His lips curled. “What?”
I did my best to look coy. “Since we’re here at Firefly, I wondered, are you going to kiss me when the clock strikes midnight? Or were you thinking about dodging my lips and running away again?”
Mark gave me an amused glare. “Cute.”
I grinned.
Before I had the chance to tease him further about our parking lot miss from a few months ago, he leaned in deliberately and captured my lips with his.
I had planned on telling him I thought it turned out just fine, but then I stopped thinking altogether. Vaguely I heard the sounds of the countdown all around us. But, for once, I didn’t care about breaking the rules.
Thiswas right where I belonged.
Our first book club meeting was happening over at Chloe and Jordan’s house. It was technically Becca’s book club, but she lived on the side of a mountain, and with the slight chance of snow in the January forecast, none of us wanted to risk it.
I’d just grabbed a plate of snacks and joined everyone in the living room when Chloe welcomed a late arrival.
I breathed a sigh of relief when my sister slipped her shoes off and passed Chloe her puffy black jacket to hang up.
With all the people, the chatting, and the extroverting, I knew this wasn’t really Joan’s thing. But one afternoon a few weeks back, she’d stopped by my office and seen a book on my desk. It turned out Joan was a big reader. I couldn’t ever remember her toting around worn paperbacks on the farm or at the dinner table, but we’d talked for half an hour about my book club’s latest selection. Then I’d invited her to join us.
And until right this minute, I hadn’t been sure she’d show up.
But she murmured quiet hellos to all the ladies present and then took the seat beside me on the sofa.
“Hey,” I said and held out my plate.
“Hey,” she replied and snagged a party meatball on a toothpick.
The discussion was a good one. I’d been in book clubs before where people didn’t read the book or they were too uppity to select romance titles for their monthly picks. But this event was nothing like others I’d attended in the past.
Becca came prepared with discussion questions, and everyone joined in and shared their opinions. Mac and Laramie got into it a little bit over the hero’s domineering tendencies. But the rest of us sided with Larry in thinking Rhys Winterborne was elite-level book boyfriend material.
My sister mostly listened from where she sat at my side, but I heard her quiet laugh a time or two and felt buoyed by it. I was grateful that she was making the effort. Ever since the Parade Float Fight of 2023—as Brady referred to it—we’d been much more honest with one another. I still had moments of big-sister hero worship and she still made fun of my wall-mounted bass, but our relationship was real in a way it never had been.
My life was totally different now than it was six months ago. My five-year plan was blown completely out of the water. But I liked the way it looked from this side. The pieces sparkled like floating confetti—like strings of twinkle lights on a North Carolina night or a blanket of stars in the black velvet sky.
I had more than I ever thought I deserved and a farmer waiting for me at home.
epilogue
MARK
One year and eight months later
I could hear the enthusiastic pitch of Candace’s voice long before I reached the front steps of the Apple House. It was followed by a chorus of second graders’ cheers and shouts.
I bit down on my smile as I took the stairs two at a time, eager to see her. In the nearly two years we’d been together—a year of that married—I hadn’t been able to curb that desire to be close to her. And now, especially, the protective urge was strong.
A moment later, Candace came into view. She was in front of the information board in the back of the Apple House. She’d cleared off the space and put up materials about pollinators and the life cycle of the apple tree shortly after setting up her curriculum.
Her parents and Joan had fully supported Candace’s idea to start group tours and field trip visits, complete with educational talks followed by a tour of the fields. Kids got to ask questions and then pick their apples to take home.
“Make sure you lift, twist, and pull,” Candace said brightly.
Everything about her glowed. Not just because she enjoyed this part of her job on the farm most of all, but because once the second trimester had hit, she’d stopped feeling nauseous and miserable all the time.
I crossed my arms and leaned against a pillar behind the group while she finished up her instructions for the students, who were seated with their teachers hovering on the periphery.
