by Loretta Lost
Liam laughs softly as he bends down to ruffle Snowball’s fur. “Hey, girl!” he says in greeting. “How’s that crazy painter treating you?”
“I’m treating her like the little princess she is,” David says as he walks toward us with a smile. “How’s my favorite couple? And Helen, how is Liam treating you?”
“I can’t complain,” I say as I reach forward to greet David with a hug. “Would you look at you! All grown up and hosting exhibits in Manhattan.”
“It’s a long way from the woods of Pennsylvania, that’s for sure. Metaphorically speaking—it’s not really actually that far. You know what I mean.” David gets flustered as he speaks.
“We should go back there sometime,” Liam says, putting an arm around me. “I never feel as relaxed and peaceful as I did back then, just hanging out in the forest with you two.”
“We’ll have to take the kids,” I tell Liam. “Maybe over summer vacation sometime.”
“Let me know when you’re going, and I’ll be sure to visit,” David says. “I was going through a real rough patch back then, and you really saved my life, Helen. And Snowball, of course.”
Snowball barks in agreement.
“I’ve got to go schmooze with bigwigs now,” David says, “but it means so much to me that you two could make it. You’re one of the few couples here who actually care about the art itself, and not just the prestige that comes with hanging it on your walls.” He rolls his eyes before moving away, and Snowball follows on his heels.
“Look at her,” Liam says in wonder. “All grown up. She was just a squeaky little puppy when we got her.”
“And now we have puppies of our own that are growing up,” I say shyly. “It’s hard to believe that so much has happened. I feel exactly the same.”
Liam reaches out to the side and expertly seizes two glasses of champagne from a waiter’s tray. He hands me one with a smile. “Here’s to us, Helen. Being awesome together.”
I nod and touch my glass to his. “We’ve had a pretty spectacular decade.”
“Let’s make the next one even better,” Liam says, “and then the one after that.”
“That’s a lot of decades,” I inform him teasingly. “I hope you’re going to be able to keep up with me the whole time, old man.”
“I’ll demonstrate how much I can ‘keep up’ with you later, my love.”
THE END
Thank you for reading Clarity! Loretta enjoyed writing these books so much that she wanted to continue the story of Winter and Liam. A new series is now available, following Carmen’s decaying state of mind in the aftermath of losing her husband and being left to raise her baby alone.
Available now: End of Eternity
She married a monster. Now, she has to deal with the crippling consequences...
Carmen Winters thought her life was getting better.
Until she came home to find her new husband hanging from a chandelier.
Six months pregnant and devastated, Carmen is forced to pick up the pieces of her shattered life. It is only when she meets a sweet and sensitive stranger named Owen that she finds herself able to smile again. Is it really true that the best beginnings can come from the worst endings? Or does Carmen have deeper to fall before she can learn who she really is?
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www.LorettaLost.com