The Path To Us: A Single Parent Romance

by Jennifer Van Wyk

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Did we interrupt something?”

  I smile at Richard and pull him close. “Nah. But we’ve got a surprise for you and Zoey’s anxious to give it to you. It was all her idea,” I say and glance down at her to see her mouth drop open.

  “It was not!”

  “You’ll be wishing it was after he sees it.”

  She grumbles something that sounds a lot like, “We’ll see about that.”

  Noah already knows about the house we were planning to build for him and gave his full support, agreeing with Addy and me.

  “A surprise for me?” Richard loves gifts and surprises. He loves giving them equally as much.

  “Yup!” Cruz shouts. “Come on! Follow me!”

  He turns us toward Richard’s new house and points.

  “What’s this?” Richard asks, walking gingerly.

  “It’s yours!” Cruz, my little sidekick shouts.

  “What?” Richard sounds stunned but not upset.

  I lift Drydon and turn to face him. “We want you closer by.”

  “What?” he asks again.

  “It’s your new house, Pop,” Addy tells him. “No more duplex.”

  “Does this mean I’m the mother-in-law?” His eyes twinkle when he asks, proving that he’s partially teasing. I hadn’t thought of it, but it is like a mother-in-law house.

  “It means that you’re our family and we want you living here. What do you think?”

  His eyes fill with tears and Zoey’s grow wide.

  “Richard?” I get closer to him and lower my voice. “You don’t have to live here if you don’t want it. But we want you here whenever you’re ready.”

  “You did this for me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Can you show me the house, Zoey?”

  “Are you upset?”

  “No,” he tells her, reaching for her hand and patting the back of it. “No, I’m not upset. I’m overwhelmed.”

  “In an upset way?”

  He looks at me and I explain, “She was afraid that you would be upset that we did this without asking you first.”

  “Not in an upset way,” he confirms.

  Zoey walks him to the house, showing him around the small space.

  I stand back and watch my family from the doorway to the tiny house thinking I’m one lucky son of a bitch.

  Bonus Scene

  Want more Beau, Addy and Zoey? Click here for a bonus scene:

  https://BookHip.com/HNJQQW

  Acknowledgments

  God put me on this earth and has truly blessed me with more than I’m deserving of. He gave me the desire to write stories and for endless ideas to roll around in my head. He will always get the first thank you because He is my Ultimate. Thank you, God, for everything.

  My family. Wooooowee it was a rough few months. The first six months of 2020 are ones we will never forget. But we’re not alone in that and I pray we never forget that, either. You are my favorite people ever and I’m so lucky I get to call you mine. And one thing the last six months taught us, is that we actually like each other! Score! Love you. You’re the best out there. And a special shout out to my oldest. My 16 year old maniac who gave me all the gray hair after wrecking his dirt bike and breaking his body… thank you for helping me plot The Path to Us. I ran into your bedroom and said “I have an idea!” and you didn’t roll your eyes or get annoyed with me. Thank you, buddy.

  Jill. You’re my girl and I can’t imagine a world without you. I’m so grateful to have your friendship but also your help. I love you!

  My southern pumpkin. My Kate. You. Are. Incredible. Thank you for everything. For creating beautiful covers and graphics, for being my sounding board. For being my friend.

  Amie and Maria. I wouldn’t want to be distracted by anyone else. Thank you for being there for me!

  So many others who might be authors, peers in this book world, but they’re so much more. Friendship — true friendship — doesn’t come easy as adults. Finding your people who you can trust is something to be treasured. Thanks for being my people. I hope you know who you are.

  Ladies who go through The Walk with me, thank you. One of my favorite places to be with some of the best people.

  Jennifer’s Java Girls and KU For You groups are two of my homes on social media and part of the reason for that is because of the readers. I love our low key, no drama fun.

  Julie – you have such a great eye and I’m so grateful to have you! Thank you.

  Kaitie. Thanks for being my friend and always checking in and offering to help.

  Bloggers and Bookstagrammers. Your work is endless and doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you for working so hard to promote us and offering your support.

  This year more than ever we need to thank our education system. It was not easy and I’m the first to admit that my kids epically failed at distance learning but their teachers offered support and help in monumental ways. Thank you for loving our children, for working your tails off, and for taking a weird situation better.

  And finally, you, the readers. Last but definitely not least. I am humbled daily by your support of my small town romances and appreciate you more than you’ll ever know.

  I love to hear from you!

  Help me out?

  Did you enjoy your time spent with The Path To Us? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Reviews are so vital for authors. They not only help other readers decide whether or not to pick up a book, they also help us improve our craft. If you are able, I’d love for you to leave a quick review on Amazon, Goodreads and/or BookBub. It doesn’t need to be long or detailed – short and sweet works just as great!

  Thank you so much!

  Blogger List

  Are you a Book Blogger or Bookstagrammer?

  I love living in a world where blogging and gramming our love for books is a thing. If you are a blogger, bookstagrammer, or spend time on Pinstagrammer (I totally just made up that word), I’d love to have you sign up for my master blogger list. Don’t worry — I won’t hound you constantly. This is a way for me to reach you when I have updates and keep in touch.

  JVW Blogger List

  About the Author

  From the Ground Up was Jennifer’s first published novel and now that she was bitten by the writing bug, has no intention of ever stopping. Jennifer makes her home in small town Iowa with her high school sweetheart, three beautiful, hilarious and amazing kids, one crazy Jack Russell terrier. This is where her love for all things reading, baking, and cooking happen. Jennifer’s family enjoys camping, boating, and spending time outside as much as possible. You'll be her best friend if you can make her laugh and follow up with asking her what to read next. When she’s not writing, you can find her cheering the loudest at her kids’ sporting events (read as: embarrassing them), sipping coffee or iced tea out of a mason jar with her Kindle in her lap or binging on Netflix.

  Follow her

  Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/dcTJKf

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  Website: https://www.jennifervanwykauthor.com

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorJenVW

  Other Books By Jennifer Van Wyk

  From the Ground Up (Barrett & Tess Ryan):

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/from-the-ground-up/

  A Better Place (James & Carly):

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/a-better-place/

  Feels Like Home (Andy & Christine):

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/feels-like-home/

  Waiting For Her (Grady & Bri):

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/waiting-for-her/

  All I Need (Wal
ker & Ellie):

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/all-i-need/

  Gone For You (Ethan & Olivia):

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/gone-for-you/

  Falling For You (Rex & Chloe):

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/falling-for-you/

  Staying For You (Owen & Cami):

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/staying-for-you/

  I’m Yours (Reed & Sadie)

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/im-yours

  The Other Guy: A Textdoor Neighbor Romance

  https://jennifervanwykauthor.com/the-other-guy

  Coming Soon

  What’s coming up?

  I am currently working on three incredible stories and feel inspired every day to write all three.

  Together: A Surprise Baby Romance

  You can add it to your TBR here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54422694-together

  Together is the story of two broken hearts who get the surprise of a lifetime after spending a night together trying to forget.

  One Night Forever: A single parent second chance romance

  You can add it to your TBR here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54422782-one-night-forever

  Twenty years ago, they were stranded in a hotel while a blizzard kept their flights landed. It was a night neither would ever forget. They thought they’d never see each other again but Fate had other plans.

  A Love Like Ours: A married couple romance

  Add it to your TBR here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54422729-a-love-like-ours

  People envy a love like ours.

  So much so, that we’ve made a career out of teaching others’ how to have it. Hundreds of relationships have been repaired at our exclusive mountain resort.

  The Last Resort lives up to its namesake for couples looking to salvage their marriages. Together, we counsel, guide, and encourage our guests. Our success rate? One hundred percent.

  The only problem is... somewhere along the way, we stopped listening to our own advice. And pretending has become exhausting. Is it even worth it anymore?

  Maybe it’s best not to envy a love like ours.

  I’m Yours Preview

  Reed - 18 Years Old

  “You know how much I hate it when you talk about yourself like this,” I growl, not allowing myself to look at her, instead squinting my eyes and focusing on the moonlight shining down on the pond in front of us. I grip the edge of the tailgate of my pickup we’re both sitting on. If I do, I’ll want to hold her and she’s made it clear I’m not allowed to do that. At least not in the romantic sense. Sure, she’ll let me hold her hand or drape an arm over her shoulder, as long as it’s friendly. Sadie Jones is everything to me, but she won’t accept what I want to give. Since the first time I laid eyes on her, I knew I wanted her as my girlfriend. But, the most she’s been willing to give is friendship and I’ll take whatever she’s willing to give me.

  Her beautiful dark brown eyes have always been haunted from a lifetime of hardness she’s working to overcome. Blonde hair that I’ve never seen her change. Pin straight and down just over her shoulders. I always wonder what she’d look like with it pulled into a ponytail or curled. Shorter or longer. But in a world that’s so often changing on her, it’s one thing she can control. Her mom had moved her and her brother around often. She’d attended eight other schools before they came to Lakeside. Sadie’s friendships were never solid because they didn’t have time to be.

  She’s missed out on so many things in her life because her family didn’t have the money for her to participate. The senior ski trip, attending the homecoming dance, or joining our group of friends when we’d buy tickets to a concert. Hell, she doesn’t even have a computer, internet, cable, or her own cell phone. Any extra money they have goes to food or paying bills. There were a few times where she admitted they didn’t have electricity for a few weeks. No hot water.

  She didn’t come to our senior prom, despite how many times I begged her to be my date. I wanted to offer to buy her a dress because I knew that was why she refused to go, but I also knew she would be offended if I did. Knowing she wouldn’t be there, I didn’t want to go and told Sadie I wasn’t going, but then her eyes filled with tears and her hands fisted at her sides when she said I was supposed to go, and she’d be mad at me if I didn’t. I have no idea why she cared so much. It made no sense then and it still doesn’t.

  So I sucked it up and did what was expected of me — showed up in a tux and accepted my crown as Prom King before sharing a dance with the Prom Queen. The same girl who’d spent the better part of our high school years flirting with me and making it obvious that she wanted a lot more than friendship, and then I escaped as quickly as I could. Before going home that night, I knocked on her bedroom window and the smile she gave me when she pulled back the curtain made my heart clench. She snuck out her window and I caught her as she jumped into my arms. I held her hand tightly in mine and tugged her behind me and hopped in the car, drove, and wished I could have held her hand the entire way and gave her a prom right where we’re sitting now. The place that I’ve come to consider our spot. We slow danced in an empty field of grass and weeds with trees lining the far side and the mountains just beyond while music played softly through the speakers of my mom’s SUV she let me use for the night. It was perfect, but I still wish I’d have gotten to see her in a pretty dress with her hair up. She deserved that, even if she thought differently.

  Sadie shrugs, legs kicking back and forth. She’s sitting on the tailgate of the pickup that my grandparents gave me for high school graduation present a few months ago. It’s not brand new or anything, but the way Sadie reacted when I showed up at her home to take her for a ride, you’d think it was. It also made me feel like a million bucks and like shit at the same time. She was nervous climbing in, kept saying she had never seen such a nice vehicle in all her life and was looking around the small cab in awe. Then she pissed me off when she tried to say that it was too nice “for the likes of her”.

  “I know, but I think you forget the truth too often.”

  “And your truth isn’t truth at all,” I return hotly.

  She sighs and drops her head. Frustrated with me, like usual when I snap at her for thinking I’m too good for her. Or rather, that she’s not good enough for me. In her mind she’s convinced herself that us being friends is, on some level, wrong, as well. It’s an argument we’re well versed in. “Reed…”

  I hold up a hand to stop her and she clamps her lips shut. “Just stop, okay? I can’t hear it again. This skewed version you have of yourself.” I know she can hear the anger in my voice but I can’t help it.

  Sadie blows out a breath and closes her eyes briefly. When she opens them, I’m so glad that they aren’t filled with tears. “Let’s not fight. Not tonight. I just want to sit here and look at the mountains and feel the cold air on our skin. I just need this. To forget about everything.” She points in the direction of town, indicating home. “Forget about what divides us.”

  Irritation pricks at my skin and I want so badly to call her out on mentioning the division again. Instead of telling her she’s wrong, I tell her the ultimate truth. My truth. I turn so I have her attention, her brown eyes colliding with mine. They sparkle with unshed tears. “Sadie, I don’t care that you live in a trailer or that your family is on food stamps.”

  “It’s not just that,” she argues weakly.

  “It is.” I shake my head, scoffing. “You have this crazy idea that there’s this line that’s drawn just because of how much money our families have but you’re forgetting the most important part.”

  We’re both staring out at the incredible landscape around us. I cannot begin to imagine what it would be like to live anywhere but Lakeside, Montana. It has everything that I love most nestled right into this little pocket of paradise. Including Sadie Jones. Flathead Lake alone is enough of a draw and because over sixty years ago my grandfather purchased the ground my family’s summer home now
currently sits on, I’m fortunate enough to walk twenty feet to the crystal clear waters whenever I stay there. The lake might be cold most days, but its beauty makes up for it. For me, it’s the perfect place to live. It has everything an outdoorsy guy like me could ask for, and I take advantage of the Big Montana Sky as often as I can. My grandfather was a cattle rancher and my father joined in with him. The plan is for me to go to college, get a degree in business, and come back and continue the tradition. It’s what I want, not what’s expected of me.

  “You ready for college?” she asks, shifting the focus from her, or us, to me. She purposely doesn’t acknowledge that I was about to tell her what the most important part is. I want to promise her she’ll never lose me. That no matter what differences she sees between us or space that separates us, I will never leave her side. I will always, no matter what, be there for her. What I feel for her matters more to me than what anyone else on this earth thinks of either of us.

  She does this often. Deflects. I hate it. So much so that my fists clench next to my thighs and I feel my hackles rise. Why can’t she see what we could be together?

  “No,” I huff.

  “Why not?”

  Because she’s not joining me and I have no desire to leave here. If I could, I’d stay forever and work at the one gas station in town if it meant that I had her by my side. Of course, she’d have to want more than friendship with me for that to happen. In my mind, it wouldn’t matter if we didn’t have money because we’d have each other and that would be enough. But if I did that, if I sacrificed — her word, not mine — my future for her, she’d never forgive me. She’s told me time and time again that we don’t have a future together.