by Devney Perry
“Do you want me to go lay her down?”
He shook his head. “I’m good. Would you bring me another beer?”
“Sure.” I went to the kitchen for his drink, then brought it back just as Nick joined him on the couch.
“Where’d Gigi go?” I asked Hunter.
“Outside, I think.”
It was freezing cold, and if she was outside, something must be bothering her. “I’ll go check on her.”
He gave me his signature wink, the one that still made my heart skip. “Okay, baby. Love you.”
“Love you too.” I bent down to brush my lips to his smile and then wandered out to the porch. I shivered and rushed to the swing to crawl back under Gigi’s blanket. “Hey. Are you okay?”
She smiled and nodded. “Maybe a little tipsy but otherwise fine. I was just thinking about when Roe and I moved here. That was the beginning of our happy.”
I smiled.
We all had our special places.
For Jess and Gigi, it was the farmhouse.
Nick and Emmeline’s was the chapel where they had gotten married.
For Silas and Felicity, it was their ranch.
Beau and Sabrina would forever cherish the outpost where they had spent their first months together.
And for me, my happy started the day Hunter Faraday walked into The Bitterroot Inn and changed my life forever.
I started writing The Coppersmith Farmhouse in July of 2016. One year later, I finished the last sentence to Hunter and Maisy’s epilogue. There isn’t any other word to describe those twelve months other than surreal. You see, I never dreamed of being a writer. My mother passed down her love of reading to me, but writing? I was the science and math nerd. I found my career in technology. I couldn’t write a book. Could I? Maybe I could. So I started down this path as an experiment. I wrote The Coppersmith Farmhouse, knowing very little about creative writing but determined to finish just one book. Even if it was for my eyes only, I wanted to finish just one book. At the time, I had recently become a stay-at-home mom, abandoning my fast-paced career for cartoons, puzzles and toys. I’ll admit, even though I loved the added time with my boys, I felt a little lost. I was living completely for my kids and hadn’t figured out how to incorporate “me time” into our lives. I’d started to go stir-crazy, needing just a little something for myself, but I didn’t want to jump back into another job that would demand relentless hours and all of my attention. So I started writing, not sure of what I’d find but hopeful it would be the one thing I could do for myself. And I found what I’d been missing. I found my characters. They found me. There is a little piece of me in each of the women in this series, and for what they’ve done to change my life, I will forever be grateful. These books led me to something new. To a place where I had never dreamed I would go. Thank you for taking this journey with me.
Thank you for reading The Bitterroot Inn. I would be nowhere without my amazing readers.
To all of the bloggers and my fellow authors who have helped spread the word about this series, thank you for your incredible support. To Kaitlyn, Jenn, Ana, Karen and all the members of Perry Street, thank you for being the best fangirls I could ever wish for.
Thanks to my proofreader, Julie Deaton, and my formatter, Stacey Blake, for putting the finishing touches on each of my books and making them shine. Thanks to my cover designer, Sarah Hansen, for creating my beautiful and unique covers. To Nazarea at InkSlinger PR for organizing all of my blog tours and release promotions. To Lydia and Shannon at EverAfter Romance for all their expertise and efforts marketing my paperbacks.
Elizabeth Nover, my immensely talented editor, I can’t thank you enough for the many, many hours you put into reading, critiquing and editing my work. For all you’ve taught me this past year, I will be eternally grateful.
And lastly, to my family and friends. Without your love and encouragement, there would be no Jamison Valley series. Thank you for believing in me.
Devney lives in Montana with her husband and two children. After working in the technology industry for nearly a decade, she abandoned conference calls and project schedules to enjoy a slower pace at home with her kids. She loves reading and, after consuming hundreds of books, decided to share her own stories.
www.devneyperry.com
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