JENNIE

"Jennie!" Lisa bellowed.

"What?" I yelled back.

"Come out here a sec."

I set down the plate of crackers I was eating in the kitchen and walked down the hall to the garage, where Lisa had been building shelves and organizing all morning.

It had been weeks since our frantic trip to Bozeman and Isaiah's release from prison. And it had taken until now for life to go back to some semblance of normalcy.

The night after Lisa and I left her daughter's grave, we made a quick stop at Target for some toothbrushes, pajamas and clean underwear, then we checked into a hotel, ordered room service and stayed in bed the rest of the night.

The next morning, we met her mom and Isaiah for breakfast.

I had hoped that after a restful night's sleep, emotions would have settled and our meal might be a happy one. I had hoped that both Lisa and Isaiah would find something easy to discuss over our meal and begin down the long road of repairing their relationship.

Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed ten minutes into breakfast.

Lisa was her usual quiet self, and Isaiah looked as miserable as he had the previous day. When Lisa asked Isaiah about his future now that he was on parole for two years, Isaiah just shrugged and drank his coffee.

After that, conversation at the table was nearly nonexistent. Suzanne and I chatted a bit about the twins, but the tension over eggs and pancakes was stifling, and eventually, we all just ate in silence before leaving with fast good-byes.

Though we invited them to Livingston for the holidays, I was relieved when Suzanne and Isaiah chose to stay in Bozeman.

So Lisa and I returned home just in time to prepare for my family to arrive. My parents got here just a week after we returned home. We'd barely had time to clean, do laundry and decorate the tree before it was time to play host and hostess.

But it was wonderful seeing my parents and brother. They were overjoyed to spend time in my new home and get to know Lisa. While Mom and I spent days baking and relaxing in front of my fireplace, Dad and Hanbin thought Lisa's shop and its plethora of power tools was heaven on earth.

For Christmas, Lisa surprised me with weekly massages until the boys were born. She'd bought enough so I could have one after each doctor's appointment. And I'd given her a new pair of boots since hers were about shot.

My parents showered us with gifts for the boys, as expected. I'd told them not to get Lisa and me anything, and to my surprise, they'd listened. Instead, they'd bought plane tickets to come and see us again after the babies were born.

It was the best Christmas I'd had in ages. Mom and Dad told Lisa countless stories from my childhood. My brother told us all about the woman he'd been dating for the past six months. We laughed. We ate. They drank.

My family embraced Lisa like she'd been a part of our family forever, and I didn't miss how they were seemingly more comfortable with her than they'd ever been with Kai.

When we took them to the airport, Mom kissed Lisa's cheek and told her she'd make a wonderful parent. Dad hugged her, thanking her for taking such good care of me. And my brother had already requested a week off work next summer so he and Lisa could take a backpacking trip into the mountains.

I was sad to see them go but ready for us to just be alone.

After weeks of chaos, we finally had the house to ourselves. Lisa had decided to skip work in the shop today to do some organizing in the garage. And I'd just finished working in my office, trying to catch up from only putting in short days while my family had been in town.

"You summoned me?" I teased with a smile from the doorway of the garage.

But my smile dropped when I saw what Lisa was holding in her hands. She'd found the painting Rosé had given me months ago.

The painting I'd hidden in my garage, then forgotten about. Damn pregnancy brain.

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's, uh . . . a painting. Rosé made it for me." I crossed the concrete floor and stood by her side. "It's of the day we saw you on the ridge. The first day we met."

"Huh."

I waited for what felt like hours for another word, but she just stared at the painting.

"I can give it back to Rosé if it bothers you," I offered. Though the idea of losing it made my stomach churn.

"No," she said quietly. "You should hang it in your office."

I loved this painting and how Rosé had captured her raw emotions, but I didn't want to see it every day. "Oh, no. That's okay. We can just tuck it away out here or in a closet."

"Why don't you want to hang it up?"

"Because." I gave her a sad smile. "I don't want to be reminded of you in pain."

"And I want you to always remember that you saved me." She set the painting down, resting it against her leg. Then she brushed a lock of hair behind the ear I'd always thought was too big. "Please?"

I might have saved her, but she completed me. And if she wanted this painting up, it would look incredible in my office. "Okay."

Lisa kissed my forehead, then picked up the painting. She took a hammer out of the tool bench she'd brought over earlier along with a nail. Then she walked inside.

I stayed in the garage, listening to a few thuds from the hammer as she hung up the painting in my office.

"I love you," I told her when she came back into the garage.

She set the hammer down and came to me for a hug. "Love you too."

"Do you, um . . ." I hesitated.

"Do I, what?"

Still want to get married?

The question had been on my tongue for weeks. And just like I had time and time again, I chickened out before letting it slip free. "Do you want tacos or pasta for dinner?"

"Either one. You choose."

"Tacos." I brushed my lips to hers, then walked to the door.

Lisa went back to her shelves, making this place her own. And I went inside to cook dinner with a heavy heart.

Our visitors were gone. We were getting back into our routine where I worked in the office while Lisa created masterpieces in her shop. Where we ate dinner, relaxed on the couch and made love before going to sleep.

Life was going back to what it had been before Lisa's clash with Isaiah.

Except Lisa didn't ask me to marry her five times a day anymore. Her proposals had stopped completely. The last time Lisa had asked me to marry her was before she'd gone out Christmas tree hunting.

I guess I'd said no one too many times.

"What are you doing here?" Jisoo asked, looking up from her laptop.

I held up a large envelope. "Getting your John Hancock on this contract."

She'd told me to take the week between Christmas and New Year's off, but I ignored her since there was just too much to do before my maternity leave.

Jisoo frowned and stood from her desk chair. She came around the desk and took the folder from my hand while simultaneously pulling out my chair. At least, I'd dubbed it my chair. It was the one I sat in whenever I came down to work in her office.

"Thanks." I sank into the seat, grateful to have the weight off my cankles.

"You know, I could have come up to you."

I shrugged. "I had to come down anyway. I thought I'd just hang out here until I need to meet Lisa at the bar."

It was New Year's Eve and the Rosé's Bar was having a party. Rosé and Seulgi had pulled out all of the stops, decorating the bar. Now it wasn't just rustic, it was sparkly rustic. They'd ordered two cases of champagne and an extra half dozen bottles of tequila.

I couldn't think of a better way to ring in the new year than laughing and enjoying the evening with friends. And I couldn't wait to kiss Lisa at midnight, though with how badly my feet hurt these days, I probably wouldn't last until nine.

"What's Lisa up to?" Jisoo asked, resuming her seat.

"She had to run up to Town for the day to pick up some supplies she ordered from the lumberyard."

"She's coming for the party though, right?"

I nodded. "She promised to be back by five."

Jisoo opened the envelope and signed the page marked with the little green flag. Then she slid the papers back into the envelope and handed it back. With a snap, she shut her laptop and signaled that work was done for the day.

I listened for sounds of the kids from the other room—my favorite part about working at Jisoo and Rosé's—but it was quiet. "Where are the kids?"

"Already at Rosé's mom for the night. I told her I'd bring them over, but I guess I was taking too long because she came over after lunch and kidnapped them."

I smiled. "They'll have fun."

And I hoped next year, I could talk her into taking the twins too. Though, I doubted it would take much convincing. Rosé's mom might be a grandmother to Jisoo and Rosé's kids, but she'd already laid claim to my boys. On more than one occasion, she'd insisted on babysitting for us after their birth because newborns were her specialty.

"So . . ." Jisoo sighed. "I got an email today."

I sat straighter, not liking Jisoo's uneasy tone. "From?"

"Kai."

"Seriously?" I grumbled. "He's getting desperate if he's emailing you now. What did it say?"

"He just asked if I'd pass along a request for you to call him."

Kai had been emailing me for months. It wasn't often, but about every three weeks, I'd see his name pop up in my inbox. I'd hoped that in time, he'd realize I wasn't going to respond. I still hadn't blocked his email address, mostly because his messages were a minor irritation I forgot about immediately after hitting delete. But if he'd resorted to hassling Jisoo, then my avoidance tactics weren't going to work.

"Ugh. I'll call him later."

"He's, um, also getting a call from Lisa."

"What?" If not for the fact that I moved like a sloth these days, I would have shot out of my chair. "You told Lisa?"

She held up her hands. "If Rosé's ex-husband were emailing her boss after she'd already told the guy to piss off, I'd want my friend to tell me about it too."

When I'd called Lisa earlier, she'd been cryptic, saying we had something to talk about later. Now I knew what that something was. She'd gotten tipped off to the emails I'd been hiding from her. Busted.

"Is this how it's going to be now?" I asked Jisoo, holding back a smile. "You're always going to be on her side."

"Hey, it's about damn time." She grinned. "You and Rosé gang up on me constantly. And that's just with stuff around here. Let's not even talk about all of your alliances at work. This was my shot to take back some of my power and I took it."

"Whatever." I crossed my arms, pretending to be mad. It lasted about five seconds before I broke into a laugh.

The truth was, I was happy that Jisoo and Lisa were friends. I'd been nervous after Lisa had blown a fuse the day of the Christmas tree hunt. I'd figured that Jisoo would go all overprotective, worrying about my safety with Lisa and warning me about getting involved with someone who had anger issues

But like she often did, Jisoo Park surprised me. She'd never once mentioned Lisa's outburst. She'd simply asked if things were okay. I'd told her and Rosé all about the incident in Bozeman, and they'd been nothing but supportive.

They understood that Lisa's anger had all stemmed from pain. And slowly, she was healing.

I was proud of how Lisa had taken the lead in her family's dynamic. She talked to her mom almost daily. And she'd had two phone calls with Isaiah in the last few weeks. Though they had both been short, mostly just saying hello, followed by uncomfortable silence before hanging up.

It was progress. Still, I didn't like that Lisa had any kind of animosity in her life, especially from someone she clearly loved.

"What's that look for?" Jisoo asked.

I unfurrowed my forehead. "Oh, I was just thinking about Isaiah. And Lisa."

"Give them time. From what I can tell, Lisa's put a lot of this behind her. Mostly because of you. I think the question now is not whether Lisa will ever forgive Isaiah. It's whether Isaiah will forgive Isaiah."

"I wish I could help."

"You can't fix this one, Jennie."

"You're right." I nodded and waved it off. "Anyway. I didn't mean to talk about something so serious. It's just been on my mind." And the fact that ever since their confrontation, Lisa had stopped proposing.

She still kissed me and touched me at every opportunity. She made love to me almost every night. She told me she loved me. She looked at me and the rest of the world disappeared, just like I'd always wanted. So why, when I was so desperate to say yes, had she stopped asking me to be her wife?

I'd found the ring she'd bought for me hidden the other day. I'd just happened to be doing her laundry—and snooping. I'd found it tucked into the pocket of a pair of jeans she never wore.

She hadn't gotten rid of the ring, so why had she stopped asking? Had this entire debacle with her family changed her mind?

Today was the last day of the year, and I didn't want to go into the next with so many unanswered questions and loose ends.

I needed to call Kai and put an end to his emails once and for all. Then Lisa and I would need to have a serious conversation. I pushed up and out of my chair, determined to make the last hours of this year count.

"That look is scaring me," Jisoo teased.

"I have a phone call to make." First, I was going to deal with the one I'd divorced. Then I'd deal with the one I wanted to marry.

"Don't tell Kai I said hello."

I giggled and waved good-bye to Jisoo. "See you at the bar."

"Are you going straight there?"

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"No reason." She shrugged. "I'm just heading down right behind you."

"Okay. See you there." I let myself out of her house and waddled carefully across their driveway to my SUV. I climbed inside and let the heater run for a moment before pulling up Kai's number on the dash.

It only rang once before he answered. "Jen?"

"Kai." I sighed. "You can't email my boss."

"I needed to talk to you."

"Five minutes." I put the Tahoe in reverse and backed out of the driveway slowly. I'd give Kai the time it took me to get to the bar.

"I'm sorry," he said. "That's it. I just wanted to say I was sorry."

My foot hit the brake and I waited a few seconds for the excuses. But he said nothing. "Are you there?"

"I'm here."

"That's it? Just . . . you're sorry?"

"Well, I had more, but your girlfriend called me earlier and told me that if I said anything other than I'm sorry, she'd be on the first flight out to LA to rearrange my face. She was . . . convincing."

I snorted a laugh. Lisa's threat had to have been quite colorful for Kai to actually hear it.

"She also informed me that if you did call, it would be the last time we spoke."

"No more emails either," I warned.

"No more emails."

I lifted my foot off the brake, navigating down the narrow road that led to the highway. Divorcing Kai had nearly broken me. But in a small way, I was grateful. Because here I was.

Home.

I'd found the love of my life, and even if we didn't get married, the commitment we had for one another was stronger than the bond I'd worked a decade to build with Kai.

"Good-bye, Kai. I wish you the best."

"Same to you, Jennie. Take care."

I ended the call right as I reached the stop sign to turn onto the highway. But before I did, I pulled up Kai's contact one last time. And hit delete.

"One last thing to do this year," I told the empty car, then drove it to the bar.

Lisa's truck was in the parking lot, which was a surprise. I thought I'd beat her here and kill some time helping Rosé with whatever decorating she wanted to do. When I pushed through the door, she was sitting at the bar with a glass of ice water in front of her and a second waiting in front of the stool at her side.

"Is this for me?" I asked, taking the seat. "You're here early."

"Hi." She leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Yeah, finished up fast. Got here a couple of minutes ago."

"Where is everyone?" It was still early, but I'd expected to see at least Rosé or Seulgi behind the bar.

"Kitchen. Rosé's prepping pizzas. Seulgi went to change a keg of beer."

"Ahh." I sipped my water and glanced around the room. Since I'd stopped in yesterday, Rosé had added more streamers to the iron beams that ran across the ceiling and she'd sprinkled confetti on all the tables.

"How are you feeling?" Lisa ran a hand up and down my back. She always managed to find the tight spots with one pass, and her fingertips began working out a sore spot underneath my shoulder blade.

"Good." I leaned closer. "I hear you talked to my ex-husband today."

She grunted. "If he calls or emails again, I'd better hear about it from you. Not Jisoo."

"He won't be calling again. But if he does, you'll be the first to know."

Lisa kissed my temple. "Got a surprise for you today."

"Hmm." I closed my eyes as her hand kept massaging. "I like surprises."

"You can have it after the party."

"Okay. Maybe we could duck out of here early. I need to talk to you about something in private."

Her hand froze. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"People don't say they need to talk about something in private when everything's good. So what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" I insisted, shying away from the scowl on her face.

Damn it. I should have kept my mouth shut. But pregnancy only allowed my brain to function until four in the afternoon, and since it was close to five, strategic thinking was a crapshoot.

"Jennie."

"Lisa." I mimicked her angry tone.

She stared at me, waiting, but I just stared back. There was no way I was going to talk about her proposals—or lack thereof—when my boss was due to arrive in seconds and the entire town of Livingston would soon be crowded around us to toast the new year.

"It's nothing," I lied, patting her leg.

She huffed. "God, you're a shit liar."

Before I could protest—because I wasn't a bad liar, just an unpracticed one—ahe bellowed toward the back. "Rosé!"

"What?" she called back.

"We're going to skip the party."

"Lisa! No, we're not, Rosé!" I yelled as she came out from the back, wiping her hands on a towel.

"Okay. You guys have a happy New Year's Eve. Call me tomorrow."

"Seriously?" I asked as she rounded the bar. She wasn't mad that we were missing the party she'd been planning for a month?

No, she isn't. Rosé smiled and hugged me tight just as Lisa walked in the front door.

"Leaving already?" Jisoo asked with a smirk as Lisa helped me off my stool.

"Lisa, I'm not missing this party."

Her answer? Silence.

"Do you think ignoring a hugely pregnant woman is wise?"

She grunted.

She's lucky she was so hot. It was impossible for me to stay angry at that face.

With one hand gripping my elbow, she waved good-bye to Rosé and Jisoo, then to Seulgi, who'd also come out from behind the bar—laughing.

"I told you it was nothing," I snapped as we walked outside and to my car. "Can we just go back inside now? I have to pee."

"What did I just tell you about lying?"

Damn it again. I didn't have to pee.

"I got all dressed up for this party."

She raised an eyebrow. "Trying to impress someone other than me?"

"Women dress up to impress other women," I informed her as she opened up the passenger door to the Tahoe.

"And I'm sure Rosé was impressed. Up you go."

"What about your truck?"

She answered by slamming the door.

I crossed my arms over my chest, resting my forearms on my belly. Then begrudgingly buckled up.

There was no way we'd be staying for this party. Lisa thought something was wrong, which it kind of was, and she was on a mission to solve my problems.

I pouted the entire drive up the mountain until she pulled into the driveway. Then I gasped. Because in my driveway—our driveway—was an Airstream.

"You bought a camper?"

"No, I got our camper. Jisoo and I made a trade. Rosé's got a new bedroom set waiting when she gets home tonight."

"Oh my god." I stretched my arms for Lisa's face, framing it and pulling her closer for a kiss. The minute her soft lips touched mine, I melted. "I'm not upset about the party anymore."

"There's something else I want to show you." She kissed me again before getting out and coming around the Tahoe. She helped me down and then led me to the Airstream's door.

The generator behind the camper was running so I wasn't surprised when the inside was toasty warm.

"It feels smaller than I remembered. Though that's probably because I've turned into a hungry-hungry hippo."

"Hey." She stepped inside behind me, wrapping her arms around my chest. "Don't say bad things about my wife."

"It's tru—" Wait. Did she say wife? "Did you just say wife?"

"Yup."

"But you stopped proposing."

"Did I?"

With her hard chest against my back and one arm trapping me tight, she used the other to pull something from her pocket. It was my ring.

She spun me around, then dropped to a knee. "Marry me?"

"Yes."

She grinned and slid the ring on my finger. "It's about damn time."

"I love you."

Lisa surged to her feet, framing my face with her hands. "I love you. I'll love you every day for the rest of your life."

I leaned closer, smiling against her lips and whispered, "Prove it."