Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92708 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
“Eeep!” I squealed. “I would love that! We’ll have to wait until the renovation is done. Spring?”
“Whatever makes you happy.”
I threw my arms around him again, squeezing my eyes shut. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too. I even rode the chairlift for you.”
Keeping my hands clasped around his neck, I leaned back. “How was it?”
“Fucking terrible,” he said. “I hated every second.” He kissed my lips. “But worth it. I wanted to say all this in the place I knew meant the most to you.”
I grinned, my body humming with joy. “The future home of The Firefly.”
“Yes.” He rested his forehead against mine. “I love thinking about the future with you.”
“What do you see?”
“A house with a big backyard. Kids begging me for piggyback rides. Maybe a nice car in the garage.”
I laughed. “That sounds perfect. Can I ask what made you change your mind?”
“Well, for one thing, when I woke up without you the morning you left, I hated everything about it. I wanted you back right then.”
“Why didn’t you call me?” I shook my head. “I thought you didn’t care!”
“I wanted to—I almost did—a hundred times. I was so fucking miserable. I drove to Cherry Tree Harbor and talked to Xander, and he said some things that made me realize I was standing in my own way.”
“What did he say?”
“I think it was essentially the equivalent of him up in the tree telling me to stop being a chicken-shit and climb it.”
I laughed. “The tree all over again, huh? At least you didn’t fall this time.”
“Oh, I fell,” he said, that grin that stole my heart the night we met appearing. “I fell hard.”
“But I caught you,” I whispered, tucking my head beneath his chin, my cheek pressed to his chest. “And I’ll never let go.”
Getting Devlin back on the chairlift took some coaxing.
“I’ll walk down.”
“Devlin, stop. It’s too dark.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“It’s too cold, and you don’t even have a hat.”
“I have body heat.”
“Listen, I know all about your body heat, and I’m not letting you walk down this mountain alone in the dark because I want to take advantage of it later.”
He groaned as I tugged him over to the station. “Are you trying to distract me with sex?”
“Yes, is it working?”
“Sort of.” We stood in place and waited for the lift to come up behind us. “If I die, go on without me.”
“Oh, Lord. You’re not gonna die. Come on, here we go.” The car scooped us up, and we sat down on the bench. “There, see?”
Devlin quickly pulled the safety bar down. “Is he going to slow it down for us to get off?”
“I will text him right now and tell him we’re coming.” Pulling my phone from my coat pocket, I sent Luke a note. “So he was in on this scheme, huh?”
“He was. I needed him.”
“Was Gran in on it, by chance?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Because this afternoon she told me that she’d been thinking, and she decided to give me a chance to run this place on my own if I still wanted to.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I told her that I’d been thinking too, and I realized she and Grandpa had probably been right that it’s too much for one person, so I was going to find a business partner.”
“A business partner, huh?” He put an arm around me.
“Yes. I’ll be accepting applications soon, and I hope you’ll submit one.”
He laughed. “I might. Does the job come with a corner office?”
“No, but it comes with me in your bed every night for the rest of your life.”
“Sold.”
I leaned against him, tugged my mitten off, and held out my hand. “This ring. I can’t stop looking at it. I can’t wait to show it off to Tabitha!”
He laughed. “She’ll probably turn up her nose because it isn’t a diamond.”
“I don’t give a shit about diamonds. This is so beautiful! Is it an emerald?”
“It’s a teal sapphire.”
“I love it.” I tipped my head onto his shoulder. “And I love you.”
“I love you too. But I hate this chairlift. Is it supposed to swing like this?”
“Yes.” I laughed and pulled my mitten back on. “But you never have to ride it again. I’ll teach our kids how to ski.”
“Perfect. I’ll teach them how to talk their mom into getting what they want.”
“You are good at that,” I said.
He squeezed me a little tighter and put his lips at my ear. “It’s a gift.”
TWENTY-SIX
epilogue
LEXI
“Lexi, stop peeking around that corner! Someone’s going to see you down there!”
“So what?”
“So the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride before the ceremony,” Winnie chided, fussing with my veil again. “It’s bad luck.”
Laughing, I turned and faced her. “We’re already married, Win. This is just for fun. And that tradition isn’t about bad luck, it’s about the parents who’d arranged the marriage not wanting the groom to get a look at his bride before the knot was tied in case he saw her and changed his mind. I don’t think Devlin is going to back out when he sees me.”