by Alison Ryan
“Okay, Sarah, I’m here. At some bar called The Side Pocket. Where are you? Some guy here named Hunt refuses to tell me anything! He’s a dick!”
Oh, sweet Jesus. Aspen Rivers was in Montana?
Montana was where I might have belonged, but I still had a life and a career in L.A. to take care of. And despite my love and desire for Hayes, I knew I still wanted my professional life too. Not as much as I wanted him, but I was determined to somehow make it work.
At least until the baby’s due date was closer.
Yep. You heard that right. Hayes Calloway got this Montana girl knocked up. We found out at the tail end of October. I’d spent the last couple of months doing nothing but having sex with Hayes, so it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise.
I’d been feeling sick for the last couple of days when it hit me that I should probably take a test.
And two pink lines changed everything.
Or at least, they started something.
Oh yeah, we also decided to get married… fast. A week after we found out about the baby, we thought… why wait? We’d already waited long enough to figure out we were meant to be together.
In this life and the next.
Neither of us wanted anything big. But we did want it to be meaningful.
Rick Calloway is a man of many resources, and it just so happens, he’s an ordained minister.
Only Rick.
“When did you get ordained?” Hayes asked the night we told Rick and Hayes’ brothers about the baby and about our desire to get hitched as soon as possible.
“A couple years back,” he replied. “Over the Internet. I just thought it might come in handy someday. Sounds like I was right.”
Hayes laughed. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re always full of surprises, Uncle Rick.”
He winked. “You have no idea.”
Aspen couldn’t believe there wasn’t a Ritz Carlton or at least a Hilton in Whitmer.
“Don’t other famous people come here to vacation?” she asked me as we settled down on worn stools at The Side Pocket. Aspen had shown up the day before my wedding to Hayes was supposed to happen.
As usual, she intruded at the most inconvenient of times.
“This is Whitmer, not Big Sky,” I replied. “Most of the world has no idea this town even exists.”
Aspen looked around at the rough-edged men surrounding us. “How the hell did Sarah Acres get from this to Hollywood?”
I smiled. “You know better than anyone how that story begins.”
She grinned. “True. And you’re the only person in the world who knows my origin. For the most part.”
It was true. The world knew Aspen Rivers had been discovered in a mall somewhere in the south. They didn’t know the rest of the story. And it was a doozy.
Maybe for another time.
But I couldn’t think about Aspen at the moment. I had a baby on the way, a wedding the next day… And decisions to make about the future.
“So,” I said as I sipped my water out of a frosted beer mug. “How would you feel if I told you I might be retiring?”
Aspen’s eyes widened. “I would say hell no! You can’t! Not now! I need you more than ever!”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I want to keep working. I love my job. But I love Hayes more. I love Whitmer more than L.A., something I never thought I would say. I have more money than I’ll ever know how to spend. I have a baby on the way… How can it all work?”
Aspen shook her head. “We live in a world where you don’t have to be in L.A. to do what you do. Or, at least you don’t have to be there that often. Or how about this? Drop everyone else on your roster and just keep me. That way I get you all to myself. See? Problem solved. Win - win!”
I laughed. “It’s actually not the worst idea in the world. I don’t know. I guess I have some time.”
Aspen patted my belly. “All kidding aside, I’m so happy. I’ve never felt such a positive energy force coming from you. You’re clearly in your Zen place. Even if I don’t understand the allure, I also know there’s no place like home.”
I nodded. “Now that’s the damn truth.”
Autumn was here on the day I married Hayes Calloway.
There was a chill in the air, and the mountains were dusted with an early snowfall, so getting married outside probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but it was the closest I could get to Kevin being there for my big day.
Everyone could put up or shut up.
I wore my momma’s wedding dress. It was a simple white sheath with a light pink shawl around my shoulders. It wouldn’t be gracing the covers of Vogue or Elle, but it made me feel beautiful.
Hayes wore a suit! And he was clean-shaven! He’d always been stubbly, ever since our junior year in high school, and seeing him like this made him look younger and, impossibly, even more handsome. He looked uncomfortable as hell in the suit, but it looked so damn good on him, I wanted to rip it off his body right there under that cottonwood in our backyard.
The pregnancy hormones had me hornier than a toad in heat. Hayes didn’t mind one single bit.
Momma and Daddy stood by my side, hand in hand.
Daddy had been back from rehab about two weeks. He made me so proud and he was already starting to look like the Daddy I used to know. He and Momma are like newlyweds, constantly touching and hugging. Nothing makes me happier than seeing them the way I always remembered them. Their love was the reason I knew how to love at all, the reason I knew forever-love even existed.
As we stood under the tree, with its last few red and yellow leaves swirling around us in the wind, waiting for Rick to show up to marry us, I stared down at Kevin’s gravestone. I had insisted he be here for this and Momma cried when I told her I wanted to get married by Kevin’s final resting place. We’d decorated it with lilies and daisies, my favorite flowers.
I could feel his presence, more than I ever had before. Somehow, I knew he was bearing witness to this, and that one day we would all see each other again. Kevin’s goodness was too big to ever die. It lived on in me and in the life Hayes and I had created together.
Children are just another piece of the people we lose. That’s the beauty of them and the beauty of me being blessed enough to carry Hayes Calloway’s child. This baby would be a piece of his momma come back. And a piece of my brother.
Somehow, this is what made the pain bearable. Knowing that it wasn’t forever, and that love never died. It was passed on through the ones left behind.
“Baby,” Hayes said, as I wiped away tears. “Why are you crying already?”
He held my hands, concern all over his handsome face.
I smiled. “I’m just so happy. I can’t believe this is my life and that I was lucky enough you gave me a second chance. That you waited around for me at all.”
He kissed me softly. “There’s no second chances. You were always the only chance I had at happiness. I’m just glad you came back around. Would have been a lonely life out here without you.”
He held me for a while as our families started gathering. Momma, Daddy, and Aspen were on my side. His brothers were on his. Belle acted as my maid of honor and Hunt and Huck both played best man.
Rick finally sauntered up wearing blue jeans and cowboy boots. He wore a western shirt with a bolo tie. I rolled my eyes.
“Don’t dress up on my account,” I said, smirking.
“I shined my boots,” Rick said. “You know you must be special for me to do that.”
Everyone laughed as Hayes and I clasped hands and said our vows under a nearly leafless cottonwood tree and a clear, perfect Montana sky. The snowcapped mountains made a perfect backdrop.
As a breeze blew through, I swore I could hear his voice.
Don’t you know, Sarah? You’re the only girl I love. You and Momma.
He was there. He always would be. My grief would be too, because he’d be missed for the rest of my life. But Kevin wanted me to be happy. The best thing about my brother was that he
’d cared more about others than he ever did about himself. He wanted and needed me to have closure. To finally live out my life the way it was always meant to be lived.
And it was a relief to finally let go.
THE END
This concludes HAYES but you will see all of these characters in HUNT, coming this spring! Aspen Rivers and Hunt Calloway… what happens when a movie star falls for a Montana Mountain Man? Find out soon! And to hear about the release of HUNT and other Alison Ryan books, sign up for my newsletter. Or join my reader group, The A Team: Alison Ryan’s Racy Readers.
Acknowledgments
I am fortunate enough to have some amazing author friends. I couldn’t have gotten through this book without them: Jenn, Linsey, Jennifer, Dan, Boyd, and Wayne… I am so fortunate that NINC brought all of you into my life. Long live the Tiki Hut! And Fabio!
As always I have to send so much love to my sisters in romance: Abby, Frankie, and Cady. I love you all so much. Can’t wait to see what 2017 brings us.
And to Book Boyfriend Central and The A Team: y’all are the reason I write at all. Thank you for being the most amazing group of women and readers a girl could ever ask for.
And as always… Greg. This is all for you and because of you. It’s your love that makes me recognize the very definition of the word. You are my always.
About the Author
Alison Ryan is a romance author who lives with her husband and sons in a southern kind of heaven. She loves books about love, watching too much Bravo, and good bourbon. Not always in that order.
In her former life she has been all of the above: a Las Vegas limo driver, an insurance adjuster, an American Idol reject, a repo woman, and a graveyard front desk clerk at a dilapidated motel on the shores of the Redneck Riviera. (Panama City Beach) Her 20's were a fun, but exhausting time.
She is quite happy to be pretty boring in her 30's.
For news on her newest releases and giveaways sign up for her newsletter.
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