Page 93 of Plotting Summer

“My heart is way too preoccupied with you to be set on anything else. Besides, this is our home.”

He smiles. “That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say.” The back of his fingers brush downward along my jaw, pausing on my chin. Then his thumb settles on my lip.

I close my eyes, relishing the sensation, when my phone dings in my hand. We both glance at the screen and read Maven’s incoming text, then our eyes meet.

“Well, it’s official,” I say, trying to breathe through the constricting feeling in my chest. “The world now knows that I’m Sunny Palmer.”

“What’s official is that the world’s about to fall in love with Capri Collins. Because you make it exceptionally effortless.”

I grin up at him, allowing his reassurance to calm me. “So you do love me?”

“I love you, Capri Sun.”

I slide my arm around his neck. “That’s good. Because I kind of love you too.”

Tristan shakes his head, smiling. But before he can comment on my very apparent understatement, I lift onto my toes and give him the most minty-fresh kiss of his life.

SEVERAL MONTHS LATER

I pull my Jeep into a spot in the parking garage and glance over at Jane, who looks as excited to be home as I am. After a week away, it feels good to be back on the island. Almost, anyway. A short boat ride away.

Over the past several months, I’ve been all over the country doing signings and interviews and even speaking at a few conferences. It’s been so incredibly fulfilling and so insanely exhausting. Thankfully, Maven’s kept my schedule doable with a lot of recouping time between tours and enough downtime while on them to restore my introverted battery. Meeting my readers has been more rewarding than I could ever have imagined, and I keep thinking what a waste of energy it was to spend years worrying about letting them down. Go figure. They are kind and gracious and encouraging and have filled a part of me as an author that I didn’t even know needed to be filled.

Did I say stupid things in front of hundreds of people? More times than I can count. Did I have a floodgate cry on two separate occasions in front of a similar number of people? Absolutely I did. Do I regret any of it? Not a minute.

And the fact that I got to have my people with me throughout the experience made it all the better. Between Tala, Jane, and my mom (once she got home from Europe) taking the longer distance trips, and Tristan joining me wherever he could manage, I often had someone in my corner. Even Grandma, Heath, Walker, and Stan made it to a few events. As did Joy and Mark. And for the first time in my life, I feel as though I’m being seen. By my family. By my community. By my readers.

“I’m still reeling that Secret Crush is going to be a movie,” Jane says, her bright eyes settling on me. “And that Presley James is going to play Cali! She’s going to be perfect.”

Jane and I give dreamy sighs in unison.

“She really is,” I say. “And I hope it’ll be the comeback role for her that all the magazines are claiming it will be.”

“I'm positive it will be. It hasn’t even been filmed yet, and it’s already the most anticipated upcoming movie release.” I'm not sure where Jane gets her information, but I don't say anything. “And the fact that Presley James literally spent all summer hiding out on Sunset Harbor means she’s totally going to nail the part.”

Suddenly overwhelmed by how grateful I am for Jane, I reach across the middle console and grab her hand. “Thanks again for coming with me.”

“Are you kidding? It was the best week ever! I loved every moment. Meeting more of my fellow Sunny Palmer fans, all the incredible food, and watching you step into the role I always knew you could fill. You’re amazing, Capri.”

“You’re amazing. I’ll forever be grateful that you forced me to publish my first book all those years ago. And even more so, that you came and introduced yourself to the quiet, awkward new girl in seventh grade.”

“Best friends ever since,” she says.

“And with the way things are going between you and Walker, maybe we’ll be sisters soon.”

The smile she gives me is so brilliant and full of excitement that tears prick my eyes. “It does feel right, doesn’t it?”

“It probably is the reason you fell in love with my brother.”

“Oh, definitely.”

We laugh until a loud bang on her window makes us both scream. Walker’s laughing face pops up on the outside of the window.

“Sheesh,” Jane says, opening the door with that same bright smile. “Talk about a welcome.”

“I’m guessing you’d prefer this?” Walker grabs her face and kisses her in a way that has me opening my own door to flee. After an exceptionally wild ride, the Summer of Jane Hayes was obviously a complete success, at least in the end. But if I’m being honest, I’m still getting used to the idea of Walker and Jane together. Not because I don’t absolutely love it, because I do—in theory. It’s just a little weird to have my best friend and my brother kissing every time I turn around. And sometimes when I’m just sitting there minding my own business. But I’m sure they feel the same way about me and Tristan.

I grab my luggage and Jane’s from the trunk, poking my head around the corner to see if the two of them are finished yet. They’re not, but because I’m eager to see Tristan and he should be getting off work soon, I can’t help myself. “There will be time for that later,” I say, offering Walker a bright smile when he glances over at me.