of this SUV and face anyone or explain anything.
He parked in front of the fence, and they sat in the car, silently.
“I’m going to go to Montana for Christmas,” Jess said. She’d already decided to go. Her airfare had been booked for twenty-four hours. Her mother had cried when she’d called to tell her she’d be there. “You’re going to River Bay, right?”
“Yes,” he said.
She nodded, so many things pinching tightly inside her. “I’m sorry if I overstepped my bounds with Martha,” she whispered. “I just couldn’t take another moment of you begging her to get help.”
“It’s okay,” he said.
Jess got the distinct impression it wasn’t, and she felt so stupid for inserting herself into his business. She opened the car door and hesitated. “So I’ll see you when I get back?”
“Yes,” he said again, his voice just as reserved, his demeanor just as calm.
“Okay,” she said. “Merry Christmas, Dallas.” She got out, her feet crunching on the gravel, and closed the door behind her. This was not the holiday celebration she’d had in mind when she pictured Christmas with Dallas as her boyfriend.
She’d taken a few steps toward the opening in the gate before he said, “Jess?”
She turned back to him and ran her hands up her arms, because the night had grown late, and a chill rode in the air. He came toward her in that strong, sure gait he had and wrapped her up in his arms.
Her emotions surged again, but she bit back the tears. She’d already dissolved in front of him once tonight. She would not do it again. He kept her tightly against his body, and she needed the strength of his arms to hold herself together.
“I’ll go get the kids,” she said, her voice nasally. She stepped out of his arms and walked toward the house. Inside, the scent of cinnamon and chocolate met her nose, and she suspected that Emma had made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with the kids.
Sure enough, a wire rack held at least a dozen, and Remmy poked her head up from the other side of the couch. “Jess,” she said. Both she and Thomas got up and came toward her, wrapping their arms around her simultaneously.
“Hey, guys,” she said, enveloping them into a hug too. She stroked their hair, thinking Thomas might not like it. But he just clung to her too, saying nothing. He really didn’t talk much, and Jess often wondered what was going on inside his mind. He’d gone to therapy that day, but he’d literally not said one word about it.
“Your daddy’s outside,” she whispered. “Let’s go see him, okay?”
Thomas led the way, and he ran to Dallas, who scooped him up and hugged him tight. Remmy called, “Daddy!” in her cute drawl and ran toward Dallas too. He laughed as he picked her up in his other arm. They hugged him as he closed his eyes and smiled into the night sky.
Jess watched from the corner of the house, a sense of love and admiration for Dallas filling her. She’d never felt like this before, and she honestly didn’t know what to do with the feelings.
He turned and helped his kids get settled in the SUV, and then he looked back at her. He started toward her, but Jess didn’t want to have another hard conversation. She just wanted him to go be with his kids. They were why he’d gone to Miami. They were why he’d done everything he’d done in the past three months.
“Thank you, Jess,” he said when he reached her. He took her face in both of his hands and dipped his head to kiss her. All the tension in Jess’s muscles bled out, and she kissed him back, the sure knowledge that she was falling more in love with him right there in the forefront of her mind.
“There she is,” a female voice said. “Jess!”
She turned right and found her sister, Abi, waving vigorously through a crowd of people. Jess’s tears appeared again, and she was so tired of them. Who cried like this?
She swiped at them as she maneuvered her carryon through the crowds of people obviously trying to get to loved ones for the holidays. She finally reached Abi, and they hugged, Abi laughing and hopping up and down a little bit. “You’re here. Oh, you’re here.”
She exhaled and stepped back, holding Jess at arm’s length. “You look so good, too. How are you?”
“Good,” Jess said, only a touch of a lie in the word. “Where