“Where did he go?”
“I sent him on an errand.”
Evan knew his mother was up to something, but for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what it could be.
“You sent him on an errand?” He asked as he noticed Tate approaching them.
“Dr. York!” His mom ignored his question as her face lit up. She dropped her arm from Evan and greeted her hero with a hug.
“Please, call me Tate,” he said as he returned her embrace.
When she stepped away, she gushed, “The wedding was beautiful!”
“Thank you and thank you for coming. Both of you.” He turned to Evan and shook his hand with genuine sincerity. “Seriously, man, it meant so much to Noelle that you were here today. I really appreciate you being here.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it.”
After a little small talk, he moved on to other guests and his mom turned to Evan. “I told you, he’s amazing, right?”
“Yep. You told me.” He grinned at the irony of his mom’s affection for his ex’s new husband.
Now that he’d touched base with both the bride and groom, Evan really didn’t see any reason to hang out.
“I’m going to take off, Mom. Do you want me to grab Deanna or Eli to wait with you?”
“Um…” Her eyes darted around the room again.
“What’s going on, Mom?”
“Nothing.” She creased her forehead as she looked up at him like his question came completely out of the blue.
He was too tired to figure out what was going on. “All right, well then, I’ll call you tomorrow when I land.”
Something caught her attention over his shoulder and she pointed, “Oh look. Your father is back.”
“Great.” Evan still had no clue what was up, but if it made it easier for him to leave, then he was happy his dad was back, too.
“Okay, sweetie, well you should go get some rest!” She shoved his shoulders, literally pushing him out of the room. Except, she wasn’t pushing him in the direction of the parking lot.
“Mom, the parking lot is—”
“Hey!” Deanna rushed up to them. “Are you leaving?”
“Yes, he is.” His mom nodded her head emphatically and his eyes bounced between the two women that were obviously co-conspirators, he just wasn’t sure in what.
“Before you go, can you do me a favor?” Deanna’s eyes were wide and pleading.
“Sure,” Evan answered as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Um…” Deanna shifted her weight between her left and right feet. “I have a surprise for Noelle in the back and I don’t want any of the staff breaking it. Could you go grab it for me?”
He stared at her for a moment. Was that really what this was about? What surprise could his cousin have that the staff would break? Sometimes the path of least resistance was the way to go. “Sure.”
“Great!” She clapped. “It’s out back in the delivery area.”
“What is it?” He had no idea what to look for.
“You’ll know it when you see it,” she beamed and both his mother and cousin pushed him toward the service entrance.
He sighed as he made his way down the back corridor of the reception hall. He honestly had no idea what he was walking into, but the sooner he did it the sooner he could go home.
The hallway led to a steel door with a red exit sign hanging above it and he pushed it open. As soon as he stepped outside he blinked, unable to believe what his eyes were seeing.
Shayne Fox was leaning against an older model red sports car.
His heart slammed against his ribs and he was momentarily paralyzed from shock.
“Hi.” She waved, and the smile that he’d missed every second of every minute of every hour of every day pulled across her beautiful face.
The power of that smile cured his paralysis and he crossed the parking lot, stopping directly in front of her.
“What are you…?” He could barely breathe, much less talk.
“I’m Sixteen Candling you,” She enthused. “How’s my Jake Ryan?”
“Perfect,” he laughed, feeling lighter than he had, maybe ever. There were so many things he wanted to say, to ask. “How did you do this?”
“Well, I got the idea when Deanna mentioned that you were going to the wedding. I asked her to check with Noelle, to make sure it would be okay, since Deanna loved the idea.”
“You asked Noelle?”
“Of course, it’s her wedding.”
“I can’t believe Deanna kept this secret.” She was notoriously bad at secret keeping.
“She did tell your mom and dad but I’m so glad she did because the studio delivered the car yesterday and I was nervous to drive it from my hotel—”
“Wait is that the car from the movie? The 1983 Porsche 944?”
“Yep. Your dad offered to drive it for me.”
He shook his head in disbelief. This was like a dream. A dream he never wanted to wake up from.
“So, the reason I’m here, besides the grand romantic gesture, is because I was wrong. I mean, not completely. Our schedules are insane and we might go weeks without seeing each other and even days without talking, but…I want to try. If you still do. These past four weeks have been miserable. I mean, not completely. I met my brother—”
“You did?” She hadn’t mentioned that in any of her messages or texts.
“Yeah, I wanted to tell you in person or at least over the phone.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Benji’s amazing and so is his adoptive family. I spent a few days with him last month and now and we text every day. And, guess what?”
“What?”
Her eyes filled with tears as she went on, “He did remember me. Well, sort of.” She wiped under her eyes. “He remembered the song that I sang him. The only memory he has is a voice singing ‘You Are My Sunshine.’ He thought it was my mom but I was the one that sang that to him.” She smiled as tears fell down her face and she sniffed. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank you enough for finding him. But, I’d like to try. I want to give us a try. I know it won’t be easy, but I love you, Evan Bishop. And if you still love me—”
He reached out and cupped her face, brushing the rest of her tears away with his thumbs as he lowered his forehead and rested it against hers. He paused for a moment before crushing his mouth to hers and claiming her in a kiss that would put any other to shame. He broke it for a moment to whisper, “I love you. I’ll always love you.”
It was a responsibility. A promise. A life sentence that made him the luckiest man in the world.
Epilogue
‡
FOUR MONTHS LATER
“Close your eyes,” Nolan gently reminded Shayne, although she could hear that he was doing so through clenched teeth.
“Sorry.” Every sound she heard caused her eyes to pop open. She was a bundle of nerves.
Shayne took a deep breath and tried her best to calm herself. The energy just moved to her lower extremities, though, and she began tapping her heel.
“Woman, unless you want to walk down the aisle looking like the bride of Frankenstein, I suggest you sit still.”
“Sorry,” Shayne apologized again as she suppressed a grin. Nolan was doing his best to be supportive but his patience was wearing thin.
She couldn’t blame him. She hadn’t been the easiest person to deal with this past month. After Evan proposed to her a month ago she’d gone right into wedding planning mode. She hadn’t gone full bridezilla on anyone but she’d definitely had a few freak out moments. Ruby and Nolan, were serving as her maid and man of honor, and they’d both been by her side through it all. Although the majority of the responsibility had fallen on Nolan since Ruby was busy being a mommy to Nola Shay who was named after her Godparents.
Ruby sat beside her now, softly singing to the three-month-old angel baby as she tried to get her down for a nap before the wedding started.
The door opened and though Shayne flinched, she managed
not to open her eyes this time.
“Ten minute warning!” Vivien exclaimed.
She’d stepped up as wedding coordinator when Shayne had a mini-meltdown at Brewed Awakenings. Shayne took in a deep breath.
“Have you seen Evan?” she asked.
It was so strange not seeing or talking to him since last night.
“Yes, he got here about twenty minutes ago and he was not alone. I think he’s with ‘The Hot One’”
Shayne’s eyes were still shut, but she grinned. Easton hadn’t been able to make it to the rehearsal last night so Vivien hadn’t met him yet. He’d been overseas for a few years and was planning on staying in Hope Falls for the next year while he worked on a novel he was writing. She thought about mentioning that rumor to Vivien, but decided it would be more fun to see it play out naturally.
“I would call dibs but, everyone here is taken.”
“I’m single,” Audrey, who had volunteered to watch Nola Shay, pointed out.
“Oh right…” Vivien agreed, then coughed a muffled, “Josh!”
“And voila,” Nolan exclaimed, letting Shayne know she was permitted to open her eyes.
She did and was happy that she’d put her foot down about going for a more natural look. Nolan tended to skew toward glam, but she’d insisted that she wanted to look like herself for her wedding. “It’s perfect. Thank you.”
“You’re perfect.” He grinned down at her. “Time to get you into your dress.”
She nodded.
After slipping on her dress she looked in the mirror. She was wearing a sleeveless deep V-neck A-line tulle dress with lace top. It had been the first one that she’d tried on and she immediately knew it was the one. That didn’t stop her from trying on about a hundred more, but she always came back to this one. It was meant for her, just like Evan was.
“Okay, it’s time,” Vivien announced.
Ruby stood still holding, Nola Shay and Shayne lowered and kissed her goddaughter on the head before the two women followed behind the rest of the wedding party, which consisted of Deanna, Kenzie, and Nolan.
As they stepped into the hall Shayne saw Benji was across the lobby, waiting to escort her in. He smiled and started toward the group. He looked so handsome in his tux.
“If he were only a few years older,” Vivien whispered beside her.
“He’s nineteen,” Audrey sighed as she took the baby from Ruby.
“I know. That’s why I said if he were only a few years older.” Vivien mumbled before quietly lining everyone up in front of the double doors and instructing Shayne to remain off to the side.
Benji stepped beside her and offered her his arm, “You look beautiful, sis.”
Warmth spread through her and she did her best not to tear up and ruin Nolan’s work. She loved hearing that word. Sis.
Nolan must’ve sensed her emotional shift because he left his spot in the back of the line just as the double doors opened and gave her a once over, scanning her face the way he did anytime she was about to walk a red carpet.
After a nod of approval, he kissed her on the forehead and said, “Whenever I dreamed of this day, I never guessed it would be happening on a Tuesday. At a community center. But somehow, it’s perfect.”
She chuckled as he took his place behind Ruby and the two disappeared around the doorway.
Yes, it was perfect. And it was at a community center. And today was six months to the day of the first time she’d laid eyes on Evan.
The doors closed and Vivien ushered her and Benji to their place in front of them. When they opened again, she looked up and saw Evan, waiting for her exactly where she’d been standing that night.
Their eyes locked and it held the same potency now as it had then. Her cheeks flushed, her heartrate sped, and her knees buckled slightly.
As she walked toward him, leaning on her brother as she did, tears filled her eyes. Her tall, dark, and sexy Brawny Man was about to be her husband. And she was about to be his wife. And that truly was the role of a lifetime.
The End
Hope Falls
We will be returning to Hope Falls in 2019 with our final installment that will feature the sisters of Brewed Awakenings in:
Falling For You (Hope Falls Book 17)
Falling Too Hard (Hope Falls Book 18)
Falling In Deep (Hope Falls Book 19)
Falling So Fast (Hope Falls Book 20)
Coming Soon
Valentine Bay
February 2018
Protecting My Heart (Valentine Bay, #1)
Prologue
“It’s all fun and games until you wake up married! Amirite, girl?”
Ella tried to focus on what her best friend Genevieve was saying. Well…saying was generous. Slurring would probably be more accurate.
Ella might’ve been hungover from the epic night of debauchery the night before, but Gen was still drunk. Ella doubted if she’d even been to bed yet.
The two of them had graduated from high school the week before and had flown out to Las Vegas with a group of their friends to celebrate. Every single one of them had come equipped with the number one travel accessory recommended for the under-twenty-one-in-Vegas set: fake IDs. So the celebrating had gotten wild pretty quick.
Just how wild? Ella wasn’t sure. Most of it was a blur in her painful and foggy brain.
“G, lower the volume. I’m begging you,” Ella mumbled, pressing her fingers to her temples in a mostly vain attempt to still the throbbing in her head.
“Where’s your ring?” Gen asked, then laughed like it was the funniest joke in the world, complete with drunk-laughter snorts.
“Please,” Ella groaned, humiliated by the note of petulance that crept into her voice. “Gen, I’m begging you. Please just be quiet until we get to the front of this line and get some coffee in us.”
Even though they were in a Starbucks located in the lobby of the Strip hotel where they were staying—the volume around her was never going to reach placid levels—the insistent chatter of her shitfaced best friend was the proverbial straw that broke the hungover camel’s back, and she simply couldn’t take it.
Gen made an exaggerated show of miming the act of zipping her lips shut, locking them, and throwing the key over her shoulder. Despite her pounding head, Ella couldn’t help but smile. That routine, along with the accompanying mantra, “Zip it. Lock it. Throw away the key,” had been their shorthand for both keeping a secret and shutting the hell up since they’d become friends in second grade.
They shuffled forward as the person at the front of the line completed their order, and the muscles in Ella’s neck relaxed just a little. The sweet, sweet relief of caffeine was just that much closer.
She didn’t know if it was the release of tension or the blessed silence that allowed her brain to make the connection, but suddenly she focused on the content of what Gen had been saying rather than the volume.
Wait a minute. Did she say…
“Hold the phone. What are you talking about? Married? Ring?”
Gen shrugged and pointed at her zipped, locked, and keyless lips. Ella shook her head. Pain shot up through her temples but she didn’t even care. The head shake had been worth it.
“G, I’m in no mood.” Her voice was flat and impatient. Which was her standard before-coffee voice, not to mention her standard hangover voice, so it didn’t have the chilling effect on Genevieve that she’d hoped it would.
She tried again. “Come on, G. Please? I really want to know.”
Genevieve grinned, eager to share the details. Ella knew her friend well, and if there was one thing the social butterfly couldn’t resist, it was telling a good story to an eager audience.
“Okay, you got me… but what are you talking about, you want to know? You were, like…there.”
Ella grimaced. “Well, any there I was at last night is foggy at best.”
Genevieve’s eyes widened. “Holy. Shit. So you don’t remember anything?”
“No. What
should I be remembering?”
Genevieve just laughed and hummed the wedding march.
The tune struck a sensory memory in Ella’s subconscious and she had a flash. It was wavy and distorted, but she thought she remembered standing up at the front of the aisle in a tacky little wedding chapel, with a little old man standing behind the podium, his voice droning on as he read from a book in front of him.
And next to her was…OH. MY. GOD. Could it be? No. Impossible. It couldn’t be. Could it?
“Here comes the groom, from right across the rooooooom…” Genevieve warbled, her off-key croaking attracting the attention of the other patrons and causing Ella’s head to whip painfully around to follow Genevieve’s finger.
Apparently it could.
Crossing the lobby toward the entrance to the Starbucks was none other than Donovan Valentine, one of the infamous Valentine Brothers. Well, infamous in her small hometown of Valentine Bay, Oregon, at any rate. They were descended from the founders of the town, their parents were pillars of the community, and each one of the four was more of a troublemaker than the last.
Donovan was the oldest, and with his wavy brown hair, sexy stubble, and broad athlete’s shoulders, he’d been the hottest guy in school. He was, as a matter of fact, the object of her lifelong secret crush…and that was a secret she planned to take with her to the grave.
He was also her best friend.
And now her…husband?
What in the actual fuck?
*
Every bone in Donovan’s body hurt. There was no one source of pain. It was all pain. The worst part, though, was that the room refused to stay in one place.
He hoped the spinning would stop once he got some strong, hot coffee in him. He didn’t have high hopes, but he did have enough to drag himself out of bed, pull on his stale clothes from the night before, smack on sunglasses to cut the knife-like glare of the morning sun, and brave the smoke-filled hotel lobby in search of some.
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