Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
She gives me a nod, squaring her shoulders. She’s trying to be strong and I’d stay but I know Emmy. She hates letting anyone see her weakness. But I’m sure the anger that’s holding her together will eventually give way and she’ll need me.
She calls my name before I leave her cabin and I turn back. She nods to the magazine. “Thanks for letting me know.”
“You look just like I imagined you would,” Jill announces as she rushes onto the porch to engulf me in a hug. She’s a short blonde that’s my height and curvy. She’s got laugh lines around her eyes and wears a dove pendant around her neck. Her yellow blouse and bright red lipstick make it obvious she prefers bright colors. “So pretty and perfect.”
Piper is behind Jill with an amused grin on her face. She’s mouthing something to Brock, but I’m paying too much attention to their mom to observe the sibling banter.
“Don’t embarrass her, Mom,” Brock says. He’s sitting in one of the Adirondack chairs and sipping a beer. Woofer is curled up in his lap. The two of them are becoming fast friends. In fact, I catch him spoiling my little dog even more than I do.
I blush under her praise. “Thank you, Mrs. Parker.”
“You stop that. I’m Mom to you. Well, Jill if you like. Mom, if you go with my preference.” She beams at me as if this settles it then turns to focus on Piper. “Let’s get out of this damn weather.”
I put a hand on her shoulder and point to the window boxes. “I love what you did with these. The curb appeal you added is just lovely.”
“You did it now,” Piper complains to me as she follows her mother into the house. “Home décor is her passion. Next thing you know, you’re going to be picking out furniture and curtains with her.”
Brock tugs on my hand and I step back onto the porch with him. We’re alone together for just a moment. Snow is swirling in the air again, promising another blizzard soon. But I don’t mind because this sheriff knows how to keep a girl warm.
He kisses my forehead, the tender gesture making me feel treasured. “I love you, and I want forever with you.”
“Are you finally asking me to marry you?” I tease. Secretly, I love the way he’s just decided it’s happening. He’s a bit bossy sometimes, but he’s completely in love with me. Every little thing he does is for me.
“No, I’m telling you that I want to be married to you and soon. So, how do you feel about Vegas?” He growls.
“I feel great about it.” I lean up to press a gentle kiss to his lips before giving him a big grin. “But you’re the one that has to break it to your mom.”
“Challenge accepted,” he answers as he threads his fingers through mine. Together, we walk hand and hand into the house to tell his family about our forever plans.
EPILOGUE
ZOEY
“This room is going to be the nursery,” Emmy says on the video call. The two of us are together in the new cabin that Brock and I just purchased. It’s been a whirlwind six months for me, and it’s included getting married in Vegas, moving across the country, and buying my first home.
“It’s not a nursery, and I’m not pregnant,” I tell the other girls who are babbling excitedly.
I glare at Emmy who giggles. Like me, she’s now living in Lake Tahoe with her very own happily ever after. I don’t know how she and Griff worked it out but I’m glad they did. They’re crazy in love, so much that you can feel it every time you’re in the room with them.
Cassia is also nearby. She’s living with Cord, the bossy cowboy, on his farm. They fell in love after he wrote her emails complaining that her books didn’t feature “real cowboys”. She was determined to learn more about him and what real cowboys do. That’s how we all ended up in Lake Tahoe for our writing retreat in the first place.
“I want it to go on record that you’re all so happy only because I dared you to lose those v-cards,” Mina says. She’s living in San Francisco with Palmer, her quarterback husband. She met him at the Galentine’s Getaway too.
“I was part of the dare team,” Paige reminds us. She’s in love with Camden, the mountain man she fell for while she was on the retreat. She spent the night camping on his land during a snowstorm. If the stories she’s told me are true, she found quite the way to stay warm while she waited it out.
“Yeah, well, I’m a maniac now,” Clover jokes. She got flirty with a silver fox while she was in a tavern on the Galentine’s Getaway. Now, she lives with Atlas, the hunky ranch owner turned guitarist at night. They’re incredibly happy together.