Forever Starts Now

by London, Stefanie

  “Yeah, I’ll come visit.” For a moment, Ethan was a little choked up. “Hey uh, since you’re in the city I assume you’re not driving all the way back home tonight? Maybe we should go to the pub and get a beer.”

  “I’d really like that.” Ivan smiled.

  As Ethan locked up his former home in Melbourne for the very last time, it was like something clicked into place. Like a string had been cut, or a shackle had been unlocked. The mystery of his father had been solved, and yet a hollowness had been following him around these past weeks.

  That was because Ethan had been looking for something that might fill the hole his mother had left behind—not only in her passing, but in his assumption that she’d denied him his true family. Only she hadn’t. She’d given him a family in the best way she knew how, by finding a man who loved and provided and tried to love him back.

  Was it perfect? No.

  But that was life—making mistakes and then making amends, trying something and failing and then trying again. Ethan walked down the apartment hallway, his steps falling in time with Ivan’s, and both of them lost in deep contemplation.

  The ball was in Ethan’s court, now. Would he continue on like a wounded bull, angry at what could have been? Or would he take that bull by the horns and make sure that what was to come fulfilled him in every way?

  He could have the family he desired—one of his own making, one that might span multiple countries, one that might not be perfect but was full of love. And that all started with putting his ego to one side, like Ivan said.

  The very next thing would be telling the woman who’d stolen his heart exactly how he felt about her.

  …

  When Ethan pulled into Forever Falls a week later, he almost didn’t recognize the place. Gone were the dirty snow drifts and bare trees and people huddling in their coats to protect themselves from the gusty coastal wind. In spring, Forever Falls transformed into a postcard. Trees full of bright green leaves lined Main Street. The sky was blue, but it must have rained overnight, because the pavement was wet in patches and a few people were wearing brightly colored gumboots over their jeans and carrying equally bright umbrellas at their sides.

  There were more people around and the town had lost some of its sleepy vibe, matching the vibrancy of the sky and the flora. He parked his rental car along the side of the road and got out in front of the Sunshine Diner. A sign in the window told him that new management had taken over.

  Monroe’s boss must have sold after all.

  He pushed through the front door and a familiar face greeted him. Darlene broke into a big smile. “Now that is a face we haven’t seen in some time!”

  Big Frank emerged from the kitchen and also smiled, carrying a load of fresh baked rolls that he was distributing to the tables. “Hey, nice to see you.”

  At the table closest to him, two women stared with their mouths hanging open. “Wait a minute. Is that Chris—?”

  “No!” Big Frank and Darlene said at the same time and Ethan burst out laughing.

  “I’m sorry to come in and not order anything, but I was hoping to speak to Monroe if she’s around.” He hoped they wouldn’t go too hard on him, but neither one of them seemed to hold any animosity.

  “I’m afraid Monroe doesn’t work here anymore,” Darlene said.

  The wind was knocked out of him, and Ethan’s shoulders sagged. What if he’d lost her? What if she’d gone somewhere else and—

  “You’ll need to head down to her cake shop.”

  “Her cake shop?” Joy spread through him like sunshine, and he couldn’t help the beaming smile spreading across his lips. “Really? She did it?”

  “She sure did. If you want, I can give you the address?”

  But a penny dropped that made him smile even harder. “You know what, don’t worry about that. I know exactly where she is.”

  He waved goodbye to the confused faces of the Sunshine Diner employees and customers, and then he headed back out into the fresh air. He had one chance to make an impression on Monroe—one chance to make things up to her and to show her that she’d made an impact not only on his life, but on him as a person.

  For the entire duration of the flight from Australia, he’d thought about her. Perhaps Monroe was the point of his year-long journey after all—because he’d been looking for family and he’d found it. Only, it wasn’t his father who’d given him that family. It was Monroe.

  And he loved her.

  He’d thought about it as he sat awake staring into the darkened cabin of the QANTAS Boeing 747 while his neighbors slept. Of course he loved her. She was everything that he believed love should be—resilient, tough but kind, protective, loyal. Add to that a physical attraction that burned brightly between them and he’d fallen so quick he didn’t even know he was over the edge of the cliff until he hit the rocky bottom below.

  She surprised him in the best ways possible and she’d proven to be the kind of person who was invested in her own growth and betterment, which was something Ethan believed in.

  He loved her.

  And she’d finally taken the plunge to realize her own talents and potential. A simple “I’m sorry” wasn’t going to cut it.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The next day…

  Monroe had been in her new shop for a week now. No longer a place of bad memories, the space had been turned into a sweet-tooth’s dreams. With the help of some investment from Mr. Sullivan, a forthcoming small business grant and plenty of hours of elbow grease over the last month from her sisters, their partners, Darlene and Big Frank’s entire family, Some Like it Sweet’s brick and mortar store was officially open for business.

  Early morning sunlight streamed in through the front windows, casting a buttery light over the cake cabinet and register. Monroe flipped the sign on the door to say they were open and made her way behind the counter to get back to work on her current commission.

  Loren breezed in from the back room, a pink apron tied over a blue and yellow floral dress. The customized aprons had been a gift from Loren, on the proviso that she be able to work a few shifts a week while Harlow and Jesse were in daycare, and the other girls were at school. Monroe was more than happy for the help.

  “Looking good. The pink really suits you,” Monroe said.

  “Thanks. I’m glad you decided to go with pink in the logo instead of purple. It suits my skin tone much better.” Loren grinned.

  “Yeah, that’s totally why I chose it.” Monroe rolled her eyes, but laughed as she worked.

  The front door opened and two women in their twenties strolled in, ooh-ing and aahh-ing over the desserts in the front counter. Monroe had decided to expand beyond making event cakes to have a small selection of “single serve” cakes and confections, too. Today they had her “cupcakes for breakfast” cupcakes, which were a healthier cake chock full of nuts, raisins and honey topped with a maple coconut creme. It was one of her most popular recipes from Sugar Coated.

  Alongside those were chunky white chocolate and sea salt cookies, birthday cake cookie balls and mini cupcakes in her three standard flavors—vanilla, chocolate, and choc mint.

  “This stuff looks amazing!” one of the girls said.

  Loren served them with her usual friendly style, leaving Monroe to work on her birthday cake order. They’d set the cake making station up with a big open window between the kitchen and the front, so on days where Monroe worked alone, she could easily see into the front of the shop to go out and help people.

  The front door swung open and two more people came in, then another woman with a small child holding her hand. In minutes, the line for the counter was three deep.

  Huh?

  Monroe abandoned her cake and went out front to help Loren, busying herself with chatting to the customers as more poured through the door. In the first half hour of opening, they’d sold thr
ough half their daily inventory.

  “What is going on?” Monroe said as it finally slowed for a minute.

  Loren shrugged, looking equally perplexed. “Apparently you hit on the exact thing Forever Falls was missing?”

  “I wish. A business doesn’t boom like this without reason.” She went out the back to thaw out some extra cookie dough, so even if they ran out of some of the fiddlier items at least she could keep throwing cookies in the oven.

  More people came into the store and Monroe worked at twice her usual speed, getting more treats into the ovens and even whipping up another batch of mini cupcakes in between helping people. Thankfully the birthday cake needed to sit in the fridge for a while anyway, to let the layers set.

  By lunchtime, she and Loren were run off their feet and the cake display was barren. Another batch of cookies was coming up, but it needed to cool for a few minutes to firm up so they wouldn’t crumble in being transported out of the kitchen.

  Yet another customer wandered into the store. “Wow, are you guys sold out of everything already?”

  “We’ve got some white chocolate cookies coming in a few minutes if you’re willing to wait,” Monroe offered with a smile.

  “Sure.” The woman, who was dressed like she worked in an office and who looked vaguely familiar, peered into the glass cabinet containing the premade six- and ten-inch cakes. “Actually, I’ll grab one of the smaller vanilla strawberry layer cakes if they’re not on hold for another customer.”

  “Of course! Good choice, too,” Loren said with a wink. “That’s my favorite one.”

  “A colleague of mine is having her birthday tomorrow, so I thought it might be nice to surprise her. She’s a huge Chris Hemsworth fan, so knowing that she’s getting a cake from a bakery he recommended will be a huge kick.”

  Monroe stopped in her tracks, almost screeching to a halt. “Say that again?”

  “Chris Hemsworth, you know the Australian actor? Blond hair, dreamy blue eyes—”

  “Oh, I know who he is.” Monroe nodded. “He recommended my bakery?”

  “Uh-huh.” The woman smiled.

  “Holy crap.” Loren blinked and then clamped a hand over her mouth. Wow, if Loren said a word like “crap” she must have been shocked. Only, it wasn’t shock over the likelihood of an actual celebrity recommending her bakery. More likely it was that a certain doppelgänger had something to do with it.

  “Here, I’ll show you.” The woman dug her phone out of her bag and turned it toward Monroe.

  There was a picture with the woman, a friend, and what appeared to be Chris Hemsworth dressed in a very familiar Thor outfit.

  “That’s not the real Chris Hemsworth, I’m sorry to say.” Monroe handed the phone back.

  “Oh, I know.” The woman winked. “But how you found someone who looks exactly like him—with the accent and everything—to dress up and hand out flyers is wild. It was enough to have me coming down here right away to check out your bakery. I work in marketing, actually, and this plan is genius!”

  Monroe blinked. Ethan was dressed up and handing out flyers?

  “Where did you say you saw him?” Monroe asked, already taking off her apron.

  “Oh, he was down by the town square.”

  “Think you can manage if I duck out for a few minutes?” Monroe asked Loren, who nodded. “Just take the cookies out when the timer goes off and give them at least five minutes to cool before you bag them up. Throw in an extra one on the house as well.”

  The customer’s face lit up. “Thank you.”

  Monroe whipped off her apron and grabbed her purse, then she headed outside. The town square was a small space paved with cobblestones, and was flanked by a local government office, the Forever Falls tourism center, and a small office building. In the middle stood a large tree and the Goldie statue that Monroe had shared with Ethan on their day out together.

  Sure enough, he was standing next to it in full Thor getup and there was a crowd of people around him. He was taking photos and handing out colorful pieces of paper, smiling and chatting with the townsfolk. For a moment, she could only watch. His broad frame filled out the costume to perfection and this time he had his muscular arms out which, even now, made her mouth run dry.

  But it wasn’t his handsome face, intense blue eyes, or cut physique that held her attention beyond the initial glance. No, it was his energy. He seemed…lighter, somehow. Happier.

  Monroe walked over to the group with her hands on her hips. “What exactly is going on here?”

  Ethan looked over to her and if he was surprised to see her, he didn’t show it one bit. When he smiled, Monroe had to stop her knees from going weak. “Making sure the good folks of Forever Falls know where to indulge their sweet tooth.”

  “Oh you’re the Sugar Coated lady!” One girl, who looked to be about sixteen, turned to Monroe. “That’s so cool. I used to watch that show every night with my mom.”

  “Here.” Ethan thrust a flyer into her hand. “You and your mother should go visit Monroe at her store and then you’ll get to see how great her baking is in person.”

  “I will!” The girl scampered off.

  “Did you…make these on your own?” Monroe plucked a flyer from his hand. It was gorgeously designed, featuring Some Like It Sweet’s logo and all the correct information, including opening hours and their website.

  “I may have had a little help from a friend back home who’s a graphic designer, but we printed them up at the inn.”

  “We?” Monroe raised an eyebrow.

  “Lottie and me.”

  Monroe shook her head, words escaping her. “Why?”

  “Because I realized that I made a grave mistake.” Ethan took a step toward her. “And that was letting my ego and my pride get in the way of my decision-making.”

  “And how did you come to that conclusion?”

  “I spoke with my dad, back home. We cleared the air over some beers and I got the full story about how everything happened from his side. It put a lot of things into perspective. Namely, that the very thing I’d been looking for all this time was family.” He bobbed his head. There were a few people standing by, watching curiously, but that didn’t deter Ethan. “And you were right, family isn’t just blood. It’s the people you choose to bring into your life, the relationships you build because they lift you up and make you a better person.”

  “What does that have to do with my bakery?”

  “Nothing. But it has everything to do with you, Monroe. You’re that person for me—the person who lifts me up and makes me a better man. You’re the person I want to bring into my life.”

  For a moment, there was a whirring in Monroe’s mind so loud she was sure this whole thing was a dream. Or a hallucination. Maybe she’d gone too long without eating and the sugar fumes from making buckets of frosting was getting to her.

  “But, I thought…”

  “That I was stubborn and pig-headed and maybe a little bit of a dickhead?”

  “I mean, I wouldn’t use that word but…yeah.” She laughed, and shook her head. “I knew you were hurting and you had a lot of things to work through. Trust me, I get that. I’ve been there.”

  “Past tense.” Ethan reached for her hand. “That’s good to hear.”

  “It feels good, too,” she said softly.

  “I still have a lot of things to work through and yeah, I’ll probably be hurting a while. But when I went back to Australia and looked at what my life used to be, I realized I had been chasing all the wrong things, even before my mother’s bombshell. I spent my whole adult life clawing my way up the corporate ladder to prove something to my dad, and I was chasing career accolades and a big shiny house to prove something to myself.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with dreams,” she replied.

  “True, but dreams should come from within. They sh
ouldn’t be about making other people think highly of you.” Ethan tugged her closer, his blue eyes boring right into her. “When I came here and spent time with you, I felt like for the first time in my whole life I could just be myself. I wasn’t trying to prove anything to you, or Lottie, or anyone else here. I’ve never had so much fun as the time I spent with you, learning about you and your family and this town, and helping Lottie fix up the inn.”

  Her heart skipped a beat, hope gathering steam like a flame drawing oxygen to grow. “You’re back? For good?”

  “I want to get to know the place my birth father called home.” He nodded. “And I want to make a family of my own. I want to take control of the thing that’s always been missing, and I can’t see any other future but the one with you in it.”

  Monroe wasn’t sure what to say—her heart was thumping like a rabbit’s foot and her brain was waving red flags. Conflicted didn’t even begin to cover it, but not because she was unsure of her feelings for Ethan—those were rock solid—but her fear of being discarded still lurked below the surface. What if he left again? What if he decided he wanted to go back to Australia and she had the same issues as before?

  He’s worth the risk.

  “Monroe, the entire time I was on my flight out of here I knew something was wrong. I could feel it in my gut. I missed you the second I boarded the plane. I thought about nothing but you for hours as everyone slept around me.” He brought one hand up to her face and brushed his thumb over her cheek. “I messed up in leaving you but I had to close that loop.”

  “Even though it hurt like hell, I understand why you did it. I guess I closed my own loop too,” she said. “I am now officially divorced. For real, this time.”

  “That’s wonderful. Everything is out in the open now. No more lies, no more secrets, no more searching.”

  Could she really believe him? “How can you be sure?”

  “Because I found that piece of my life that was missing. I found it here in this town, with you. I want to build a life, Monroe. A life with all the right things and that’s full of love and…” He sucked in a breath. “I want it to have meaning. I don’t just want to be some guy in a suit chasing the next bonus, you know? I want to build something with people I care about and provide for future generations. I want to learn from the mistakes my parents made and I want to forgive them, too.”