Concern on his face, Howler raises his hand, gesturing to Solomon in the crowd. But Tessie’s already off, storming to the coat rack. She yanks on her parka, sticks her hands in Solomon’s coat pocket, and jerks out the keys to the pickup.
She needs to get out of here. Away from Solomon, away from Chinook, from this town. Because it hurts too much. Losing everything because she was an idiot, a fool. Because she believed Solomon Wilder when he said he wouldn’t get the courts involved. That they could work it out together. That they’d share Bear. But what he really wants to do is take him away from her.
On autopilot, she pushes through the crowd of people, past Evelyn, who’s finally perking up on her barstool, and then she’s tossing open the heavy front door and stepping out into the parking lot.
Tessie gasps as a blast of frigid November air hits her hard in the face.
She stands under the glittering sky, in the frigid cold darkness. Icy tears drip down her face. Snow gusts, sweeping over the tops of her feet. Overhead, a bright full moon illuminates the gravel parking lot.
Stars shimmer across the universe like when she and Solomon first met. A lifetime ago in that Tennessee Bar. Before Bear. Before this all blew up in her face.
With a shudder, she pulls her collar up around her neck and steps off the sidewalk. She hasn’t made it far when the door slams open behind her.
“Tess, baby,” Solomon growls, the sound of his voice making her body turn, as if it has no free will of its own. His chest heaves, his hands clenched at his sides. Ash at his shoulder. “It’s not what you think.” But his tone is guilty, like he already knows what she’s found.
Lifting her chin, she strides forward and punches the papers against his chest. “Then what is it, Solomon? Because it looks like you’re trying to take Bear away from me.”
“I’m not. I swear it.” He inhales a breath. “I know right now it looks unforgivable, but I can explain.”
Shaking her head, backing away, Tessie covers her stomach. Solomon flinches. Suddenly, all she wants is for the tiny baby inside her to stay put.
“You don’t want me. You just want Bear.” Her voice breaks on the words.
“Tessie, no,” Ash says, her hands clutched to her heart.
Solomon’s handsome face crumples. “You don’t believe that.”
What should she believe? She’s so confused. But she needs a game plan. An out. She needs to get away from Solomon. Now.
Drive back to the cabin and pack. Get on the next plane out of Alaska. Take her baby and her bad plans and go back to California and beg Nova for a job.
Tessie turns around and walks on shaking legs toward the road. Gravel and snow crunch beneath her heels.
Get away, get away, get away.
Her emotions, her hormones are all over the place. Running wild like a thundering pack of mustangs. From pregnancy. From the papers she discovered. From Solomon’s frantic eyes staring her down.
“Where are you going?” he demands. He’s beside her, his hand on her elbow. Trying to steer her back inside.
She shoves at him. “Away from you. I can’t talk to you right now.”
His hard bootsteps follow her. “Tess, get back here. You’re gonna freeze.”
Solomon’s stern command sends shivers of fury down her spine. She crosses her arms and averts her gaze to the dark, hoping he doesn’t see her teeth chatter.
A crowd is gathering on the sidewalk. Solomon’s wide-eyed parents and his sisters. Ash. Howler. They gawk like they’ve come to watch Tessie combust. The thought only makes her feel more awful. More alone.
“Tess. . .”
She whirls on him. “You changed our deal,” she shouts. Fear and panic and loss cloud her voice.
“Baby,” he whispers, inching closer like she’s an animal caught in a trap.
“You changed our deal on me. On us. You promised.”
“I did promise,” he says, sounding unsteady. Panicked. “And I’m telling you I didn’t break that promise.”
A clipped voice interrupts them. “Sol. . .”
Solomon’s teeth snap together. So hard it’s stunning he doesn’t crack one. “Go back inside, Evelyn,” he barks, no bullshit in his tone. “Now.”
Shamefaced, Evelyn scurries off.
Inhaling a defiant breath, cold stinging her lungs, Tessie walks. The wind whips her hair, mixing it with her tears. Her face is frozen, but the only sensation that registers is the hot pump of blood in her veins, making her move.
“Wait. Tess. Listen to me.” Solomon’s voice breaks in the night air. He’s beside her. Grasping her wrist, gentle yet firm, but she slips from his grip. Solomon curses softly, swearing at her, at himself.
“Leave me alone, Solomon.”
“No fucking chance.”
“I’m taking the truck back to the cabin.”
He grunts. “Good luck finding it.”
She stops. Swiveling her head, she searches the lot for the truck. Then remembers it’s parked a half mile down the road. Shit.
Still, she moves, leaving the bar behind her, the bright light of the neon sign blinking in her periphery.
A silent stretch of seconds, and then—
“Walk, then.” Solomon’s deep rumble reverberates in the night air. Determination in his tone. “Walk off if you want.”
“I will,” she shoots back, holding her belly, not looking back.
“I’ll be right behind you. When you want to talk, I’ll be ready. I’ll be right here.”
His words have her heart two-stepping. Have her stopping.
She turns around. “You don’t have a jacket on.”
She fumes at herself. Damn her for caring.
“Fuck a jacket.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a great idea. That’s just what our son needs. His father getting sick and dying of pneumonia.”
“I don’t care, Tess. I’m not leaving you. And when you’re ready to listen, I’ll tell you about how I wasn’t involved with drawing up these papers. Never in a million years would I fucking hurt you like that.”
On shaky legs, she takes a step forward, to walk away. Only, the slow roll of Bear in her belly, Solomon’s words, stop her.
Oh God. The realization kicks her in the teeth.
What is she doing?
She’s walking away from him.
So damn worried about him breaking his promise, she didn’t realize she was breaking her own.
“Tess, please.” A strangled sound of anguish breaks in his throat, forcing her to turn back to him again. “I don’t want you on the side of the road, baby.”
Solomon stares at her with haunted eyes. His face devastated, absolutely agonized, and that’s when Tess knows. She walks away, walks off, it’ll kill him.
Here she is, a near-feral pregnant woman, melting down because of hormones while freezing her ass off. She’s pushing him away, but he’s staying. He isn’t walking away or leaving her or letting her go. He’s staying.
Clarity cracks inside her then.
Love stays.
She could walk away, she could end this, or she could face it and understand.
Her mom always told her to find someone who stays. Who doesn’t walk away even when life is hard. Even when they fight.
This is what her mother would have wanted for her. Not money. Or a career. But love. A man who fights for her, fights with her and doesn’t walk away, who fills her soul with peace and light and joy.
And that’s Solomon.
Inhaling a deep breath, she forces her brain to leave its radioactive meltdown zone. And she finds Solomon’s lapis lazuli eyes lasered on her in a way that has her stomach going molten and magnetic.
She steels herself, letting hope, love, break apart her shield. Praying that there is an explanation for the papers he’s holding that won’t break her heart.
She hisses, stabs a finger at him. Hating him but loving him too—too much—for the chokehold he has on her heart. “I’m pissed at you.”
A hint of a smile graces his face. She knows now. Knows when Solomon is smiling or grimacing or scowling or laughing. All his bearded faces, she knows them.
They’re hers.
The mountain of a man expels the air from his lungs in one long whoosh. “I know you are. And you can be.” He scans the space separating them, and he takes a step forward. “Come with me. Let’s talk, Tess. Yell at me. Hit me. Throw a heel at me. Just do it inside. Where it’s warm.”
She sob-laughs. Unable to help it. Unable to rein in the helpless, wild love she feels for this man. Even when he’s infuriated her to no end.