the same spot where we first made love.
That's been a little challenging since I keep changing my mind about where that was...
"This has got to be it," I sit up and look towards the road. "I think this is the right distance from the road."
"Think we have time to recreate the moment?" Hunter offers with a suggestive flicker in his eyes.
"Get busted by my dad and your ma, no," I laugh, and then after a moment, add. "But later."
"Deal," he says with a hungry look. We really can't get enough of each other.
We hear a vehicle rolling down the dirt road. Hunter pulls me to my feet with him, but it's not my dad's truck, it's one of James and Oliver's work vans.
"Probably Olly," I guess correctly as it slows down when it gets closer. He came back earlier today, spent a little time at the bookstore, and then the duplexes.
Erin said he's doing alright with everything. He's keeping busy in New York, last night she called me, and we worked out a little plan I am very anxious to put into motion.
Oliver parks the van alongside the street and gets out, smiling as he walks toward us.
"Hey, you two," Oliver looks from me to Hunter. "Congratulations on the land."
"Thanks," Hunter says.
"The duplexes are coming along so fast and look great. My dad mentioned how well you all work together."
"Yeah, James is great, man," Hunter agrees. "We're making fast progress. I think he's planning on heading out of here soon though."
That reminds me...
"Secretly I think he likes being here," Oliver says with a little snicker. "You don't need him to finish that's for sure, at this rate you'll be able to start building your house by the end of summer."
"I know, I'm excited for it, living in a travel trailer is getting really old," Hunter says with a chuckle.
"As is my childhood bedroom." I chime in.
"Why don't you get a double-wide trailer to live in on the land for now? Then, once the house is built, you can sell it," Oliver suggests.
Did he just suggest Hunter and I live together? I mean, obviously, that's what we'll be doing when the house is built, but that's several months down the road.
Then again, I sleep in his trailer every night anyway...
"That's a genius idea," Hunter agrees without any hesitation as he looks at me. "I mean... if you want to," he adds quickly looking a little nervous.
"Oh shit, I didn't mean to assume... I just thought with the land you would want to," Oliver says with a sheepish look. "I'm just trying to show support and I shove my foot on my mouth. I'm good at that."
"No!" I say with a laugh. "You didn't, it's nice of you to do that."
"Yeah," Hunter agrees.
It's a little awkward the air between the three of us but not full of tension and anger and that's progress.
"I would love to move in now," I shift my gaze to Hunter. "We're not an average couple considering our history. To some, it may seem fast, but to me it feels right."
"Same here, Darlin," Hunter says with a soft smile. "The newer models are great. We can make sure to get one with a big kitchen."
I start feeling a little giddy, the words big kitchen will do that to a girl.
"I can get you a deal on one," Oliver says.
"Of course, you can," I laugh at that. "You know everyone now."
"Seriously, Oliver, you're like the guy now," Hunter agrees with a short laugh.
"Hunter, you can call me Olly, I mean if you want, I get if you don't want to..." He trails off. "I wasn't always much of a friend to you."
"Not always," Hunter agrees. "But I could have handled things better, and holding animosity towards you never did me any good."
"Me neither", Oliver agrees with a sigh. "When things were so bad." He looks at me, and then away quickly, but the tension has lessened now that we've talked about it. "It'd have been nice to talk to you. I think... in some ways, that was part of it, I was jealous of you two of the feelings you had for each other, but I was also feeling like I lost you both as best friends to each other. You two against me so I got more and more defensive, or offensive I guess."
"I get how it felt that way," Hunter says quietly. "It's how it was. I didn't hide that I was on her side. I thought back then you had no reason to be jealous you had her, it made me all pissed and annoyed. But now that we're older, I get it and I'm sorry for the way things went down."
"I am too," Oliver says. "I really missed you, so many times I wanted to call you in life. Even years later It's crazy."
"Yeah, same here," Hunter says. "I even have our old play station, still."
"Really?" Oliver eyes light up and Hunter grins eagerly.
"Marathon as soon as the trailer is here," Hunter says.
"Yes!" Oliver agrees.
The smile on my face is getting bigger and bigger as I envision them on the couch playing.
"So, new beginnings and all that cheesy stuff?" Oliver asks with a sheepish smile.
"Yeah Olly, that sounds good to me," Hunter says, and Oliver grins almost as big as I am.
"Great, then, Hunt," Oliver says, he holds out his fist for a fist bump but instead Hunter pulls him and hugs him.
Now I'm tearing up as. I run over to join them, and we stand in a silly little group hug for several moments.
I wipe my eyes as we part and see they both look as emotional as me.
"I better get going, just came up to talk to you two," Oliver says as he tries to hide his teary eyes. "I just wanted you both to know I am happy for you. No hard feelings. Things are... how they should be now."
"Thank you, Olly," Hunter says.
"Thanks," I sniffle.
"Right, well, I need to get James and his crew flights booked. You can handle the rest of the duplex project, right?" Oliver asks Hunter who starts nodding.
"Of course, don't worry about it," Hunter says.
The plan! No!
"Wait!" I yell out.
Oliver and Hunter both look startled as they look at me.
"Whoa, what, Kinsey?" Oliver asks.
"Don't send James home yet," I say. "I have a project for him."
"You do? What?" Oliver asks.
"The apartment above the bar. It needs to be remodeled," I explain. "James can do that in a week, right, with a crew?"
"Yeah... probably," Oliver says thoughtfully. "But, why? We were just talking about getting a double wide here?"
"It's not for us, for Brandi," I explain. "She wants to give Stephanie and Billy the house to themselves, so she's going to move in up there."
"She can't live in there in the state it's in now," Oliver crinkles his face at the idea.
"I know!" I say. "So, James can remodel it as a surprise and while he is working on it, we will send her on a surprise vacation to New York. She'll love it. She hasn't had a vacation since Billy was locked up."
"That's a good idea. I'm sure she'll love New York, maybe you can come too then?" Oliver suggests, "Hunter, too, make it like a fun thing?"
"We can't. That would delay the house build too much," I say. "But don't worry Erin and I worked it all out. Brandi will stay in your penthouse for the week, and you can take the week off to show her around."
"Wait what? I cannot just take a week off. It doesn't work like that in my world," Oliver stammers looking nervous and maybe a little shell-shocked. I think he forgot how bossy I can be, and now I have Erin's help too.
"Actually, Erin said this is the perfect time for it because you weren't taking on a lot of extra things while you had the Sweet Haven projects going on. The bookstore runs fine without you, and Hunter has the duplexes under control."
"But there's other things, meetings, obligations..." he trails off.
"Erin cleared all that already."
"Kinsey!" Oliver's eyes shoot wide open. "Are you serious?"
"Kinz," Hunter laughs. "You did not tell his assistant to clear his schedule?"
"I did and she was all about it! That girl is gold, give her a raise," I boast. "She said she'll book the flights too, so all you have to do is pick up Brandi tomorrow morning and surprise her. Make sure you take credit for the entire idea, so she doesn't think it's a setup, she hates set ups."
"It is a set up," Hunter says but I give put my finger to my lips and wink at him.
"We're almost thirty-four. I think we are well past you telling me what to do, Kinsey," Oliver says but with a soft look in his eyes.
"You're right," I saw slowly and carefully. "Never mind then, don't take the week off work, it's fine."
"What are you playing at?" Oliver asks suspiciously.
"No really, it's fine," I say, "I'm sure I can find somewhere to send Brandi for a while..."
I look off into the distance as I 'consider' this. "I know! I 'll call Gabe. Maybe she can visit his team. I think they are training right now."
"Probably a lot of single guys..." Hunter comments. "Training day in and day out, she'll be a sight for sore eyes."
"She loves flirting. She'll have a blast," I agree. "Maybe Gabe even has a single friend he could introduce her to."
"That's an idea," Hunter says.
"Stop!" Oliver nearly grunts it. "I'll take her."
"Good choice," I quip with a satisfied smirk on my face, as Hunter slips an arm around me.
"I'd say so," Hunter agrees.
"What did I just say about you two against me?" Oliver asks as he raises his eyebrows.
"This doesn't count. It's for your own good," I say. "You'll see."
"Look... I know what you want to happen, Kinsey, but B and I are friends, best friends, but–"
"Without making it too awkward, can I just say that lying to yourself doesn't make it any less true," Hunter says pointedly.
Oliver shakes his head with a dry laugh. "You have no idea what you're even talking about."
"I know you kept in touch with her," Hunter says and my jaw drops, literally drops.
"Wha- how did you..." Oliver stammers and then looks at me nervously, but I am shocked and am just gaping at him.
"She mentioned it once," Hunter says. "On accident. I was in a rare mood one night, Kinz was at school, and I was at the bar with Brandi, Billy, and a few others. We got to talking about you, Olly, I missed you even then sometimes. I wondered out loud if you ended up at Harvard and if you were okay and Brandi accidentally spilled, yes and yes."
"You... stayed in touch with Brandi?" I finally speak as I blink back the shock, there is an annoyance, but it fades fairly fast. This encourages me further in my plan, I think there is and always was something more with them.
"You know I saw Brandi that night, she knew I was leaving and where I was going," Oliver explains. "I left her my email address and it was really to check in and make sure she was okay. I felt bad leaving her like I did when she was still dealing with the Wade stuff. We'd exchange a few emails back and forth once and while it and dwindled off after college, to nothing when I met Cassie."
"There is more to that night," I guess, and his eyes widen some. "There are a lot of hours between two and eight. It was Brandi's idea wasn't it, you leaving?"
It had to be because he would not have left her with the Wade stuff going on.
"Yes," he confesses.
"You didn't want to leave her though," I guess.
"Not with everything going on, no but she insisted I go, and I needed to. I was so lost like I told you and heartbroken after that night too. I knew if Brandi and I talked on the phone you'd find out, so we exchanged email addresses."
"She knew what was best for you then, she was right," I say slowly. "Don't you see it?"
"See what?"
"When you were fifteen, she brought you out of your shell, and you made her feel worthy," I say softly. "Then, when her world came crashing down, you were her safe space. And when yours did you looked for her, and she knew what you needed to do to find yourself again."
"Seems to me like you both always know what the others need," Hunter comments.
"It does seem that way," Oliver confesses as his cheeks flush a little.
"But she had a lot of healing and soul searching to do and so did you. So maybe it wasn't meant to be then but maybe it is now," I say dreamily, just like Hunter and me...
"Kinsey, this isn't a romance novel," Oliver says with an eye roll as Hunter snickers.
"Take her to the city, show her your world, and see what happens," I suggest. "Is that such a terrible idea?"
"No..." Oliver says slowly, thoughtfully. "No, I think maybe, it's a perfect idea."
I smile giddily ignoring the look he gives me.
My dad's truck comes roaring up with the apple tree tied up in his trunk and I get excited as he parks.
"Heya Olly!" Dad says as he jumps out.
"Look at you," Shar says licking her lips as she looks at Olly, giving him a wink. "I just can't get enough, of how handsome you got!"
Oliver laughs awkwardly his cheeks a much brighter pink now as she draws closer. "Come let me pinch those cheeks!"
"Ma!" Hunter groans. "Leave him alone."
"Relax I meant the ones on his face," Shar says to everyone's relief as Oliver backs away.
"I better get going!" Oliver says wisely, and my dad laughs as he pats his back. "Smart kid."
"He's such a hottie, though," Shar mumbles as she wanders off into the field.
I glance at Hunter as Oliver's van speeds off. "I think he's going to be fine, coming back here was what he needed, to mend things with everyone, not just me."
"I think so too, Darlin," Hunter agrees as he puts an arm around me. "And so, you know I'll never get in the way of ya'll's friendship."
"I know," I say with a smile as I lean against him. "Olly said it best we all three are where we need to be now. Well, he will be soon, hopefully."
"My sneaky little matchmaker," Hunter laughs as he squeezes me.
"Thanks for the assist, Babe," I nudge him.
"Always," he murmurs as he kisses my head.
"The tree is a beauty," Dad says motioning us over. "A fuji a great backyard tree."
"I can't wait to see it out the kitchen window," I muse, the image of it in my mind, all of it the kitchen, the back porch, a swing set for Harley. I am starting to dream about what it'll be.
"I found the spot!" Shar yells out from the field.
"For the tree?" I call back.
"No, for the wedding!"
"Ma!" Hunter groans as my dad laughs.
"I can build the arch whenever, " Dad says with a little smirk.
"Dad!" I groan this time.
He snickers but gets to work pulling the tree out of his truck bed. It's small but looks healthy and strong.
"This is a great starter tree, should grow fast," Dad says as Hunter, and I admire it.
"You two guide the way and I'll follow with it," Dad says.
Hunter takes my hand, and we step back unto our land.
"Come on, little Darlin, Let's go plant our apple tree."
**As usual this story sort of writes itself in ways and this was meant to a small segment before a short time skip to wrap stuff up and instead it became its own chapter and did feel very much like the perfect ending for this.
So instead, I will be working on the epilogue as the final chapter(s) to close the book, and that'll be 1-2 chapters and have a bigger time skip and I think be a fun way to end things with some surprises too.
Merry Christmas Eve!
And Happy Holidays to everyone! Thank you so much for reading and your comments they make me so happy!