by Julie Archer
“You could have told me you asked her here today,” said Piper. “I had to find out from Therese.”
“So you know I asked her if she would promote your jewelry range. I think it would be great if she did; you’d have lots of great publicity.”
“Yeah, from your ex.” Piper withdrew her hand from Mal’s and clutched on to the side of the car instead. “How is that going to look?” She couldn’t help feeling negative about it.
“Piper, you can take help from her; you don’t have to do everything yourself.”
“I know that. But I can’t help thinking that people would think I’ve had an unfair advantage in getting started.”
“You should just go with it. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Mal was making sense. But there was still a niggling thought that kept coming back into Piper’s head. The thing Josh had told her. “When you were talking to Cora at the booth when Josh was there, he said you said…” She didn’t want to finish the sentence for herself—she needed to hear the words from Mal.
“What did he say I said?”
“He said you…that you might be…that you’re…”
Mal gently shifted his body toward her. He took her face in his hands and looked deeply into her eyes. “He heard me tell Cora that you are the woman I could very easily fall in love with. It’s true, Piper. I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every moment of it so far. I’d be keen for it to continue.”
“Even if Alena comes back to work?”
“When Alena comes back to work, I still want you to stay. With me.” He emphasized the word ‘when’.
Piper beamed, feeling lightheaded again. “I think I could live with that.” She couldn’t quite believe that Mal Colten was falling in love with her.
“Although my original condition still stands…” he added.
“What’s that?”
“You still have to cook that yummy pasta dish every once in a while.”
Piper screwed up her nose. “I think that’s a pretty fair deal.”
She leaned closer to Mal and met his lips. As they kissed, she thought she heard fireworks going off, although she didn’t remember organizing them.
Epilogue - three weeks later
Piper would never tire of the view from the kitchen at Bayview House. The azure-blue water glittered in the sunshine, and various sea birds swooped and dived into the sea, catching their prey. She sat at the table, laptop in front of her, looking out over the Bay. It seemed she spent most of her time there these days. The room downstairs, that she had used when she first arrived, was packed with boxes, packing materials, and products: the result of many, many hours’ work since the charity gig. To say that the little, low-key booth had been a success was an understatement. Although she hadn’t expected it to happen, Cora Appleby had featured a few of her designs on her blog and since then, Piper’s world had exploded. There had been hundreds, if not thousands, of requests for her jewelry. The response had been overwhelming. At one point, Piper had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Since then, she had been working flat-out to create a website and find enough time to make the things that were most popular. Even Therese had offered to help.
“Yes, I’ll be sure to tell her. Thanks, Boyd. Speak again soon.” Mal’s voice carried across the open-plan kitchen area and Piper turned to look at him.
He ended the call and walked toward her. He leaned down to kiss her, his lips lingering on hers for a long time. Piper twisted away.
“I’ll never get any work done at this rate,” she said. “Although it’s not a bad way to avoid it.”
“You never do anything but work these days,” complained Mal, his tone good-natured.
“And whose fault is that? May I remind you that it was your idea to showcase the jewelry at the concert, and you were the one who persuaded a certain Ms Appleby to put out the word.”
Mal hung his head. “I’m sorry. It’s such a shame that both of us got exactly what we wanted.”
Piper frowned. “What do you mean?”
“That was Boyd. He just filled me in on the profits from the gig. It looks like we’re going to be able to give refunds for all those people we cancelled on. The publicity that was generated has also been really positive and there’s talk of a new tour.”
“Oh.” Piper’s voice wavered. “Does that mean you’ll have to go away again?”
“One day, yes, but not for a while. I want to take every opportunity to enjoy being with you and celebrating your success.”
“Mal, will you and Piper be in for dinner this evening?”
It was odd having Alena there. Alena’s mother had made a quicker-than-expected recovery, and the housekeeper had been back at Bayview House for a little under a week. True to his word, Mal insisted that Piper stay, and she had moved most of her stuff into his room.
“It’s fine, Alena, we’ll sort something out ourselves,” said Mal.
Piper exchanged a glance with Mal, knowing what was coming next.
“Pasta!” they said at the same time.
When Piper had stood at the gates of Bayview House just a few short weeks ago, she hadn’t expected all her dreams to come true. Moving back to Fortune’s Bay had been the best thing for her, after all.
More Fortune’s Bay stories!
Don’t miss the other stories from Fortune’s Bay. Each is a standalone novella and they don’t have to be read in order.
A Dash of Destiny in Fortune’s Bay - by Jenni M Rose
A Brush with Love in Fortune’s Bay - by Roberta Capizzi
Secrets of the Heart in Fortune’s Bay - by Sidney Valentine
Love Letters in Fortune’s Bay - by Maria Luis
Lovestruck in Fortune’s Bay - by Joslyn Westbrook
A Map to Destiny in Fortune’s Bay - by Nicole Ellis
You can find buy links here: https://fortunesbay.wixsite.com/buybooks
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With love from the Friends of Fortune xoxo
Acknowledgments
Firstly, to the Fortune’s Bay authors, Roberta, Joslyn, Maria, Jenni, Sidney and Nicole, look, we did it!!
Thank you to Najla for designing a fantastic set of covers, I love them all.
Thank you to Kathy for your suggestions and edits and making Love Sparkles the best it could possibly be.
To J and R, for keeping me entertained and supporting me on a daily basis - how many messages did I miss this time?!
To Mr A, thank you for letting me follow my dreams and being there for me, always.
And to you, the reader, for taking a chance and reading my novella. I can’t thank you enough.
Also by Julie Archer
Cocktails, Rock Tales & Betrayals (The Blood Stone Riot Series Book 1)
One Last Shot (The Blood Stone Riot Series Book 2)
Cosmopolitan Rock (A Blood Stone Riot Short Story)
Off Track (A Writer’s Playground Anthology)
To The Sea (A Writer’s Playground Anthology)
About the Author
Hello there! I’m Julie, the U.K. author of the group who lives in the beautiful south west county of Devon.
Inside the Bay I’m sweet, but outside I’m not! My contemporary romances are definitely steamy and there’s drama, but always a happy ending.
Also, cats, metal, COYS.
I’d love to hear from you, so please do get in touch!
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