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EPILOGUE – KINSLEYrule twenty-six: for every happily ever after, there are a thousand others waiting in the wings for their stories to be told.
never give up.One Month Later“OhmyGodI’mgonnadie,” Saylor gasped, staring at the picture on my phone.
“I know!” I breathed, drawing out the ‘w’ until I finally ran out of air. “She’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life!”
“I’m gonna dieeeee.” Saylor dropped to the stool before she stood back up. “Show me again, show me again!”
I flipped through the rest of the pictures Kai had sent over of baby Tegan. I couldn’t believe she was finally here, and she was the cutest little button-nosed baby I’d ever seen in my life.
All right, she was all red and wrinkled, but she was a baby.
I imagined birth was traumatic for them.
God only knew I got red and wrinkled after spending too long in the cold, never mind exiting a vagina.
It was Sunday, and me and Saylor were here at the bookstore and, theoretically, cleaning up after yesterday’s signing. I say theoretically because we’re actually cooing over baby Tegan, but I digress.
Abigail Lyon’s signing two weeks ago was so successful that her publisher had agreed to let some of their other authors come here, especially authors who were local to the general area. There weren’t a lot of authors from Montana, but White Peak was easily accessible enough from the big cities that it wasn’t an issue for them.
Her presence here combined with the online store had also sent our sales through the roof. There were some books we couldn’t get enough of, and our first small release of our offshoot business, Bibliophile Merch, was selling out on a regular basis, too.
Who knew book lovers liked mugs and sweaters that much?
Well, us, but whatever.
The bell over the door rang with the slamming open of the front door, and both Saylor and I took a step back. Holley stormed in, shoving the door shut behind her so hard it made me wince.
“Gee, for someone who just became an aunt, you’re awfully angry,” Saylor said sarcastically. “Can I interest you in a sucker?” She held out our latest new addition—suckers that changed the color of your tongue, free with every purchase.
Or every kid she happened to think was cute.
That was costing a lot in suckers…
Holley turned on her with a glare. “Is my pain funny to you, Saylor? Does it bring you pleasure?”
“Yes.” She grinned, unwrapping a blue sucker and shoving it in her mouth.
“Saylor!” I nudged her and turned to Holley. “What’s wrong? Is something wrong with Ivy and Tegan?”
She shook her head, her dark hair swinging with the motion. She pushed her glasses back up her nose and sagged against the counter. “She’s fine. Tegan’s fine—I just left the hospital. Did you get Kai’s text?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “She’s adorable.”
“No. She’s small, she screams, she poops black crap, and she looks a little like a robotic monster from a nineties movie,” she replied. “But otherwise, she’s the best thing in the entire world and I love her so much.”
“Then why are you so angry?” Saylor asked.
“Because.” Holley’s nostrils flared. “Sebastian. Stone.”
Ah.
Seb was back in town.
“Where?” Saylor stood on her tiptoes and looked around, then dropped back to her heels with a grin. “Kidding. I remember when he was six and put mud down his pants. There’s no way I can drool over him.”
Yeah… I remembered that, too.
Kindergarten was fun.
“You are getting on my nerves,” Holley warned her, pointing at her. “I went to grab a sandwich and saw him in the parking lot taking pictures with a bunch of kids.”
“Was it definitely him?”
“Who else in this stupid ass fucking town is going to want kids to take pictures with them, Kinsley?”
I took a step back. “All right, settle your tea kettle. I was only saying.”
“Sorry. I just—” She blew out a long breath and sat back in the nearest armchair. “It’s been a long time, and I guess it’s that thing where you think you’re over something but you aren’t.”
I looked at Saylor. “Did you think she was over it?”
“Never in a million years,” she responded. “Did you?”
“Not a chance.”
We both looked at Holley.
“All right, fuck off.” She pointed between us both. “I don’t care if he’s the hottest thing in baseball since, well, crap. I don’t know because I don’t know a thing about baseball! I don’t care if he’s our hometown hero! I don’t care if there are women all over this stupid country who want to get in his pants and if there are women who have!” She slammed her hands on the arms of the chair and pushed to her feet. “But I am over that night, and I most definitely am over Sebastian Stone!”
She stormed off toward the back room, taking her purse and her coat with her, and leaving a mess of slushy rain across the wooden floor behind her.
