AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No need to start now,” I reply, giving her a cheesy smile.
“Oh, come on. That’s no fun.”
I pin her with a look. “Talking about all the ways men let you down isneverfun.”
That shuts her up, and honestly I don’t even feel that bad because the last thing I want to do is talk about Jay with Briar. My sister dated a horrible man before she met her husband, so it might seem normal to gab with her about toxic men and the things they do that drive us insane. But Briar ended up falling in love with and marrying a man who treats her like a fuckingqueen, whereas I am going to be alone and loveless for the better part of the next two decades. It doesn’t feel quite tit for tat.
“I’m sorry for bringing up Jay,” Briar says as we’re pushing out of Happily Ever After and onto Main Street once we’ve finished up. “You’ve said before you don’t want to talk about him, and I should have respected that boundary instead of being nosy.”
I shake my head, watching as she locks the front door then gives it a tug for good measure.
“You don’t have to apologize, Briar. You weren’t being nosy, you were being…a sister.”
Her lips tilt up at the sides, and she loops her arm in mine as we walk down the street, heading toward where both of us have our cars parked in the lot at the end of the block that’s reserved for Main Street shop employees.
“Can I ask you one more thing and then I promise I’ll drop it?” she asks once we’ve come to a stop behind my car.
Sighing, I nod, knowing I’ll probably regret it.
“Is there a reason you don’t want to date Reid? I mean…I feel like you guys would be so cute together.”
Licking my lips, I can’t help but let out an uncomfortable laugh. “Reid and I are just friends, Briar. I’ve told you that.”
“Right, but…I mean, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t become something more, right? I bet he’d be an amazing dad. Are you not attracted to him?”
At that, I laugh again, shaking my head. “That is definitely not the problem,” I reply, maybe a bit more honestly than I should.
I think back to that night when Reid and I almost kissed, to the night where I thought about him in the shower. Mixed in with those memories are the ones of him with Junie in the lake, eating mac and cheese with us against his better judgment, the hike, sitting on the patio drinking wine together.
Of course I’m attracted to Reid. Of course it would be amazing to have a man like him to wake up to every day, to be a father to Junie, a partner to me.
But life isn’t a fairy tale. Forevers are hard to come by, and I knew long ago—maybe even before Junie—that it probably wouldn’t happen for me. It’s safer to just accept that. For both of us.
“It’s just…not a good idea, Briar,” I say, shrugging my shoulders, not wanting to get into all that. “And that needs to be good enough.”
Her eyes search mine for a long minute before she nods. “Alright. That’s fair.”
Then she reaches out and tugs me in for a hug.
“But youdodeserve a happily ever after, Busy. Everyone does,” she says before pulling back to look at me. “It took me a long time to learn that lesson, and I hope one day, you learn to believe it, too.”
chapter twelve
Reid
Summer crowds in Cedar Point are always a lot to handle. Families, singles, groups, kids at summer camp, people towing boats and jet skis…it’s an eventful time around town.
The fireworks show in our little community is recognized throughout the region—hell, throughout the state—for being one of the best. A massive floating dock is motored out to the middle of the lake, manned with about a dozen or so pyrotechnics experts and a few firefighters, and at nine PM on the dot, once the sun has finally fully set behind the crest of the mountains, the sky gets set on fire for about fifteen minutes. It’s bright, powerful, and loud as hell as the booms ricochet off the walls of trees and reverberate around the lake.
Understandably, a show of our caliber is an even larger draw than any other period during the summer, resulting in almost every hotel, B&B, campsite, and guestroom completely maxed out and the city pushed to capacity when it comes to resources. Residents are warned weeks in advance to have a spare tank or two of gas and to stock up on grocery necessities. Some locals even go out of town to avoid the masses, not wanting to deal with the traffic or congestion that happens in almost every corner of Cedar Point.
As exhausting as the holiday can be, I never complain, because from a business perspective, it’s the most profitable week of the year. From the moment we open the door at eight in the morning until we shut down at eight PM—an intentionally long day to capitalize on the foot traffic around Main Street—we have customers. And not just people wandering around to escape the heat. They’re active, interested, paying customers. Something about visiting a small mountain town turns everyone into a rustic furniture connoisseur, imagining their own fireplaces back home bookended by two leather chairs made from locally sourced wood.
“Heather, can you write up an invoice for that gentleman looking at the bookshelf against the wall?” I ask, digging around underneath the register, looking for a pen. “I have to help a customer load up a chair into their RV back at the shop.”
She nods. “Can do. Also, I think it’s time for Jen to leave for the day.”
“Ask her to stay another hour and I’ll pay her time and a half?”
