My mom has never reached out. Not when I got to appear on Hart & Home on an arc of my own episodes about a year ago. Not when Boone won the World Series with his team as a rookie. Not when our engagement went viral a week ago. And not now, when my own line on Ramona’s decor deal with a giant department store franchise is about to go live.
“There it is!” Boone slaps the counter, and my whole body tingles with excitement and anxiety.
“Oh my God, scroll down.” I want to make sure all of the products are there, and that the pictures look amazing. I’ll go back later and obsess over them, but for now, I want a quick look through.
My fiancé does as he is told, smart man, and when we get to the bottom of the page, he turns around to give me a kiss on the cheek.
“I’m so proud of you.” Those lips go to my neck, and now my body tingles with something else.
It just so happens that Boone has an off day on the exact date of my launch, which I consider fate’s good fortune. He is home all day in our apartment about two blocks from the major league stadium. We still own the house on the outskirts of Austin and have made a promise that we will live there during the summers. Eventually, we’ll end up back there. I renovated and refurbished the thing within an inch of its former life, and it looks fabulous if I do say so myself. I even built Boone a wood-paneled man cave, all dark oak and forest greens. The biggest compliment he’s ever paid me was when he told me that the house reminds him of why he loves Ramona and James’ house so much … it reminds him of a family home. That is exactly what I’d been going for.
“Now let’s just hope it sells.” I hug him hard, hoping that I can bleed some of my anxiety into his thick skin.
“Of course it will. Harper already texted me this morning that she is going to buy one of everything,” Boone assures me.
Harper and Cain are stationed in California now. Cain had gotten drafted our senior year to the team in Los Angeles and had become their starting quarterback last September. They got married in a small ceremony in Haven last March after the season ended. I miss our once a month brunches, but we fly back and forth to see each other often, when Boone and Cain play teams nearby enough for us to justify a trip. At least I have Thea an hour and a half away in Austin, where she is working as an interior decorator for a large hotel chain.
Boone closes the laptop, and I whine. “Hey! I want to watch the sales!”
“We’re not sitting in front of the computer all day, stressing. Plus, it’s my day off. Let’s go do something fun.”
“Like look at wedding venues?” I grin up at him.
“If that will take your mind off of this, then sure.” He shrugs.
I’m a little shocked that he hasn’t fought that suggestion. “Really? I didn’t think you’d want to do wedding stuff anytime soon.”
“I know you’ve been buying wedding magazines since the day I asked you to marry me. I found them hidden in your bedside table.”
It’s a white lie not to tell him that those magazines are from five months before he asked me to marry him, but who’s counting? I’m a woman who knows what she wants.
“I’m not sure I want to get married here though.” I chew my lip, visions of transforming our backyard in Austin into a rustic, floral fairyland dancing in my head.
Boone palms my cheek. “So figure out where you want it to be, and I’ll show up in a tux. All I care about is you coming down that aisle.”
They always say you never forget your high school crush.
Well, in my case, that is true. It just took two awful breakups, a long distance relationship, and six years to show me that my high school crush is the man I was meant to marry.
It’s a good thing that he feels the same. We both made plenty of mistakes, and I’m not foolish enough to think that there won’t be plenty more. But, as I’ll be headed for the altar sometime soon, I think the key to marriage is simple.
We love each other more than we annoy each other. We love each other more than our mistakes.
Acknowledgments
They say it takes a village, and when it comes to writing books, that saying could not be more true.
Thank you to Sarah Hansen for this gorgeous cover, even if I nitpick and ask you to book far after the appropriate timing.
To Marla Esposito, my fairy godmother of grammar, every one of my books would be unintelligible gibberish if not for you.
Jessica Estep and the InkSlinger ladies, but mostly Jessica, you agreed to help me in a time where I felt like I couldn’t handle the enormous task of publishing anymore. The support, advice and hard work you’ve given me is so immensely appreciated, I could kiss you. And probably have, virtually.
To the bloggers who have continued to support me, pimp my books, and read early copies … there are not enough thank you’s in the world. I would not have a career if you didn’t work tirelessly, most of you for no other reason than your love of books, and you truly are amazing.
The incredible readers … you make this community. I am able to do what I love because of you. Simply, thank you.
Cameron, you inspire me to be a better person, a better business woman, a better mother and a set the best example for you I possibly can. Every day, I hope I’m showing you what it takes to be a good human and a powerful woman.
And last but surely not least, to my husband. Thank you for settling for takeout four out of seven days a week so that I can hit deadline. Thank you for running after our babies on the weekends so that I can write. Thank you for forever showing me how a true book boyfriend should act. You’ll always be the hero in the story of my life.
About the Author
Author of romance novels such as Red Card and Privileged, Carrie Aarons writes books that are just as swoon-worthy as they are sarcastic. A former journalist, she prefers the stories she dreams up, and the yoga pants dress code, much better.
When she isn’t writing, Carrie is busy binging reality TV, having a love/hate relationship with cardio, and trying not to burn dinner. She lives in the suburbs of New Jersey with her husband, daughter and dog.
Please join her readers group, Carrie’s Charmers, to get the latest on new books, as well as talk about reality TV, wine and home decor.
You can also find Carrie at these places:
Website
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Amazon
Goodreads
Also by Carrie Aarons
All of my books are currently enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.
Read The Tenth Girl, the standalone first novel featuring Cain and Harper!
Standalones:
Privileged
Elite
Red Card
As Long As You Hate Me
All the Frogs in Manhattan
Save the Date
Melt
When Stars Burn Out
Ghost in His Eyes
On Thin Ice
Kissed by Reality
The Flipped Series:
Blind Landing
Grasping Air
The Captive Heart Duet:
Lost
Found
The Over the Fence Series:
Pitching to Win
Hitting to Win
Catching to Win
You’re the One I Don’t Want Page 18