by Elena Aitken
Amber felt a twinge of guilt leaving the Log and Jam before Christy’s last set, but she knew her friend would understand. She and Logan had something very special to celebrate together, and that’s exactly what they were going to do.
It was a cold night, but after Logan got a fire roaring in the fireplace of the cabin, they grabbed thick blankets and a bottle of champagne, and bundled themselves up on the porch swing that Logan had cleared of snow earlier in the day.
“Are you cold?”
Amber shivered, but it wasn’t enough to complain about. “I’ll be fine for a few minutes,” she said. “Besides, this will only happen once and I’m not going to miss it because of a little chill.”
Logan responded by wrapping his arm around her and pulling her closer. “This is perfect,” he said after a moment. “I mean, I enjoyed the bar with everyone but—”
“This is better.”
“This is better. Can you believe how much has happened?”
“And how far we’ve come.”
“Exactly.” They were quiet for a few moments. “You know how some people are always in a hurry to say good-bye to the old year because it was hard or bad things happened?”
She nodded.
“I don’t feel like that.”
Amber turned to look at him, curious. “Do you mean, you’re sad to see this year end?”
“Not at all.” He chuckled. “It’s just that I’ve learned over time that even when a year is particularly challenging, there’s good that will still come out of it, and I don’t think that should be disregarded. There were a whole lot of challenges this year, for both of us, don’t you think?”
Amber nodded, completely in agreement. The last year had knocked her to her knees. It definitely hadn’t been easy.
“But even so,” Logan continued. “It also brought a lot of good.” He snuggled her close. “It brought me you.”
She tilted her head up and kissed him on the cheek. “That’s a very good point. But if you’re not sad to see the year end, I guess I’m confused.”
He laughed. “I guess what I’m saying is, for all the crap the last year brought us, it also brought us a lot of good and I think we’ve both learned that it’s because of the hard stuff and the challenges that the good stuff happens.”
“Right,” she jumped in. “Like, without all of that, we wouldn’t be sitting her together right now.”
“Exactly.”
“So you’re saying we should celebrate the last year.”
Logan nodded. “Don’t you think so?”
Amber thought about it for a moment. “I guess, but I’m not going to lie, Logan. I’ve never been so excited for the start of a new year and all of the possibilities it will bring us.” She shifted in her seat so she faced him. “So, I’ll tell you what, how about we toast early?” She gestured to the bottle of champagne that sat next to them. “Before the countdown. We’ll toast the end of the year and everything that brought us to this moment. And then at midnight, it’s all about the future.”
“I love it.” He grinned broadly and reached for the bottle. “And I love you.” He gave her a quick kiss on the lips before manipulating the cork. “Ready?”
“Like for a mini countdown?” She laughed. “Like to say good-bye?”
“Is there another way?”
She laughed again. “Okay. Ready.” He nodded, so she counted down for three and with a quick push, Logan sent the cork flying through the air.
He quickly poured them a small glass and Amber raised it in a toast. “To the year that was,” she said. “And all of the challenges it brought with it.”
“And the opportunities that followed,” Logan added and raised his glass. “To last year.”
They clinked glasses and drank deeply. The bubbles popped and fizzed on the back of Amber’s throat. “Do you feel better now?”
“So much.” Logan chuckled and tucked the blanket around them a little tighter. “And just in time, too.” He glanced at his watch. “Are you ready for this?”
“For our future?” Amber shivered, but not because of the cold. “I’ve never been more ready.”
“Here we go.” Logan looked straight into her eyes and together they counted down.
“Five…four…three…two…one.”
“Happy New Year, darling.” He whispered the words against her lips before swallowing her own well wishes in a deep kiss.
Overhead, there were pops and booms as the fireworks from town blasted in the night sky, ringing in the new year. Logan and Amber leaned back in their seat to watch the celebration while Logan poured them another small glass of champagne.
This time, Amber knew her toast would be different because as the clock struck midnight, not only had it become a new year, but her ownership of the ranch also became official. She raised her glass. “To new years, new beginnings, new businesses, new relationships, and new starts.”
“That’s a whole lot of newness.” Logan grinned. “How about one more?”
“What’s that?”
“What about a new place to live?” he asked. “For you, I mean. This cabin has never felt more like home since you’ve been here with me. I want to wake up every morning with you next to me. I know it’s not very big, but…”
When Amber had finalized the deal with Ruby, they’d made a special concession that would allow Ruby to keep living on the ranch for up to three years, or until she was ready to move off. It turned out that after she’d gone riding with Logan before Christmas, she was feeling a rekindled connection to the horses and preferred to stay close. Amber had happily agreed. After all, Ruby and her generous dealing had made everything possible. Besides, Logan didn’t mind staying in the cozy cabin.
“Are you asking me to move in with you?” She laughed, suddenly feeling like a kid again. She’d never lived with a man before, and she hadn’t really stopped to consider it as a possibility. But to her surprise, the idea didn’t scare her—not at all.
“That’s exactly what I’m asking you,” he said. “And really, technically it’s your cabin now.”
“No way.” Amber shook her head. “It’s our cabin. Besides, it’s kind of where we began, don’t you think?” She thought about it for a moment. This place, this ranch—it was more than just a place. Everything had changed when she first set foot on the ranch and agreed to talk to Logan’s horse. She’d changed that day. “No,” she amended. “It was when we began. Does that make sense?”
He laughed. “It kind of does, but you know what? Whether it was where, when, or even why we began, it’s just that—the beginning. And you and me,” he reached one hand out of his blanket and laced his fingers through hers, “we’re just getting started.”
There was no disagreeing with that, nor could she disagree when he stood and led her inside to their cabin to start out their new year and new beginning together.
Chapter Twenty-Four
March
* * *
“I still can’t believe you’re moving out.” Drew plopped on Amber’s bed instead of helping her pack. “I mean really moving out.”
“I’m not sure why you can’t believe that.” Amber gave her friend a sideways look. “I’ve only spent one or two nights here since New Year’s. I technically haven’t been living here for the last two months.” She picked up a sweater and folded it before putting it on the top of a pile on the bed. “Besides, we both knew this wasn’t going to be a permanent living situation, right?”
“I guess.” Drew picked up the sweater and held it out to look at it before tossing it next to her on the bed. “But I thought, well…it doesn’t matter. I really am happy for you and Logan.”
Amber picked up the sweater again, folded it and placed it back on the pile. “I know you are,” she said, and meant it. Drew had been nothing but supportive of her relationship and more importantly, of her. “And I really want to thank you, Drew.”
“Thank me?” She moved to grab the sweater again, but Amber picked up the entire pile
and dropped it into a box. “For what?” She shot Amber a look.
“For everything.” She sat down on the bed across from her friend. “Mostly for letting me live here with you and Austin to help you out when you needed it.”
“Oh my God, Amber. I should be thanking you for that. You saved me.” She shook her head. “I don’t know if I could have made it through those first few months after losing Eric if you hadn’t been here. You were...you were huge, Amber.” She blinked back tears. “I don’t know how Austin and I would have made it through. Honestly.”
“Sweetie.” Amber reached over and hugged Drew hard and fast. “You would have been fine. You are so much stronger than you think you are.”
Drew sniffed and wiped at her face. “You know, sometimes I think it would be nice to not be strong. I mean, just for a minute.”
“I get that.” Amber laughed and stood again. “But it is what it is and losing Eric was shitty and hard and something I wish you never had to go through, but—”
“It happened.”
“Yes.” Amber nodded thoughtfully. “It happened.”
They were quiet for a few minutes while Amber resumed packing.
“Do you remember what you said on Christmas Day?” Drew asked after a moment. “About second chances?”
Amber stopped, two books in her hand. “I do. It was your idea. Why?”
“I’ve been thinking about that a lot. I mean, what you said about getting a second chance to do your life over again.”
“Well, not really over again, but a chance to do something different with it.” Amber put the books down and examined her friend. “Do you want to do something different? I mean…I guess I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
She knew Drew couldn’t mean that she didn’t want to be a mother or a wife, that she hadn’t loved her life. Or did she?
Beside her, Drew shook her head. “I know it doesn’t really make sense, and I don’t regret for a minute anything I’ve done. I mean, marrying Eric and being a wife and a mother—I wouldn’t give that up for anything. It’s just that…now that’s gone.” She looked as though she might cry, but to Amber’s surprise, no tears fell.
“It’s not gone, Drew. You’re still a mother and you’ll always be Eric’s wife.”
“No,” Drew corrected her. “I’ll be Eric’s widow.” She closed her eyes and dipped her head for a moment before she lifted it. “Don’t get me wrong, that is what it is. But I guess what I’m really saying is that maybe there’s a second chance for me in all this, too? I don’t know if I’m ready yet, or if it’s even going to be a thing. But, watching Cam and Evan find their second chance and Christy and Mark—they got a second chance at their love, too.”
“I didn’t get a second chance at love.”
“Yes, Amber. You did. But your second chance wasn’t just love. It was life.”
Amber wanted to reach out to her friend, hug her, and tell her everything would be okay. But that’s all Drew had heard for the last few months since Eric died, and maybe the time for that was over? Maybe it was time for more?
“Drew? What are you saying?” she asked softly.
She dropped her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes before looking up again. This time when her eyes met Amber’s, there were still tears that shone there, but there was something Amber hadn’t seen in a long time. Hope. “I think that maybe my life didn’t end when Eric died.”
Amber opened her mouth to agree, but Drew stopped her with a gentle shake of her head.
“I mean obviously I’ve always known that, but it’s hard to believe something when your heart has been shattered.”
“I can’t even imagine.”
Drew nodded gently. “So maybe it’s time for my second chance.”
“Or maybe just a new chance?”
“Yes.” Drew smiled. “A new chance. I like that.”
It was then that Amber moved across the bed and pulled her friend into her arms. “I love you, Drew.”
“I love you, too.” Amber could feel the tears soaking her shoulder. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
“Hey.” She pulled back and held Drew out at arm’s length. “I’m moving five minutes away. It’s not like you’ll be rid of me that easily.”
“You know what I mean.” Drew grabbed a t-shirt from a different pile and used it to swat at her. “But I am happy for you. And maybe …”
Amber paused and waited.
“Well, I was thinking that maybe,” Drew continued, “I could come out to the ranch and check out the horses.” She stood quickly and looked away. “I mean…I know they helped—”
“Definitely.” It was a great idea and one that she’d thought of herself once or twice. Logan and the horses would go a long way in helping Drew heal. Amber had just needed Drew to be ready for it. “I think that would be a great idea. And maybe Austin would benefit, too. At the very least, he’d probably enjoy going for a trail ride.” She smiled and Drew laughed.
It wouldn’t be easy, and there was still a lot of healing to be done, but Amber knew in her heart that Drew would be okay.
Amber stood and pulled her friend into a tight hug. “Now, are you going to help me with these boxes or what?”
Drew laughed but before she could answer, her cell phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket and Amber watched as her friend’s eyes lit up. “It’s Evan!”
“And?”
“Cam?” Drew looked at her as if she’d missed something completely obvious, which apparently she had. “The baby?”
“Oh my God,” Amber screeched as it finally hit her. “Answer it!”
“Right.” Drew shook her head and turned her attention to the phone. “Hello?”
“Put it on speaker.”
Drew pushed the button and Evan’s voice filled the room.
“It’s happening. We’re on the way to the hospital.”
“Right now?” Amber looked at Drew. “I thought her due date wasn’t until the twenty-eighth. It’s too early.”
Drew laughed. “It’s only two weeks early. It’s fine.” Then, to Evan, she asked, “What can we do?”
“Can you come?” Normally so calm and self-assured, Evan sounded frantic and…like a first-time dad. “I’m not sure I know what—”
“We’ll be there,” Drew answered for both of them. “I’ll drop Austin off at my parents’ and we’ll meet you there. Right, Amber?”
Amber looked at her stack of half-packed boxes. She was supposed to move later tonight. But it could wait, because clearly Cam’s baby wasn’t about to.
“As if we’d be anywhere else,” she said. “Stay calm, Evan. You’ve got this.”
It was a good thing that Amber didn’t have a lot of things from her old life in San Francisco. She’d always been so busy working that she hadn’t bothered to actually collect a lot of stuff and things she did have were mostly donated when she moved back to Timber Creek.
Either way, Logan still felt as if he’d been carrying boxes into their tiny cabin for hours.
“That was it,” she announced right as Logan put the box he’d been carrying onto a stack behind the couch. “I’m officially all moved in.”
“Well, I don’t know about all.” He put his arms around her. “I think you have a bit of unpacking to do.” He kissed her easily on the tip of her nose. “But as for officially? Definitely. And it’s about time, too.”
She wiggled out of his grip and winked at him. “Hey,” she said. “It’s not my fault Theo made his appearance early. And,” she continued, “it’s also not my fault he’s so stinkin’ cute that I couldn’t stop cuddling him.”
Logan laughed. Cam and Evan’s baby was pretty cute, which is something he never thought he’d even think, let alone say out loud. But he had. A few times. Maybe one day…
“Okay,” he said, not letting his brain go down the rabbit hole that was the future. “It wasn’t your fault and it doesn’t matter anyway because now you’re here.” He pulled her back in for another k
iss. He’d never get tired of having his arms around her and having his lips on hers.
Logan held her for a few minutes longer, unwilling to let her go despite the fact that he knew she wasn’t going anywhere. Except maybe outside to the building site where they were supposed to be meeting the general contractors in only a few minutes.
The building site.
Logan didn’t think he’d ever get tired of hearing those words. After Amber officially took possession of the ranch and they signed the documents leasing him the land and buildings for Taking the Reins, the real work began and in the last eight weeks, they’d both been busy.
Plans had been drawn up for a lodge building that would house private bedrooms, a large kitchen, and general meeting rooms. It wasn’t huge, but there was the potential to expand at a later date and it would be big enough that they could start taking on clients almost as soon as the build was completed. After all the planning stages, it was finally time to see exactly where the building was going to go.
Everything was about to get very real.
“Are you ready for today?” Amber asked, as if she’d read his thoughts. “It’s going to be pretty incredible.”
The fact that she totally understood the magnitude of the day made him love her even more. “It is going to be incredible. Even more than it already is. I mean, now I have you officially.” She giggled as he tried to kiss her again.
“Silly boy. You’ve had me from the moment you met me.”
That wasn’t true and they both knew it, but he kissed her anyway. “As for the center, I am more than ready to break ground. Should we get going?”
They hadn’t wanted to make a huge deal about the ground-breaking ceremony for Taking the Reins Treatment Center, at least not at first. But when their friends and family heard the good news, they’d all insisted on being there and of course they’d relented, because as Amber had said, “It’s important to celebrate all the things, especially the ones that changes lives. Either yours, or someone else’s.”