Vetted: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World)
Page 24
I carefully pulled my legs onto the bed and tucked the covers around me before clicking my bedside light out.
A few minutes later, I was asleep.
CHAPTER FORTY
BRITAIN
“I SEE THE RUMORS ARE TRUE,” I heard whispered over my shoulder the next morning at the diner.
It was after August and I had eaten and he’d gotten up to go talk to someone on the other side of the diner, leaving me at our table nursing a cup of coffee.
I glanced toward the voice and my brows rose as I met the smiling gaze of the older woman, Betsy Malone, I’d seen all those months before at the fundraiser at the high school.
“I’m sorry?” I asked, not sure what she was referring to.
She giggled and looked toward August before saying, “I’d heard that you two were back together and seeing you this morning, I see that’s the case.”
I blinked at her, surprised at what she was saying. I was sure it was written on my face as well.
I didn’t know this woman, only what I’d heard about her through the years. I’d known she was a meddler, and it seemed I saw that today.
“I knew after meeting you and hearing about the two of you that there was something special. Might have taken you a little while to get there, but nonetheless…”
She trailed off, and I was saved from answering by an older man coming to the table, shaking his head.
“I’ve paid. Why don’t we leave her to her breakfast?” he asked, holding a hand out for Betsy to take.
She flashed me a smile as he helped her out of the booth. As they walked past, she leaned down to say, “Don’t let that one get away.”
And then they were gone, and I was looking after her, my mouth gaping.
“You good?” August asked, sliding into the booth opposite me.
I nodded. “Yeah, just a weird conversation.”
August eyeballed me for several seconds but said nothing further.
He topped off his coffee cup and doctored it before taking a sip.
We’d had a pleasant breakfast. I’d filled him in on my recovery and plan for returning to work while he talked to me about his students and what was happening at school.
We hadn’t talked about anything specific, and after thinking about it, I wasn’t sure we needed to. All we did was talk about things and how we wanted this or that. But we never just did something with it.
With that in mind, I scooted to the end of the booth and slowly stood, leaning heavily on the table as I walked to August’s side and slid in beside him.
He’d jerked when I started moving but hadn’t said or done anything while I was. I’d told him on the drive over that I appreciated all the help people offered me, but that I needed to get mobility back and the only way to do that was to do as much by myself as possible. Not that I didn’t need help every so often, only that I wanted the chance to do what I could before someone stepped in to do it for me.
His lips had pressed into a thin line, but he’d honored my wishes so far. Minus helping me in and out of the car, I’d been able to get around with no help. August had hovered, but I’d been fine with that. He’d only hovered.
“What are you doing?” He asked as I scooted closer to him and laid my head on his shoulder.
He reached over after a few moments and threaded his fingers through mine. Neither of us spoke for several minutes, and it was nice.
With the noise of the diner around us, it was nice to just be for a little while.
“Want to tell me what’s going on?” He asked after a few more minutes of silence.
“I just wanted a chance to sit with you,” I said as I lifted my head and turned my body to face him. “I know you said we’d come out to talk this morning, but I have something I want to say before that happens.”
I waited for him to nod before continuing. “We talk all the time. We’ve done nothing but talk. But I think actions speak louder than words, and I think we just need to let things happen. No pressure on each other to prove that we’re in this. Just do it. I’m home and will be for a while. I’ll start work back once I’m healed up enough and we can just see what happens. I don’t think talking about things will make any difference.”
He stared at me for several moments before asking, “So, just do it?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I think we just need to do it.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “I can get behind that.”
I smiled in return. “I thought you could.”
“You need anything?” Cherry, our waitress, asked.
“Another pot of coffee,” August said.
She nodded and walked off, returning a few moments later with another carafe of coffee and another bowl of creamers for us.
We doctored our coffee in silence and it was comfortable. I felt settled, like things were falling into place.
When I’d first returned home, I felt like I’d been at loose ends. I hadn’t wanted to come, though. I wanted to help my parents out, and I wasn’t sure what the future held.
I still didn’t know what the future held, but I was okay with that unknown.
I knew that I had a job.
I knew that my parents were okay.
I knew that August would give this a shot.
And I knew that no matter what, we could figure it out if what he’d said the night before was any indication.
We were finally in the right spot to figure it out together and see what comes.
EPILOGUE
BRITAIN
Two years later…
I MASSAGED my right knee as I looked over the file for Petal, the pet pig I was seeing.
It was just a yearly check-up, so there wasn’t much to the file, but I was using reading the file as an excuse to try to work the soreness out of my knee.
I’d healed up well from my injury. It hadn’t been easy, and I had scars on both legs from what happened, but I had full mobility. The only problem I sometimes encountered was when I was on my feet for an extended period, like today, or it rained.
When it rained, my legs ached, and it was something I was having to learn to deal with.
I knocked on the door to the exam room before stepping inside and smiling at the woman sitting in the chair tucked into the corner. There was a pig sitting on the exam table lightly snuffling the air as she sat there.
“Hey, there,” I said, shutting the door softly behind me.
The woman in the corner smiled and stood. “Hey, I’m Dylan.”
I shook her hand and introduced myself. “And I guess this is Petal,” I said, walking to the pig and running a hand over her head and down her back.
“Anything I need to know?” I asked as I started looking Petal over.
I listened as Dylan told me she didn’t have any concerns. I murmured to Petal as I did my examination, asking Dylan some questions while I did, but I’ll be honest. I wasn’t paying too much attention to what she was saying but responded as needed.
Once done, we chatted for a few more minutes before she looped a leash on Petal’s neck and walked her out.
I only had a few more patients to see, and I was able to quickly finish them up, getting out of work thirty minutes earlier than normal.
When I pushed out the back door to the clinic, I sucked in a deep breath and sighed as I let it out.
Things felt great. I was working a job I loved with people I liked and I was living with the man of my dreams.
We weren’t married—and I hoped he was proposing soon—but I had moved into August’s house the previous year when Rich moved out and into an apartment in town.
It was odd, in some ways, living on the street I’d grown up on but not in the same house. But it was nice to be close enough to my parents that I could just walk across the street and see them whenever I wanted.
I worried what they would think about me living with August without us being married, but they’d been more okay with it than I was. It took only a few days for me to get over it and settle
into my new way of life.
And it had been great. Minus some growing pains with figuring out how to live with the other person, we got along well, and it was nice having my own house and space again after living with my parents.
I drove the short distance home and parked in our driveway, noting that August was home.
I grabbed my things and waved at my mom and dad who were, randomly, sitting on their front porch instead of their back.
I’d drop my things and head over there in a little while to make sure everything was okay.
My mom had bought rocking chairs for the front porch, but they were more for decoration than anything. I don’t think I’d ever seen anyone sitting in them. Yet, there my parents were, sitting on their front porch like they did it all the time.
After side-eyeing them for a few moments, I turned and went inside, dropping my things by the door and kicking my shoes off.
“August?” I called out as I walked toward the kitchen.
I didn’t see him in there and frowned, glancing around what I could see of the bottom floor. I didn’t see him anywhere. I strained and listened to see if I could hear anything from upstairs, but nothing up there either.
I heard a faint yip and turned toward the backyard, trying to decide if I’d heard that coming from our yard or not.
I walked to the back door and looked out, my eyes widening at the sight that greeted me.
August was sitting in the grass with a corgi running around him.
I opened the door and when I pressed the screen door to the porch open to join August and the dog; the dog froze and looked at me with its head tilted.
As I walked closer, it sprang into action and galloped over to me, sniffing my feet as I reached down to scratch behind the ears.
“I see we have something new today,” I told August, looking at him as I settled onto the grass next to him.
The dog crawled into my lap and continued to sniff me. I was sure I smelled like a vet’s office and all the different animals I’d seen that day.
“We do. We’d been talking about getting a dog and I knew you liked corgis… I heard from one of my kids that one had been dropped at the shelter the other day. I went and looked and fell in love.”
I made a cooing noise as I looked down into the sweet face of the corgi in my lap. “Someone got rid of you?”
I couldn’t believe it. I shook my head at the thought of someone getting rid of this dog, who I thought was probably around two years old.
“Yep. So, I got him for us.”
“Him?” I asked. I felt the collar around his neck and tilted my head as I looked for the tag that would tell me his name.
I found it and turned the collar, freezing when I saw the tag.
The tag was there—it said Henry—but there was also something else hanging from it. Something that was in the shape of a diamond ring.
I couldn’t move to look at August or do anything as I stared at the stone winking in the sunlight.
“I see you’ve found the other surprise,” August said in a rough voice.
He took Henry from me and fiddled with his collar for a few moments before pulling his hand away, the ring clutched between his fingers.
“I know we’ve talked about getting married and I’ve dragged my feet. But when I saw Henry, I knew that this was the right time. I’m ready and I know you’re ready. So—"
“Yes!” I interrupted, holding my hands up to my face.
He arched a brow. “What if I was going to ask you to go to a football game with me?”
“That would get a yes, too.”
He smiled at me and huffed out a laugh. “I knew that…” He muttered as he shook his head, still smiling. “As I was saying… will you marry me.”
“Yes!”
He took my hand and slipped the ring onto my left ring finger. Once it was on, I stared at it, not quite believing what I was seeing. I looked at August and caught the moisture in his eyes as he stared at my hand before he looked up to meet my gaze.
“This is it, huh?” He asked, his voice rougher than before.
“It is.”
Before he could say anything else, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.
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ALSO BY A.M. WILLIAMS
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Short Stop to Love
Hometown Christmas
The Christmas Spark
Holiday Springs Resort
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Hearts Penalty
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Southern Sands Series
Jax
Harry
Veronica
Grayson
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The Boys of Summer
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book was a labor of love. I struggled to write it simply because it is so incredibly personal for me. I’m a military spouse and have lived through the questions of deployment. I tried to inject my own feelings into the story as I wrote about Britain and August and I hope that I did that experience justice.
A huge thanks goes to K. Bromberg for writing this world and giving me the chance to contribute something to it. I loved her stories and I hope that I did the world justice.
Thank you to my BFF Bethany and my mom for constantly supporting me (even if you didn’t understand what I needed).
This book wouldn’t have been possible without Missy because she kicked my ass into gear on research and helped me make sure aspects of the military life I’m not familiar with were accurate.
And this book wouldn’t be like it is without my cover designer Cassie or my editor Melissa. Thank you both for working with me.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.M. Williams is just a simple girl from the south that found herself living abroad. When she’s not annoying her cat or reading, she’s spending time with her husband and traveling as much as possible. She has a serious case of wanderlust and wants to go as many places as possible while she can. She loves Cheerwine, sweet tea, and North Carolina (eastern style) BBQ as well as those crystal clear waters on the North Carolina coast.
Follow or like A.M. Williams on the following platforms:
Website: https://www.authoramwilliams.com
AllAuthor: http://amwilliamsauthor.allauthor.com
ALSO 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
Flirting with 40
Hard to Hold
Hard to Score
Hard to Lose
Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
Copyright
Introduction
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
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Also by A.M. Williams
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by K. Bromberg