Total pages in book: 162
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 153946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 770(@200wpm)___ 616(@250wpm)___ 513(@300wpm)
“I love you too. Go find Gene and take care of my sister.”
I waggled my eyebrows and she laughed, disappearing into the crowd while I looked around the circle of empty camp chairs and sighed. “And then she was alone again.”
“You’re never going to be alone again. You know that, right? You’re stuck with me.”
I was already smiling when Wade turned me into his arms. “How’s Bernie?”
“She needs to let off some steam. Today shook her up more than she’s letting on. She’s not used to failing.”
“She didn’t fail,” I said, offended on her behalf. “She was completely blameless.”
“She doesn’t see it that way. It’ll be fine. Did I hear Morgan say she’s stealing our RV of love?”
I snuggled closer and nodded against his chest. “I hope I didn’t leave my underwear in there. Tomorrow, we’ll call dibs.”
“Tomorrow? You’re not planning to race again, are you?”
“Hell no.” I leaned back and stared at his mouth. “I’m done with racing. I’d rather take my time. Like Myrtle.”
His lips twitched. “I’m not mad about that. I didn’t like standing on the sidelines while you were out there. The next time you decide to take a risk like that, I want to be beside you.”
Lady bait.
I nuzzled his prickly chin with my cheek and murmured, “You are surprisingly good at this romance thing.”
“You said you didn’t need it. I never said I couldn’t deliver.” His hands cupped my ass and I twined my arms around his neck, tipping my head back to look at him. “I was thinking, after we fulfill Sam’s boat request, we should take a long weekend, just the two of us. Maybe go to Maine.”
So good at romance.
“I love you.” It kept bursting out of me, this feeling I had for him. “Get used to hearing it, because I can’t stop saying it.”
“I know.”
“Oh no, you don’t.” I swatted his chest playfully. “The sci-fi geek doesn’t get to ‘I know’ me after I put myself out there for everyone with a radio to hear and you waited so long to say it.”
“I love you too,” he said, with humor twinkling in his eyes. “I meant it when I said you won’t be alone again, August. If you changed your mind and decided to move away tomorrow, I’d be right behind you. I refuse to spend another minute without you. Is that better?”
“Meh.”
We both laughed. And then he kissed me until I was saying yes again.
Yes.
Yes.
“If you say no to everything, you’ll miss…everything.”
She was right again.
This was what she’d been talking about.
This was everything.
31
AUGUST
Two months later…
I was leaning over a barstool in the transformed backroom of the icehouse, breathing into a paper bag so I wouldn’t hyperventilate.
What old wife came up with this tale? How was it even supposed to work? It wasn’t helping my breathing at all.
I heard a weird yodel followed by an excited bark and opened my eyes in time to see Wanda and Merlin racing in from the hallway, their leashes trailing behind them. The festive matching red-and-green bandanas around their necks were so cute they almost made me smile.
It looked like the troublemaking duo had escaped their sitters. I had no idea Merlin could still move like that. The vet had been shocked the last time we went for a checkup. He was talking years instead of months now. Who knew all the grumpy old wizard needed to start a new lease on life was somebody of his own to love?
Or that I would become a dogmother like my sister, so enamored with these two they could probably set a neighborhood block on fire and I’d secretly find it adorable.
“Sorry, sorry,” Phoebe said as she hustled in after them. She was wearing a scarlet-hued Maid Marian dress and a matching carrier full of Sammy Lane strapped to her chest. “I saw them heading this way, but I didn’t cut them off fast enough.”
I waved away her apology before lowering the pointless paper bag in annoyance. “They’re the least of my problems.”
“Uh-oh.” Phoebe stared at me as she kissed the top of her baby’s blonde head. “Auntie August looks like she’s about to take a runner, Sam.”
“Take a runner?”
She made a face. “Todd was sick of Stargate, so he got BritBox to keep us company during all the late-night feedings, and I think it’s starting to rub off on me. I’m so thankful to be back at work. And I meant thinking of skipping town. Fleeing all the people waiting outside for your big entrance.”
Oh. That.
“She better not run,” Bernie threatened upon making her entrance. The short emerald-green dress highlighted her lean muscles and long legs. The small red flowers in her braid and the bow-and-arrow earrings were an inspired touch. “This event has been decades in the making.”
My sister stood beside her in a strikingly simple and—unique to this group—modern yellow dress that highlighted her flawless brown skin. She gave Bernie a look so dry, leaves would have crumbled to dust around her. “I don’t know if this particular event was decades in the making.”