I dust off my hands as we move the last box of stuff into my new room at Willow Inn. It’s been three weeks since Daren and I found my father’s hidden money, and in that time I accepted Ellen’s job offer as a waitress at Willow Inn, while Daren accepted her offer as her new cook.

He was able to quit his other jobs so he now works full-time in the kitchen with Mable, and I swear he smiles all day long. He can’t stop talking about how he wants to open his own restaurant someday.

The girl who was the prep cook before me, Pixie, now lives in Tempe where she’s going to Arizona State University. And because Pixie knows a lot of people at ASU, she’s going to introduce me to some friends of hers that are currently in the nursing program. Which will be great since I start classes at ASU this spring.

Ellen let me stay at the inn as a guest while she had Pixie’s room repainted. The guy who lived next to Pixie, Levi, moved down to Phoenix as well, so Ellen had both rooms painted yellow.

I also bought a working car so I could travel back and forth from Willow Inn to Copper Springs to visit Daren, whom I’ve decided I completely and forever love.

Daren put his share of the money to fast use, paying off all the medical bills he wanted to take care of and buying a new car for himself as well. As much as he missed Monique, he thought it would be silly to spend so much money on a car. So he bought a truck instead. Overall, things have just fallen into place for us and I couldn’t be happier.

Daren enters my room with a giant box in one hand and a bag of cookies in the other.

“Ooh, I love you, I love you, I love you.” I smile at the cookies.

“Easy, tiger.” He sets down the box and pulls two cookies from the bag.

I look him over with a smile. “You know, I read the book Holes last week.”

He lifts a brow. “You did?”

I nod and eye him closely. “And at the end, the boy who had to dig all those holes finds a lost treasure and all his bad luck goes away. Pretty fitting, don’t you think?”

A slow grin pulls up his face. “I knew I liked that book for a reason.” He looks around my room. “So what do you think of your new home?”

I grin at the bright yellow walls and the new blue bedding I bought for my bed. “I love it.”

He hands me a cookie. “And you know the best part about your room?”

I eye him. “What’s that?”

He grins. “That it’s right next door to an empty room that will soon be mine.”

“Are you being serious?” I smile so widely my face hurts.

He nods. “We’re going to be neighbors—if that’s okay with you.”

“That is more than okay,” I say. “That’s incredible!”

“Then here’s to being neighbors.” He holds up his cookie and grins. “And to handcuffs.”

I tap my cookie to his with a smile. “Here’s to handcuffs.”

About the Author

Chelsea lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where she spends most of her time writing stories, painting murals, and avoiding housework at all costs. She’s ridiculously bad at doing dishes and claims to be allergic to laundry. Her obsessions include: superheroes, coffee, sleeping in, and crazy socks. She lives with her husband and two children, who graciously tolerate her inability to resist teenage drama on TV and her complete lack of skill in the kitchen.