by A. M. Mahler
“I was upset,” I confessed. “But not at you. Not really. I just needed time to accept that I might have had to adjust my dream. I had so many emotions coursing through me and nothing to do with them. But guess what?” He cocked his head to the side in answer. “Not only are we both employed, but WRR is on board with the Le Mans plan.”
His eyes widened and a gorgeous smile lit up his perfect face. He hugged me. I never saw a man so happy to fork over a quarter of a million dollars in my life. He was helping me achieve my dream and that meant everything to me.
“Uncle Simon!” Suddenly, Simon’s expression of joy turned into looking like he just got hit with a brick. He stood there, frozen, as he watched the barn doors. Ethan led Marcus out on a brown horse. Marcus waved from his spot in the saddle. “Uncle Simon! I’m riding a horse!”
A sob caught in Simon’s throat as he smiled and nodded. “There he is,” he whispered. “Oh, there’s my boy.”
I linked my fingers with Simon’s as Marcus disappeared around the barn heading toward the horse corral in the back. My heart felt light, and tears stung my eyes. I didn’t mess him up even more. I wasn’t so naïve to think that Marcus was cured of his grief and would be all better now, but maybe he was coming out of his funk. He found something to enjoy even with his father gone.
“Do you see?” Simon said, turning back to me and bringing his hands up to my face. “See how much we need you? How much I need you? I can’t handle you walking away from me like that.”
“I was coming back,” I said. I brought my hands up to his wrists. I needed to touch him, too.
“I knew you had to come back,” Simon said. “But you didn’t have to stay when you did. I want you to stay, Maggie. I want that to be your home. I want you to officially move in with us.”
I nodded, eyes filling with tears. Words escaped me. A sliver of fear took root inside of me at the unknown, but it was replaced with a feeling of belonging. Simon wanted to plant roots with me. He wanted me to be part of his story—part of the boys’ story. And I wanted that, too. A place I could plant a garden and watch the boys grow. He wasn’t just offering me a place to live, but a place to call home, and I would grab on with both hands. He was standing at the finish line waving the checkered flag and I couldn’t get there fast enough.
Epilogue
I
had been in this same position for what felt like hours, but in reality was only about fifteen minutes. The transport was late. From my position in the bushes, I could see a little bit of the road, but I was well hidden. I glanced over at my new partner. She popped up from the bushes across from me, pointed at her eyes with two fingers and then stabbed them back at me.
Don’t shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes.
They would be expecting the ambush but not prepared for it. Weapons weren’t allowed where the targets were.
It was a cloudless afternoon, and the trees were a kaleidoscope of color. The air smelled of crisp leaves and a wood-burning stove. It was chilly, but I didn’t need a jacket yet. I hunkered down further when I saw the yellow bus finally winding its way down the street. It drove right by. Stunned, I watched the black letters of Grayson Falls School District slide by in front of me.
What the fuck? Where were the boys? I knelt up and looked over at Maggie. She looked at me with the same confusion and fear. Why weren’t they on the bus? Their grandparents weren’t visiting until the weekend and other than me and Maggie, they would be the only ones allowed to sign my nephews out from school.
Maggie and I stood up and walked to the end of the driveway where the mailbox was, looking up and down the road.
“Check your phone,” Maggie said. “Maybe the school called and they got detention.”
That was unlikely, but I fished my phone out of my pocket and checked my messages with a frown. Nothing from the school. I was worried.
Scratch that, I was terrified.
Just as I was about to dial 911, a police car came screaming down the road—lights and sirens blaring.
“Oh, no,” Maggie whispered, grabbing my wrist.
My stomach fell to my feet. I felt like I was going to vomit. My head was light. If something happened to my boys, I wouldn’t be able to function. They’d have to sedate me and admit me to the psych ward.
The squeal of tires stopped, yanking me out of my thoughts. The car doors flung open and whooping and hollering followed.
Gavin, Travis, and Marcus came flying out of the police cruiser with Nerf guns blazing. A hail of foam bullets showered down on me like the rain from hell. I crossed my arms in front of my face, but it didn’t help.
Reverse ambush! Those little terrorists!
Danny McKenzie got out of the driver’s side cackling his ass off. They got the cops involved! Those little turncoats. My mother’s SUV pulled up behind Danny’s cruiser, and now I knew how the boys were able to avoid taking the bus home.
I let my arms fall to the sides as they jumped all over me. Body slams, pretend kicks to the gut and fake elbows to the face.
Marcus stood and pointed. “Tase him, chief!”
“Maybe next time, bud,” Danny laughed.
I loved these kids. I loved that they settled in and were making friends. They still had their moments of bad dreams and sadness, but they were adjusting to our new life. They were thriving in New Hampshire. We all were.
A shadow fell over us and we froze.
Maggie.
Oh, shit. I forgot what Maggie was armed with.
I heard her cock her weapon and everything happened in slow motion. There was a gentle breeze swaying the leaves. A bird flew overhead, and two squirrels were chasing each other up a nearby tree. It was amazing how crystal clear everything came to be when you were about to get your ass handed to you.
“Hey, Marcus,” she said. “Happy birthday.”
The deluge was massive. Cold water drenched our chests and hair as she unloaded on us. The boys screamed. They scrambled to reload their bullets so they had a semblance of a chance against her. But when they started to slide in the mud the water made, we all gave up. It was no use.
My arms were full of cackling, muddy boys. I needed to get everyone cleaned up and changed so we could go to dinner. But for that moment, I couldn’t have been happier.
THE END
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ALSO WRITTEN BY A.M. MAHLER
Grayson Falls Series
The Good Race
The Slow Lane
The Perfect Game
Breaking Free
Second Chances
Revved
Guardian of Eternal Life Series
The Guardian
The Scholar
Coming November 2020:
Tangled Minds
Coming 2021:
Last One Standing
The Healer
Dear Reader,
Thank you for picking up this book and giving Revved and me as an author a try. I hope you weren’t disappointed. Writing another author’s characters is, quite frankly, terrifying. Colton and Beckett are beloved by us, including me. We are very protective of our favorite racing bad boy. I race them, and so I was determined to get them right. It was a delicate balancing act using my voice to write them while still making them sound true to their characters and Kristy’s voice. Sounds daunting? Believe me, it was! The very last thing I wanted to do was get them wrong. And I really, really hope I did them justice for the brief period they appeared on my pages. I’m sorry that they couldn’t stay with us longer. I know how much we all love to visit with them, but as this isn’t a Kristy book, I could only borrow them for so long.
The other ch
allenge to this book was writing during the Coronavirus pandemic. My creativity got up and left the entire month of March. I couldn’t find it anywhere. This book was supposed to be to my editor on April 1st. It finally made it there on May 1st. Then came all the self-doubt. It looks to the world like writers are confident. We aren’t. Even the biggest names are afraid the piece of their soul they just sent out into the world is going to flop. And it happens to all of us. All we can do is dust ourselves off and forge ahead with what you love.
I invite you to interact with me on social media as much or as little as you’d like. I am most active in my Facebook reader group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AMMahlerReaderHangout/. All my social media is run by me. I want to get to you know. I can’t wait to learn about you and what love. Stay in touch. Don’t be a stranger.
And again, thank you for your very valuable time that you dedicated to my story. It means more than you’ll ever know.
A.M. Mahler
A.M. MAHLER
ANNE MARIE MAHLER IS a contemporary, fantasy, and YA fantasy romance author. She writes with quick-wit, laughs, sigh-worthy moments, and all the rest of feels. When she’s not creating your next favorite book she enjoys reading, quilting, annoying her teenage son and husband and generally being a slug with her two dogs and one cat.
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ALSO WRITTEN BY K. BROMBERG
Driven
Fueled
Crashed
Raced
Aced
Slow Burn
Sweet Ache
Hard Beat
Down Shift
UnRaveled
Sweet Cheeks
Sweet Rivalry
The Player
The Catch
Cuffed
Combust
Cockpit
Control
Faking It
Resist
Reveal
Then You Happened
Hard to Handle