The thrilling will-they-won’t-they relationship between Jackie and Cole in My Life with the Walter Boys has been a long and winding road, but as Season 3 of the beloved series kicks off, we finally find the two of them as close as ever — and actually in a relationship, with each other, as boyfriend and girlfriend. “We left them at the end of Season 2 wanting what we were going to give them in Season 3: Jackie and Cole decide that they're going to give it a go,” says series creator Melanie Halsell. Thankfully, fans don’t have to wait long for the payoff, either: Jackie and Cole embrace the possibility of a future together by the end of this new season’s very first episode. “It was really nice to just rip the band-aid off and get straight to it,” says Nikki Rodriguez, who plays Jackie, “because we’ve been waiting for so long.”

Of course, as with all things Walter Boys, there are sensitive family dynamics at play. Up until this point, Jackie had been in a relationship with Cole’s brother, Alex, whose warmth, reliability, and openness offered the kind of stability she desperately needed after the death of her family and the beginning of a new life in Silver Falls, Colorado. “So much has happened between them,” says Rodriguez. “They’ve gone through so much.” For much of Seasons 1 and 2, Alex represented the safe choice — a relationship built on trust and comfort — even as Jackie's undeniable chemistry with Cole continued to simmer. Then, at the end of Season 2, there was a shocking finale: Alex overhears Jackie and Cole expressing their love to one another, and he instantly knows that his moment with Jackie is done. “What I didn't want to do was make Alex feel like he'd been discarded or that he was a victim in any way. I've never wanted to present the idea that Alex is less than Cole,” Halsell says. “Alex is a genuinely lovely guy and he wants Jackie to be happy, and the person who loves you is the one that lets you go.”

After coming to terms with the fact that Jackie and Cole have such intense feelings for each other, Alex ultimately makes peace with — and actively supports — Cole and Jackie beginning their own relationship. “I'm sure there is anger and grief and heartbreak that Alex goes through,” says Ashby Gentry, who plays Alex. “And I think it’s really mature of Alex to not only understand Jackie, but to take action and do the right thing and forgive her.”

Still, Cole and Jackie coming together can’t help but be something of a shock to the system: when Jackie first arrived in Silver Falls, the two seemed destined to clash. She was the organized, ambitious newcomer trying to find her footing, while Cole was the town's former football star, reeling from a career-ending knee injury. Their early interactions were marked by friction, but beneath the surface, they recognized something familiar in one another. “When he saw her persistence, it’s like he was slowly injected with this source of light,” says Noah LaLonde, who plays Cole with grit and vulnerability. “That’s what we see in Season 3.” Cole has become one of the few people who truly understands what it means for everything you’d planned for your life to disappear overnight. “I think he brings out a side of her that's just a little bit more free — thinking for herself a little bit more. Being okay with not being so perfect,” says Rodriguez.

Jackie, in turn, saw past Cole’s tough outer shell to the vulnerable person underneath, and now that they’re finally together, it seems, at first, like the match is a perfect fit. “He calls her his girlfriend — he's never done before with anyone. All this closeness is just a sign of how emotionally safe they feel with each other,” says Halsell. “They are getting a bit older. There is a maturity about it — and maturity about them.” Cole in particular looks to be embracing an exciting new chapter of his life both working on and racing cars. “It is the season of Jackie and Cole,” says LaLonde. “She just shows him everything that maybe he could be.” And the sparks truly do fly. “There is plenty of kissing in Season 3,” says Halsell. “They share their first kiss of the season in the same place he took her in Season 1, which made my heart melt.”

But Season 3 also brings its own set of challenges for the couple. As Jackie balances her relationship with Cole against the possibility of returning to the future she once imagined at an Ivy League school, a familiar face from her life in New York arrives in Colorado. The unexpected appearance of Elliot (Naveen Paddock) forces Jackie to confront the tension between the person she was before Silver Falls and the person she has become since arriving there, leaving her stretched between two very different worlds — and making for the possibility of a new love triangle in Jackie’s life. “I think Elliot showing up definitely makes her feel torn between her old life and her new life. He's somebody she’s known forever,” Rodriguez says. “The Ivy League stuff — she can’t really connect with Cole in that way. I think it just makes her feel a little bit conflicted on where she wants to go in life — and who she can talk to about certain things.”

And so, as with all great romances, Season 3 isn’t just about whether Jackie and Cole can find their way to each other — it's about whether they have what it takes to go the distance. With Cole still wrestling with insecurities about his future and Jackie beginning to question the path she thought she wanted, the two discover that falling in love is only the beginning. In particular, if the relationship has nudged Jackie out of her comfort zone — it’s not always been for the better. The once-meticulous planner finds herself forgetting a friend’s birthdays and even missing a makeup test, small but telling signs that her carefully ordered life is beginning to shift. The real challenge for Jackie and Cole? Discovering if their love can endure life's uncertainties — and whether they make each other stronger because of it. “They’re so wrapped up in each other that they sometimes neglect the outside world,” says Halsell. “I think the path of true love does never run smooth — especially in Silver Falls.”

Watch Season 3 of My Life With the Walter Boys now, exclusively on Netflix.