AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gran nods, finally reaching for her drink. “Just want to make sure you’re thinking with the right head.”
“Gran!”
She waves a hand at me. “Don’t act so scandalized. I’m a flesh and blood woman, after all.”
Fuck, this is going south quick. I’d rather her stare me down and make me squirm in my seat than talk about her sex life. “What’s this reality show anyway?”
Gran lights up, a sign my deflection attempt worked. “It’s calledMarrying an Alaskan Mountain Man.It’s all about—” Gran locks her gaze out the window. I follow her sightline to a man with a camera on his shoulder.
Sliding out of booth with impressive speed, Gran snags her purse. “You’ve got the check, right?” She runs off before I can answer, leaving me with my hardly touched lunch and too many thoughts.
I pull the ring from my pocket and stare at it. I’ve changed my mind a dozen times since last night about it. Is it bad luck to propose with the same ring she left in the bridal suite with the note? Would a new ring signify a new chapter? But this ring, the one I spent weeks searching for, is everything she ever wanted. I still remember the way she gushed over it for days when I first slipped it on her finger.
My phone vibrates against the laminate table, and Wes Ashburn’s name appears on the screen.
My heart pounds heavier in my chest as I answer.
“Congrats, Mason. The Bernards accepted your offer.”
CHAPTER15
Willow
Ayawn assaults me as Kinley pulls up to the diner. Last night was a fucking long one, trying to coax Aurora out of the tree house after Kinley hurt her feelings. For twenty-three, she sure acts like a pouting child sometimes. Definitely the wild card of the three of us. The most amazing part of last night, though, was Mason staying until the very last moment.
I’ve never stopped loving him, but the final wall I was keeping up has officially crumbled.
If only I knew what thatbutwas about. As tired as I was after everything settled down, that pesky worry kept me tossing and turning.
“Why isn’t Grandma Rose here?” Aurora asks with a yawn of her own.
I shrug. “Maybe she ran home to grab something.”
“There’s a sign on the door,” Kinley says, pointing.
“Yeah, it says closed, genius.” Aurora rolls her eyes.
“Hey—”
“Nope.” I fall into the mediator role out of old habit as the three of us exit the car. “None of us have had coffee. Until everyone is a cup in, no one speaks unless it’s absolutely necessary.” The last thing I need is these two at each other’s throats all day. I have enough on my mind. If I had friends in LA, I’d call them up. But all I have are my sisters. And we haven’t been close enough for me to divulge my secrets in three years.
“Huh,” Kinley says, reaching for an envelope with our names on it. Grandma Rose’s handwriting. She pulls out a folded letter. Three certificates fall out and flutter a few feet away with the breeze. I snag them before they can travel too far. Running is the lowest item on my priority list today. Unless it’s from a bear.
“What are those?” Aurora asks me.
“Gift certificates to the spa,” Kinley answers, holding up the letter as evidence. “Grandma Rose closed the diner today.”
“Closed?” Aurora and I repeat in unison.
“‘I’m headed to Anchorage to meet with my travel agent. If you saw him, you’d understand why I’m going in person.’”
There’s a collectiveewwfrom the three of us.
“‘You three need to learn to get along or you’ll burn my diner to the ground.’”
We stare at each other, almost unsure how to respond. We’ve been staying in the same house for a few days, but with how busy we are at the diner—and how much I’ve been sneaking off and spending time with Mason—we haven’t had a lot of quality time together. “What’s the worst that could happen?” I ask.
Kinley and Aurora look at each other, then at me, shrugging their shoulders.
