by Natasha Boyd
“And then?”
“And then, I was thinking I might want to have my own practice. Here. On the island. In Butler Cove.”
I widen my eyes. “That would be … wow. That would be really …” Words float in and out of my brain. Permanent, amazing, scary, amazing. Amazing won out. “Amazing.”
He watches me through my hesitation.
If he stays here, then what if I get another job up the career ladder in another resort town somewhere? I mean unless I open my own hotel sooner rather than later. But there are constraints to that. Experience. Money. Those are just the two big ones. Would I build something or convert something? If he has a practice here, he will be stuck here forever. Permanently.
“But like I said, I might want to.” He looks down into my eyes. “It all depends on if it’s the right thing at the time. What about you? You excited about this new job?”
I nod. “I am. It’s what I want.”
“Good,” he says and kisses my nose. “So did you hear Keri Ann and Jack are building a place out on Daufuskie?”
“Yeah.” I grin. “With his money and her style, can you imagine how gorgeous it’s going to be? Right on the water too.”
“He’s a good guy,” Joey admits. “All I want is for her to be happy. I wanted to save this house for her, but it looks like she saved it for me.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you know the town’s been trying to find a way to take it. Make it a museum or whatever. They even tried to take it through a tax foreclosure by raising the rates so high we couldn’t pay them. At least not while I’m in school anyway. Jack bought the deed. To keep it safe from the Town Council. For now, he owns most of the house.” Joey swallows. “It pissed me off, of course.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I can imagine.”
“But he was a gentleman about it, made it a business investment. So I was thinking, when the time comes, I could either have the practice here. Or …” He lets out a long slow breath.
“Or what?”
“If you were serious about running your own hotel one day. Maybe we could turn this into an inn. And you could have your own place.”
My heart stops and then starts.
“I mean only if that’s what you still wanted. It’s small. I get it. But maybe after a bit you could expand. Or—” He expels another heavy breath. “Well, shit. This was too much. I’m sorry. Don’t freak out. It’s just a thought. A crazy wild, random thought. And it would be years. Four years at least, I’m thinking.”
I lay my finger across Joey’s lips to silence him. My brain is flying through possibilities for this crazy old house that I love so much. It would be amazing. But he’s right. It’s years away at least. I need more experience. He needs to work and pay off student loans. So would I. And … wait. It would be his? And I’d run it? That’s not having my own place. But if we were together? I think he’s saying it would be ours.
Wow, yeah. This is huge.
I’m too afraid to ask him exactly what he means, what I hope he means, in case I’ve misunderstood.
“I guess after all that,” he says. “What I told Bethany Winters is kind of ridiculous to hold back.”
I swallow.
“Now bear in mind, you were eleven and I was fourteen, so this is going to sound beyond crazy.”
“I’m listening.”
“I told her, and this is not word for word, because I mean, who remembers shit like that?”
“For God’s sake, Joseph.” I roll my eyes good-naturedly. “It better be important after all this.”
“You were the one who made such a big deal out of it. You told me that was the reason I irritated you growing up, because I ‘fought your battles.’” He makes an air quote with one hand.
“Tell me already,” I squeal.
“Fine.” He rolls on top of me, settling between my legs and pinning me down with his weight. “I told her that she was messing with the girl I would grow up and marry one day.”
My eyes feel like bugging out of my head. “What?”
“I know. It’s crazy. The words just came out of my mouth. I told you I was struck by you that day. Your laugh. You’d made my sister smile. It was her first day of school. She was terrified. And I was in the middle school, next door but not able to look out for her. And there you were, like this angel who was simply there, being there with her. And I knew you always would be. The words just came out of my mouth.”
My mouth is dry, my belly doing weird flip flops like a fish out of water.
“That is crazy,” I manage. Then frown. “There’s no way that would have shut her up. She would have told everyone and made me a laughing stock.”
“I think it was weird and crazy enough to make her speechless for a moment. But, you’re right. I didn’t want her teasing you, so I told her if she mentioned what I said to even one soul, I’d tell everyone I saw her picking her nose and eating it.”
I bust out laughing, and laugh so hard, my sides hurt.
WHEN I FINALLY calm down, Joey flops to my side and takes my palm, pressing his against it. His hand is so much larger and stronger than mine.
“I do, you know,” he says.
“What?”
“Want to marry you one day.”
I turn to look at him, and he meets my gaze. My heart feels like it’s expanding so rapidly it might crack my ribs.
“I … I think I’d like that. One day.” My voice is crazy and breathless. A little squeaky.
“How about in about four years, when we have our shit together. Or even if we don’t.”
“I think that sounds like a very responsible, totally Joseph Walter Butler way of planning.”
“Is that good or bad?”
“It’s you. That makes it good. But I have one stipulation.”
He frowns.
“Let’s get married in a super small ceremony. On the beach. No drunk pastors who don’t really like the fact we’ll be epically sinning for the next four years.”
“Not just sinning. But epically sinning?”
“Yeah.” I smile and waggle my eyebrows.
He chuckles, a deep rumble in his chest. “How about we get married over on Daufuskie Island?” He expands on my idea. “Maybe at Jack and Keri Ann’s new place if they’re cool with it. That way, there’ll only be people we really want there.”
I spread my fingers against his palm.
Our fingers intersect and grip each other.
“It’s a deal,” I say. “In four years. On Daufuskie.”
“Deal,” he whispers and leans forward, his lips meeting mine.
THANK YOU FOR READING
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Your Soul ~ RHODES
Night Like This ~ LP
Emoticons ~ The Wombats
Mother & Father ~ Broods
Love in the Dark ~ Adele
Yeah ~ Loris
Talk ~ Kodaline
Believe ~ Mumford & Sons
Your Head and Your Heart ~ The Saint Johns
Absolute Beginners ~ David Bowie
The Promise ~ When in Rome
Hurricane ~ Halsey
Open Season ~ Josef Salvat
Righteously ~ Lucinda Williams
Special thanks to all these artists who kept my creative muse going during the writing of this novel
“All That Jazz” playlist available on Spotify
NATASHA BOYD IS an internationally bestselling and award-winning author of contemporary romantic southern fiction. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and has a background in marketing and public relations. Eversea, her debut n
ovel, was a finalist for Contemporary Romance in the 2013 Winter Rose Contest, won the 2014 Digital Book Award for Adult Fiction and is a LIBRARY JOURNAL self-e selection 2015. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Georgia Romance Writers and Island Writer's Network in coastal South Carolina where she has been a featured speaker on book marketing. She lives with her husband, two sons and the cast of characters in her head.
Natasha grew up in South Africa, Belgium and England. She now lives and writes full-time in the USA. Her work is available in English, Italian, Turkish, German, and Indonesian.
The Butler Cove Novels:
Eversea (Eversea #1)
Forever, Jack (Eversea #2)
My Star, My Love (An Eversea Christmas Novella)
Other:
Deep Blue Eternity
Thank you for reading this book. Leaving a review or rating to say you’ve read it, would be much appreciated and help others discover it too! This is one of the most important ways you can support an author other than buying their books.
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If you would like to receive an email regarding my next release (should it be Colt or Lizzie’s story?) and have a chance to be on my Advance Team, please leave me your email. http://eepurl.com/JAXED
With Warmest love,
Tasha xo
I APPRECIATE AND am grateful for every single one of you who has taken the time to read All That Jazz! Thank you especially to my Eversea readers who have displayed the utmost patience in waiting for this book. You are so special to me and I will never forget your support. The constant messages, tweets and emails kept me going. Thank you. I also appreciate my blogger friends who have been on this journey with me since Eversea. You know who you are. To all the blogs that support my work and get the word out - Thank you!
Massive thanks go to my husband who cheered me on and took over pretty much every single household chore so I could get this book written. I love you! To my boys who patiently waited for my attention, thank you. And thank you for being proud of me. And no you can’t read my books. Yet.
Thank you to Julie Burke: my friend, my assistant, and my now cover designer, and all things pretty designer. Thank you to Lisa and Julie for keeping me sane with our group chats, and out of the gutter of crippling self doub, and random gift-giving. You guys are the very, very best..
Thank you to the peeps in The Novel Spot Lounge on Facebook, whose hilarious thread one night about losing virginity stories inspired Jazz and Joey’s first time in the book. And to Missy Meyer for being a character in the story.
Thank you to the ladies of The Fast Draft Club who cheered along and kept me motivated. In particular, Brenna Aubrey and Lexi Ryan. Thank you to my formatter, Angela of Fictional formats for making this book beautiful.
Special thanks must go to my editor, Judy Roth who always catches my inconsistencies and makes my stories better. And to my two critique partners, Al Chaput and Dave MacDonald, without whom you wouldn’t be reading this book. And to Karina, my dearest friend and beta reader, I hope you weren’t serious when you said I’d ruined you for future romance books.
Thanks, Mom, Matthew, Dad and Bev for always being proud of me.
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