It was the smell of coffee that woke me up. Rubbing my eyes from sleep, I glanced at the clock. It was nearly eleven o’clock in the morning. I never slept that late!

  The boys were all happily munching freshly plated breakfast and the sound of the shower was running. I stretched and sat up, noticing my negligee had twisted during the night, leaving me nearly exposed. Closing my robe, I ducked into my room to change while Rob was still safely showering in my bathroom.

  It was a relief to get out of the constricting fabrics and into the pajamas that I lived in on the weekends. I considered wearing something nicer, but he needed to see me in all my boring normalness. If he could stand that, then we had a chance.

  As I took the first sip of my coffee, I began to think about just what sort of relationship we had. Sure, for right now, it was a fun getting-to-know-you thing. But what about next week? What if he got a job that took him far away? There were still some hard realities I needed to confront. Realities that only Rob could help me decipher.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead,” Rob’s deep morning voice said as he kissed the top of my head. A drop of shower water trickled down the side of his face, reminding me of our first real kiss in the rain.

  “Morning yourself. Thanks for feeding the boys and making coffee.”

  Rob was wearing my pink bathrobe. It was beyond adorable. He grabbed a cup of coffee for himself and joined me at the table.

  “Thank you for letting me crash here while I figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.” He laughed.

  I put my cup down. “What do you want to do with the rest of your life?”

  He took a long, slow sip of his coffee before answering.

  “That’s the ten-million-dollar question, isn’t it?”

  I twirled my coffee cup around slowly on the table. The fate of our relationship hinged on what happened next. If he left town to find work, was I supposed to go too? Would I be invited? Would I be willing to leave? It’s not as if he could stay here. We didn’t exactly have a bustling journalism market. There really was only one path for him, out of Bucksville. The question that lingered was where did I fit in that puzzle? It was quite possible that I didn’t.

  “Are you thinking of finding another journalist job?” I asked, half wanting him to say no so he wouldn’t have to leave.

  Rob sat his cup down and leaned forward, crossing his hands over one another.

  “I have submitted my résumé to several publications, but there is one in particular that I am hoping to land.” He shrugged. “Until then, I can continue to do freelance work, I suppose.”

  My lips itched to ask where he had submitted his résumé to, but I wasn’t sure if it was any of my business.

  “That’s great,” I said, a bit too cheery.

  Rob reached across the table and took my hand.

  “You’re worried I’m going to take a job and leave town, aren’t you?”

  My eyes lowered. “Maybe. Although, I have no right to be worried.” I looked up at him. “After all, it’s not like you’re obligated to stay in this tiny little town just because you met some girl there.”

  “Some girl?” he echoed.

  I pulled my hand out of his and got up to dump the rest of my coffee. My stomach was turning sour. I looked out of the small window above the sink that overlooked corner of High and Main Street. This town was far too small for the likes of someone as worldly as he was.

  “I’m not a fool, Rob. I know I’m not going to be your endgame. Sure, you’ll probably stick around here for a few weeks, maybe a few months, but eventually, the call of the open road will beckon you and you’ll leave. I see it year after year with the tourists. They soak up the small-town energy and charm, but once they get their fill, they leave. Everyone always leaves.” I sighed as I realized the truth in this statement. While this moment with Rob would stick with me forever, I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that the charms of Bucksville would be enough for him. As much as I like to say I’d love to travel the world with him, that’s not who I was. At my core, I was a homebody. My roots were deeply planted in Bucksville. His were not.

  His hands wrapped around my waist, and his chin rested perfectly on the top of my head.

  “What makes you think I’d want to leave all of this?” His hands squeezed around me, filling me with a warmth I didn’t know was possible.

  Slowly, he spun me around to look me in the eye.

  “The places I submitted my résumé to were all small-town papers less than an hour drive from here,” he said, kissing my nose.

  That was not what I was expecting to hear.

  “Really?” My voice came out in a whisper.

  He laughed gently. “Really.” He took my chin and tilted it upward. “I have just found the girl of my dreams and you think I’m going to run away from her?”

  I took a moment, processing what he said.

  “You barely know me, though. How can you possibly think I’m the girl of your dreams?”

  He smiled at me, bringing my lips softly to his.

  “Because no woman has ever made my heart race as fast as it does when I’m near you.” He gave me another gentle kiss. “We may not know each other very well, yet, but my heart feels like it’s known you for a lifetime. That’s good enough for me.”

  My bottom lip trembled.

  “Is time to steal home yet?” I asked, my eyes begging. Every pore of my body wanted to claim him, to be intertwined in.

  He smirked. “Oh, I’d say we can safely slide into third base, at the very least.”

  With that, he pulled me into a heated embrace, where we enjoyed exploring all the bases several times over. While we didn’t make love, we did just about everything else there was to do without crossing that line, but boy oh boy, did we blur it.

  A few hours later, we stumbled out of the bedroom, me a bit wobbly on my feet, and Rob grinning from ear to ear. I had no idea that going slow could be so…fulfilling. We were taking our time, learning each other’s bodies, feeling lips on every curve. Even now, I could feel his fingertips digging into my flesh trying to pull me closer to him, a reaction I duplicated. I couldn’t seem to get close enough to him. When we finally did make love, it would be special.

  Made love. I smiled. I’d always thought that term corny, but I knew that’s what it would be with Rob. It wouldn’t be just sex. It would be so much more. He had been right to make us go slow. This way, I was learning about what things he liked, what moves created a reaction. And he was doing the same with me. It was an exploration of something we both had been longing to find.

  “Okay, we have about twenty minutes until we need to leave,” he said, smacking my butt playfully as I poured my coffee.

  “Leave? Where are we going?”

  His eyes sparkled. “It’s a surprise.”

  I made a face but decided to trust his plan. After all, it led me to him. I took a quick shower and got dressed while he waited patiently like a kid on Christmas morning.

  “What are you so happy about?” I asked.

  He reached out his hand. “Let me show you.”

  We got in his car with still semi-damp seats and drove into one of the town’s many abandoned parking lots. I wondered if he wanted to make out or something. This was, after all, a popular make-out spot on the weekends…

  “Okay,” I said. “What’s the big surprise?”

  He killed the engine and beamed. “You’re looking at it.”

  I blinked a few times, confused.

  “An empty parking lot is your surprise?”

  Rob laughed. “No, silly goose. What is it a parking lot for?”

  I looked out of the window and saw we were parked directly in front of the old Gazette. I raised one eyebrow, still unsure of what he meant.

  “I put in an offer.”

  “An offer for what? A job? Rob, the Gazette hasn’t been open for years.”

  Rob shook his head. “I put in an offer to buy the building.”

  “What?” I gasped.

  “Correction. I am buying the Gazette. I got the email this morning. The seller accepted my offer. We close in two weeks. I’m going to re-open the paper.”

  My mouth hung open in shock. This was beyond huge news.

  “You’re buying a newspaper? How does one even have that much money to buy an entire business?”

  He shrugged. “Well, it’s a mortgage, for one, but an affordable one. My dad left me a chunk of change when he died, which lowered the monthly payments a lot. And remember, I didn’t really spend a lot of what I made. I tended to just sock it away for a rainy day. When Frank told me about this place closing…I couldn’t get it out of my head. So, I investigated it. It’s in great shape. Hardly any maintenance needs to be done. They just weren’t prepared for the digital upgrades. That’s something I know a lot about. A good electrician and high-speed Wi-Fi and well, we should be good to go.” His face was glowing with excitement.

  “Wait. Just wait. You’re going to open a business here? Here. In Bucksville?” I repeated, needing him to be quite clear about what he was getting himself into.

  “Yup.”

  “But, won’t you get bored? Don’t you hate being tied to one place?”

  His face softened as he took my hand. “As long as I’m with you, how could I get bored?”

  “This is a huge step, Rob. Are you sure about this?”

  Warm hands cradled my face. His eyes found mine. “I’ve never been so sure about anything. I want this life. I want you to be a part of it with me.”

  He pulled me in for a kiss and in that moment, I knew he was telling the truth. He was home.

  EPILOGUE

  It had been a tremendously long day at the Gazette. This was a special edition, so there were about twenty additional pages to print. The sun had long gone down and our small crew of seven were eagerly awaiting how it came out. Rob, most of all.

  During this last year, he worked his tail off, learning the ropes of being in charge, working with the machines themselves, getting maintenance to areas that needed it, and then, making a desk set-up for the staff. That initial process took about three months because it was just the two of us doing it. We had no idea if this thing would make money or not, so it was a gigantic leap of faith to come in every day.

  I kept my job at the shop and joined him after each night, to pick up a broom or even massage the knots out of his shoulders. Little by little the dust went away, and the interest began. Shop owners started stopping in wanting to place an ad. Inquiries about job opportunities followed. Eventually, the town began to call, wanting to order a subscription, eager for their beloved paper to return to them.

  “Well, here it is,” Rob said, walking over to me holding the special edition in his hands.

  “Wow. It’s heavy.” I smiled, then looked down at the first page that showed a picture of Rob and me in front of the still empty building on the day he first showed me it. This was his project, his baby. But he had insisted that I be in the photo. He knew, before I did, that this was going to become our dream.

  Under the picture was an article, talking about the history of how we came to be the owners of the Bucksville Gazette, then went on to highlight some of the main stories of our small little down. There was a two-page photo spread of major events that had happened to Bucksville in the year that the paper had been up and running.

  Rob took the paper and read aloud.

  “It’s hard to imagine that a full year had gone by since the Bucksville Gazette ran its first edition under the new ownership of Rob and Penny Walters. To celebrate, we wanted to print some highlights of the year we’ve had together.

  Local, Penny White, left her job at the Shop & Go this past Friday where she had worked as a clerk and, later, as the manager for as long as folks can remember. She has taken on a job in sales over at the Bucksville Gazette. Her former co-worker, Denise Merrithew, has taken over the managerial position at the Shop & Go.

  Bucksville welcomes baby Nathanial Jackson. Proud parents Tina Jackson of Bucksville and Jamaal Winters of New York. Nathanial was born on June 15 and weighed 7lbs 3oz. The happy family won’t be staying in Bucksville long as they are moving to New York to be closer to relatives. We wish them all the best.

  Keep an eye out for artistic benches! In the coming weeks, several new benches will be popping up in the streets of downtown Bucksville. The benches were given to local businesses in the area to decorate as they see fit. Each bench will be unique and left out for our fall foliage tourism season. The benches will be fully functional and add a much-needed touch of creativity to our town. Be sure to take pictures of yourself on the benches and send them to us. You might just be in next week’s issue.

  Our beloved Frank William Bagley passed away in his sleep on Sunday. Bagley was survived by a sister, Grace Hatch, of Suffolk. Bagley was married to Judith Bagley for 47 years before her passing in 2016. Before retiring at age 72, Bagley was a bank manager at the Bucksville Credit Union. He was a member of the Legion and Rotary Club. When he wasn’t with his wife, Bagley could be found out in his garden or volunteering at the animal shelter. A service will be held in his memory at the First Church on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Flowers can be sent to the church directly.”

  Rob lowered the paper, with a sad look in his eye. That had been a blow to the town, though part of me wondered if Frank was happy now that he could be with his wife.

  So much had changed in the year for not just me but the people who lived in Bucksville. It got me to thinking…had Rob been able to bring about the change to this small town or was this ebb and flow of news always there and we just never stopped to pay attention to it before? I have a sneaking suspicion Rob would say the latter. He always said there is an adventure all around us; you just have to stop and look for it.

  And that’s what he did. Day in and day out, he was fishing around for the stories. Not just the highlights like this anniversary edition, but real interviews with people who lived here. I’d learned more about my neighbors since Rob started this paper than I ever had before. Reading their stories, their struggles, and triumphs make me feel so much more connected to the place I once hated to live in. The town I had thought was so boring. It was only dull because I refused to open my eyes to the place outside my own personal bubble.

  For the first time since I was a kid, I felt like I belonged somewhere. I had a community, people to support me and lift me up when I was sad. No more did I spend the holidays alone, hiding away from the world. Now we attended our local church’s community dinners and feast alongside our friends and neighbors.

  “You know?” Rob said, putting the paper on his desk. “Since the paper is doing so well now, I thought maybe it was time for us to, you know, start a family of our own. Someone to hand the reins to when we retire.”

  His eyes were big and puppy-dog like.

  “Babies? You want to add babies into the insanity of our lives? We’re barely home as it is,” I said, knowing he didn’t really mean it. He had likely just seen me holding Tina’s baby the other day and assumed I wanted kids. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that much responsibility, truth be told.

  “I don’t think you have to get several all at once. I think they come out one at a time.”

  I scoffed at his logic.

  “Babies don’t equate happily ever after, you know. I mean, have you ever seen the look on new parents? Because I have. It says, ‘Help me. I haven’t slept in two years.’ Do you want to not sleep for two years?” I shrieked.

  Rob raised his hands in surrender. “Clearly, I’ve touched a nerve,” he said, laughing.

  I blew the hair from my face and took his hands. “It’s not that I don’t want kids, but I don’t want to have them without putting some very serious and well thought out planning. Maybe we start with a dog…see if we can handle that first?”

  “A dog? I don’t think Hewey, Lewey, and Dewey would approve.”

  I shrugged. “They’d deal. It’d be good for them. Get their exercise in. Besides, I hear puppies and babies are basically the same things, but a dog has a shorter time commitment.”

  Rob rubbed his chin.

  “I suppose I could teach a dog to deliver papers…”

  It was my turn to chuckle. “Besides, just because we had a kid, it wouldn’t mean they’d want to take over your paper. This is your dream. Who knows what they might want to do.”

  Rob pulled me into an embrace. “When did you get to be so damn smart, huh?” he asked, leaning in for a kiss.

  “You’d be amazed what I’ve picked up from reading,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows.

  “Reading, eh? I hear that’s good for the libido, too.”

  His playful smirk was infectious.

  “I’ve read that, too,” I murmured against his lips.

  A moment later, his hands dug into my hair as he pressed our bodies together in a kiss that reminded me of all the ways he loved me. Me. A small-town plain Jane.

  “Why don’t we go home and celebrate this anniversary the right way?” he murmured in my ear.

  “You’re just saying that ’cause you’re hoping we’ll make a baby,” I teased.

  “Nah. I’m hoping we can get one of them puppies instead. Those sound fun.”

  I laughed and took his hand, knowing we’d find our way to the bedroom long before we went puppy hunting.

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