by Jess Vonn
Winnie’s eyes grew wide, looking silently at Cal, and he guided her to the quieter privacy of the mudroom with a comforting hand on her hip.
“Bree, what is it? Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
She heard the sigh across the line. Across the miles.
“No, I’m not physically hurt. I will be okay, but I have to get out of here.”
“Out of Chicago?”
“Yes.”
If there was one urge Winnie understood completely, it was the need to flee Chicago. She’d never forget the support Bree gave her to do what she needed to do in her time of need, and she welcomed any opportunity to return it.
“What can I do, Bree? How can I help?”
There was a pause, and then an unexpected answer from the most independent, globe-trotting woman Winnie had ever known.
“Can I come bide some time in Bloomsburo?”
Winnie’s eyes widened as they met Cal’s, whose face showed only concern. Lord, he could even make concern look unreasonably sexy.
“Absolutely. When?”
After Bree answered, Winnie said goodbye, ended the call and oriented herself toward Cal, who was already pulling her into the comfort of his strong embrace.
Home.
“Is she okay?” he asked, pressing a kiss to Winnie’s forehead as he rubbed her back. “She sounded shaken up.”
“I’m not sure. But she’s going to be here tomorrow, so I guess we’ll find out.”
“Tomorrow?” Cal repeated back, surprised, but not upset.
“Is that okay?”
“Whatever you ladies need is fine with me. You two can catch up, and I’ll keep you well fed.”
She squeezed him close, taking comfort in the fact that whatever was coming down the pipeline, Cal would be there to help her navigate it. She also secretly reveled in the realization that all her favorite people in the world would soon be in one zip code.
If Bloomsburo could help Bree sort out her life even half as much as it had helped Winnie, she’d be just fine.
“But in the meantime, how about some of that cake I saw? A Cal creation, I presume?”
Cal nodded, pulled her in for a warm, soft kiss, and then ushered her back into the night. To a celebration of her. Of them.
Of Bloomsburo magic.
Acknowledgements
I never, never, never would have had the courage to publish this book without my incomparable support system.
To the guys on the ground who make my creative work possible day in and day out: George and our four rowdy boys who let me slip away when the muse beckons and accept frozen pizza as a legitimate dinner option way more than might be reasonable.
Thank you to my parents for everything, but particularly your unwavering support and the genetic blessing of your humor. You are always among the very first people I want to tell about anything in my life, and I do realize what a gift that is.
A huge bouquet of thanks to Katie as well as the unparalleled and esteemed members of the Stars Hollow Intellectual Roundtable: for your humor, encouragement, cheerleading, and perfectly-timed gifs. You are my sisters by choice and make every day better.
A word of gratitude for the sage advice of my super talented peers in the New England Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. I promise to pay it forward.
Many thanks to Melissa for your helpful and humorous feedback during the developmental edits for this manuscript, and Rebecca for the recommendation and the very earliest nudge to move this project forward. And thanks to May Kelly’s in North Conway, NH, for showing me how beautiful a restaurant bathroom can be.
And finally, this book is in memory of my two grandmas, the namesakes of the Spencer nieces/fairies: Lu, who, like Rhonda Spencer, always arrived with a basketful of something delicious in hand and a kind word to brighten someone’s day, and (Mary) Rita, the Irish matriarch who always had a paper bag full of romances to share with the rest of us.