6 months later

April propped her feet up, leaning back as she sorted through her student's book reports. She squinted, trying to make out the harsh black scrawl across the binder paper. It looked like an e that blended into a sideways p. Or was that just an o? April didn't know anymore. She shuffled the papers, leaving that headache for later.

She slipped further down, her tense muscles melting as she relaxed. Her eyes drifted over the page, reaching the end having retained nothing at all. April moved back to the top of the page, blinking a couple of times as she tried to focus. Her brows pinched together as she forced her way through the first sentence. A sigh escaped, lingering in the air as her determination waned. April checked the time, wrist hitting the couch with defeat as it was only a minute after the last time she had looked.

As if on cue, her doorbell rang.

The book reports fell haphazardly across her table, some sliding their way to the floor as April kicked up off the couch to open the door. Warmth blossomed in her chest, her heartbeat pounding rapidly as she took him in.

"Howdy," Jackson said, his rich timbre altered with a fake southern twang. He moved his hand from behind his back, revealing a tiny bouquet of flowers. He dropped the accent as he looked down at the tiny white petals, a shy twitch to his lips. "I picked them this morning." Jackson reached out, handing them to her. Her fingers wrapped around the thin green stems underneath the brown twine that cinched the flowers together. Bringing them to her nose, she took in the sweet hint of country air and looked back at him.

"Jackson, they're beautiful." April tiptoed up, pressing a kiss to his lips before pulling him in for a hug. In the cool evening air, she held onto him. He was here. April molded herself to his body. The weight, the sturdiness, the warmth - it had been too long since she had gotten to hold him. His hands wrapped around her waist, holding her tighter. She found her perch in the crook of his neck, burying her face into his skin as her eyes squeeze shut. Her fingers pressed into his firm muscles, the soft cotton of his shirt wrinkling under her touch.

In the glow of the porch light, the pieces of her heart clicked back into place.

While the two had made efforts to stay in touch throughout the school year, talking nearly every day and visiting each other whenever they could, April felt her heart tear in two with each goodbye. The time they had together was never enough and though Jackson had offered time and time again to uproot his life in Ackerly, April had remained steadfast in her resistance. She couldn't let him give up the very thing that made him… him.

Then one day after a lazy morning in bed, Jackson had let it slip. He had called his mother. His fingers danced along her skin, drawing circles down her back as he talked. With her ear pressed against Jackson's chest, she listened to the words echo through him. He spoke slowly, finding his own pace as he went along. Jackson rambled a bit, admitting that while school was in session, there just wasn't much he could do and that he felt guilty disrupting her when she needed time at home to grade homework and figure out her lesson plans. Eventually, the words came out, a small confession that he was thinking about returning to the foundation on the condition that he could stay in Texas. She remembered the sharp intake of air under her ear as he huffed, a tired smile crossing his face. Catherine Avery, while ecstatic to hear from her son, rejected the proposal the second she heard it. If he wanted to come back to the foundation, it meant returning north. And that was that.

The memory slipped away with the evening breeze, the cold air reminding April that she had kept him on the porch. Leaning back, she looked into his bright eyes.

April turned around, giving him space to come in. He stepped inside, toeing off his shoes and moving them aside.

"I chose the most beautiful flowers for my even more beautiful girlfriend." April snorted, walking into the kitchen to grab a vase. Jackson made himself at home on the couch, straining to reach the stray papers before setting them down gently.

"How was the drive? I'm sure you're tired."

"It wasn't too bad. I only hit traffic once, but I had the longest, most frustrating, and infuriating conversation with my mother."

"Oh?" April peeked over to the couch as Jackson released a heavy sigh.

She trimmed the stems a little, giving the bouquet a little more depth before sliding them into her vase. Jackson huffed on the couch, continuing. "I just don't get it. When I suggested returning to the foundation, I couldn't stop her from nagging me to come back to the city, but now that I actually show some interest, she's gone cold. It's like she doesn't want me to come back." He shot up, slightly panicked as the thought just crossed his mind, "Do you think that they aren't going to let me back in?"

"What? No! Of course they want you back." April set down the vase in the middle of her dining table, awkwardly hovering in silence. "About your mom..."

"What about her?"

"Well, I might know the reason she was giving you the cold shoulder."

His brows furrowed, confusion making its mark known on his face. "You do?"

Avoiding his eyes, April finally confessed to a secret she had been keeping for far too long. "I may or may not have given her a call or two over the past couple of months."

He hopped off the couch, rushing to her side to appraise her. Like she was injured, his hands darted across her skin, checking for any signs of damage. The words rushed out of his mouth, tumbling into a panicked pile between them. "Are you okay? Was she rude? What am I saying? She probably was. That woman has no filter, I swear to God. Don't take anything to heart-"

"Jackson," she interrupted, chuckling lightly at her boyfriend's alarm. Compared to his normally calm and suave personality, it was always cute to see him all flustered. "I deal with a horde of hyper gremlins everyday and their overbearing parents who constantly try to teach me how to do my job. Your mom was… well, her, but it's nothing I haven't handled before."

Jackson stepped closer, their hips touching as he let his hands rest on her waist. Adoration lined his eyes as a proud smirk tipped his lips. "Well then, Ms. Kepner. What did you two talk about?" April reciprocated the movement, threading her hands under his arms as she locked them behind his back.

She wet her lips, swallowing her nerves as she chose her words carefully. "You know how I don't want you to give up the farm?" Jackson nodded slowly. "Well, even though you've started scaling back your time in Ackerly and are expressing some interest in returning to the family business, I don't want you to try to go back to the same position at the foundation that you felt trapped in all those years. So I gave Catherine a call - who, by the way, was excited to talk to me once I told her that I was your girlfriend - and asked if there was a way for you to get back involved with the foundation on a smaller scale and work remotely so that you could keep the rugged farmer vibes."

"I thought you liked me a little more polished?"

April scrunched her nose, tone light. "What can I say? The hot farmer get up does something to me."

His chest jerked as he laughed, the movement reverberating through her body. "Noted. I'll go buy more flannel and start chewing some straw."

April snorted, "Okay, maybe not that much because then you'll just be my dad."

"Call me daddy?" His eyebrow cocked up, mischief hidden in his blue eyes. A deft slap landed on his arm and April stepped out of his reach.

"Back to what I was saying." She took a couple of steps around the table, feet padding lightly across the hardwood. Rocking on the balls of her feet, she turned back to face him. "Over the past couple of weeks, I've been working with the Avery Foundation on a new philanthropic venture. One that you would be heading." She read the shock that crossed his face, her heart racing as her nerves took control of her breathing. April swallowed, feeling parched as the knot of nerves twisted in her stomach. "It's a community garden for Sugarland and it's already been greenlit to partner with the school district for after-school programs and field trips. Really whatever you decide," she rambled, the pace picking up. Jackson stepped forward, his hand sliding into hers as she continued to talk. Her feet moved backward, her head glancing backward to make sure she didn't run into the wall. "And then I got to thinking. If you were going to be spending more time here and were going to start working for the foundation again, you would need somewhere to do that."

April stopped in front of a door, looking up at Jackson. Anticipation bubbled into the air in the dim hallway. She reached for the handle, the cold metal hitting her clammy hands. Applying gentle pressure, April let the door creak open. Inside where there used to be a spare bed now sat a stately desk. A couple of black wire baskets with minimal decor lined the floating shelf she had installed. "And I had this extra bedroom - you already know how nobody really stays over besides you - but I had this idea a while ago. To give you a space of your own here. So I converted the bedroom into an office. Catherine was really helpful for this." April took a step towards the desk, fingers hitting the embossed paper that had been gifted to her. "She sent over your stationary set and helped me pick out a good chair. I didn't know chairs could be this expensive, but she told me not to worry and that she had it covered, but I think she was coming around to the idea that you were wanting to get back in the business. Even if it isn't the way that she necessarily imagined for you."

April looked up, lungs stalling as she tried to gauge his reaction. Jackson stood in the doorway, wide eyes taking in everything. A beat passed and he continued to stare, and her heart dropped. "You hate it. I overstepped. It's okay. It was just an idea that I had. I thought you might like it and I wanted to do something nice for you because you're always doing all these amazing things for me, but I mean-"

The force of his body colliding with hers stopped her sentence. Jackson swept her up, arms squeezing her tight. He stood that way for a minute, lowering for a second so her feet could touch the ground. April looked up closely, noticing an excited spark she hadn't seen before. His palms sneaked up her body, cupping her jaw. His lips met hers, firm and slow. His teeth scrapped along the entrance to her mouth, nose brushing against hers as he pulled away. With their foreheads pressed together, his eyes met hers. April couldn't control the smile that spread across her lips.

Voice hoarse, he rasped, "You know I love you right?"

"Yeah. I love you too." Her tongue darted out, wetting her lips.

He straightened. Blue eyes darted around the room, absorbing the changes from a new vantage point. "You really outdid yourself."

"So do you like it?"

He smiled back at her. "I love it."

A/N

omg it's been almost a year since i updated this fic (literally only 2 days shy) but we are almost done! it certainly will be the end of an era bc i have been writing this since i was in high school o.o xoxo see you next time