AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You have amazing friends,” she said, burying herself deeper in my chest.
“No,” I corrected her. “We have amazing friends. They love you too. We’re all family now, as much as people who aren’t blood can be. And in the case of my sister, blood too.”
She laughed through her tears and reached up to kiss me, and we held each other in the dying orange light coming from the skylight above. Which reminded me.
“Oh, something else,” I said, breaking off from her and going to the wall. I flipped a switch and looked up. The sound of metal parts moving filled the space, and slowly, the light from the skylight disappeared. As the room became shrouded in darkness, I flipped other switches, turning on lights around the barn and lighting up each area.
“Wow,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “This is incredible.”
“Everything is self-sustaining, too,” I said. “Big solar panels on the roof, a backup generator for emergencies, and it still has the old cellar underneath in case we get another tornado.”
“This is honestly better than any place I’ve ever lived,” she said.
“And this is just the office.” I grinned. “If you want to hang out here while I unload the van, you can. I understand.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I have plenty of time to explore this. I want to be with you right now.”
I held out my hand once again.
“Do you want to go inside and get a shower?”
“More than I could possibly say,” she said.
28
KRISTEN
“Baby number three,” I said, shaking my head. “Are you ready?”
“Hell if I know,” Mallory replied. “I know I’m excited, but Owen and Gwendolyn are a handful already. I’m sure I’ll figure it out, though.”
“Hey, you have us,” Allison said, reaching high above her head to hang the last of the decorations.
“True,” Mallory said. “But you guys have Leo, too. Everybody has a little one now.”
“Except me,” I said.
“Yeah, about that,” Allison said teasingly.
“Don’t get her started,” Mallory chimed in. “Let’s let the poor girl be married for a little bit before she starts adding to the crew.”
“Someone is cranky today,” Allison said.
“Not cranky,” Mallory said. “Hungry. Why do we have to wait for the hors d'oeuvres if it’s going to mostly be us anyway?”
“Because,” Carmela said, coming in with a giant tray of cookies, “if we start digging in now, there won’t be anything left for Tamara when she gets here, or for the other guests.”
“Tamara is late. Her fault,” Mallory said with a laugh.
“Her plane got delayed,” Melanie said. “She can’t help it.”
“Well, maybe she shouldn’t have gone off to romp around the Galapagos Islands when she knew the luncheon was the day she got back,” Mal said to a laugh from the group of us.
“Fifteen minutes,” Allison said. “Hang on for fifteen minutes, love.”
“Fine,” Mallory said with an exaggerated eye roll. “So, Kristen, have you thought about kids yet, or did I put you on the spot?”
I huffed a laugh and shook my head. Mallory and I had gotten rather close pretty quickly, but it had been mostly foodie love while she dealt with being pregnant and her cravings increased, and her hanging out at the barn office with me while I came up with lessons. Graham had taken up riding again, and Mallory was a much bigger fan of snacking and watching television with me while he did it.
