Page 10 of A Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas

Cody leaned his elbows on the table. “I love you.”

As always, the words filled her to the brim with satisfaction. “I love you too.”

Another kiss, and another after that, until Cody groaned and escaped the table. “If I don’t go now, I’m going to do something I regret.”

“Make me bagels with cream cheese for breakfast?” Fern batted her lashes.

Heat simmered in his gaze. “There would be cream involved, but no bagels.”

“Dirty boy.”

They grinned at each other, and she rose to give him a proper farewell.

An hour later she rolled into the family bookstore. The gentle tinkle of the bell above the entrance to Fallen Books was still ringing as she hurriedly pulled the door closed to block out the icy air.

“Hey, I’m looking for the Qu–Sh volume of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. You have one laying around this joint?”

From the comfortable chairs arranged around a gas fireplace at the side of the room, a whole bevy of eyes turned her direction. Jackpot.

“That’ll set you back at least fifty bucks. One hundred if it’s in great shape.” Fern’s mom, Sophie, rounded from behind the desk, an oversized teapot in her hands. “Morning, sweetie. Are you ready for our new book club?”

“I think so, but I didn’t realize this would be a family affair.” Fern counted heads. All three of her older sisters were there plus her grandmother Sonora. “Are we reading The Shell Seekers?”

Her oldest sister laughed. Ivy pushed a strand of her white-blonde hair behind her ear then gestured Fern forward to the seat next to her. “Bonus points to you for being able to pull that reference out so quickly. Today we decide what to read for next month.”

“And then we spend the rest of the morning eating the very excellent treats I baked. And gossiping.” Tansy blinked innocently, the gold ring of her brown eyes reflecting the flames of the fireplace. “I mean, discussing the very important things happening in town.”

“And who the important things are happening to?” Rose suggested.

“Well, I was going to suggest we could gossip about our men, but there are some things I don’t need Grandma Sonora or Mom to share.” Tansy gave an exaggerated shiver.

“You’re lucky you adopted them all,” Grandma Sonora told Fern’s mom, Sophie, as she accepted a cup of tea. “Otherwise you’d have had to keep telling them you found them under cabbage leaves in the garden.”

“Why do you think we gave them the names we did? We had it all planned out.” Sophie settled in her own chair and sipped contentedly. “Our garden produced a lovely arrangement of girls.”

“Ah.” Fern nodded at her sister Rose sagely. “So that’s why you’re so prickly at times.”

“Fern,” her mother scolded.

The sisters all hid smiles. At least for a moment before Tansy outright snickered. “Glad someone other than me said it because I didn’t want to be the bad one today.”

“You brought orgasm bites. You’re never the bad sister when you bring those,” Fern assured her, picking up one of the chocolate doughnut holes and dipping it in the accompanying chocolate sauce.

This time Grandma Sonora was the one laughing under her breath. “At the risk of making you all break out into hives, Tansy brought what? And why don’t I have the recipe?”

It was like being wrapped up in a warm blanket in the family room. The voices were the same as Fern had heard all her life, but now there was something extra to it. And while they discussed books and shared plans for the coming months, the emotional connection was that much richer for now being a group of grown adult women instead of children and adults.

Her family, Fern decided once again, was like a garden. They all kept growing. In their own ways and on their own paths, but together they kept making their shared world a more beautiful place.

She hugged them all at the end, promising to bring Cody by Rose and Chance’s place for dinner that week. Then Fern stopped at Buns and Roses and picked up lunch to go.

She pulled into Silver Stone and made her way to the main office, waving at familiar faces en route.

“Make sure that delivery shows up on time this week. No, I don’t care that there’s a sale happening in two weeks, we want that order now, as promised. If that’s an issue, I will discuss matters with a new supplier.” Charity motioned Fern into the office, pointing to the headset and earpiece she wore. “Well, if the order is here by Friday, we’ll be happy to stay with you.”

Even as Fern settled into a chair, her friend’s annoyed expression brightened as if she’d won a battle.

“Thanks so much. Have a nice day.” Charity hung up with a hard poke to her keyboard. “Asshole.”