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Jamie chuckles. "She definitely wouldn’t. She's way too proud for that."

"You have something planned out in that pretty head of yours, don't you?" Emily frowns.

I shrug, not able to fight a promising grin. "You'll have to wait and see."

Chapter 42

Brooke

“Brooke, you have to come with me. Right now.” Evan’s voice is swimming in urgency. The bell is still softly chiming from how abruptly he pushed the door open. For once, I don’t have it in me to complain.

"Hello to you too. What's going on?" I’m already reaching for my jacket, flung over the back of a chair.

"You'll see when we're there. Now hurry, hurry." He ushers me through the door and into his car. “But the animals- “

“Look, Mom is over there; she’s got it.” He points to our right. Mom gives me a wave, an amused grin making the corners of her eyes crinkle.

"Okay. Good. Are you going to tell me what's going on?" I ask him, heart beating in my throat. Is it an emergency?

“You’ll see in a bit. Patience.”

“What do you mean, ‘patience?’ You’re the one who kidnapped me in the middle of a workday and won’t tell me where we’re going. ‘Patience,’ he says,” I mutter under my breath and cross my arms in front of my chest, pouting.

Only a few minutes later, he pulls into the property. My dream property, supposed to have become the sanctuary. The one that slipped right through my fingers.

My giant ‘fuck you’ from the universe.

Did I consider selling everything I have to make up for the missing portion? For example, an organ?

Maybe.

"What are we doing here?" I ask him, gaze gliding over the acres of land and the abandoned main house and stables. Absentmindedly, I rub my chest, my heart hurting for what could have been. "Do you want to rub salt in the wound? That would be a new low, even for you."

"Not quite." He motions for me to get out of the car, already opening his door.

"Seriously, Evan, what are we doing here?" I walk carefully, afraid there might be a thick layer of ice under the snow. Judging by his slipping and the high-pitched squeal he lets out, I guessed right.

"You will see in only a few moments. Come on." He extends his hand towards me. I take it more for fear of him falling and breaking his neck than fear I might slip.

He leads me around the stables to the main house, up the five steps to the main entrance.

“Evan, we can’t. We’re trespassing.” But he ignores me. The door opens with a soft creak.

“Surprise!” Several voices shout the word, and I tumble backwards against Evan, heart thundering in my chest.

"Holy crap!" Stairs on both sides of the entrance room to the main house lead up to the second level with a balcony-like space. Up there, leaning against the railing, are Kylie, Nic, Lauren, Henry, and, of course, Kieran. But also, Miss Bernard, more relaxed than I’ve ever seen her. The divorce is making her unrecognizable, in the best way possible.

"Sorry!" she grins and walks down the stairs to our right carefully.

"What?" I frown, turning from Evan to the gallery upstairs. "What is the surprise? Kieran, what's going on?"

"So, I kind of kept a secret from you." He also walks down the stairs to our left, pointedly staring at a spot behind me. "Or rather, we. Remember how you took over the carousel for a few hours on the second day of the Christmas market?"

"Yes, of course." I furrow my eyebrows and tilt my head. "What does it have to do with this?"

"Well, while you were sending little kids on puke rides, the three of us were on a mission.” He points at himself, Nic, and Lauren. “To give you the gist, we shared videos about your shelter and your mission on our respective social media profiles."

I glance at Nic and Lauren. "Wait. I thought you were helping Amanda with her antique store, and you were taking some kind of online course? What do you have to do with social media?"