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“I’m dying here, Dana; please spill it.”
“Are You For Reel is number one on the New York Times Bestseller list!”
I do not know if there is a word for screaming, laughing, and crying simultaneously, but I am doing that.
Immediately, I turn and grab onto Cash because I think my knees just turned to jelly. “You did it, baby. I knew you could.”
Somewhere along the way, I thank my agent. Someone takes my phone and hands me tissues. Cash helps me sit down and gather my thoughts, breath, and sanity.
“I can’t believe you did all this, Cash. I can’t believe you got everyone here without me noticing. I can’t believe there was cake in the building, and I didn’t know!”
Everyone laughs, and thankfully, someone cuts off my hysterics by demanding we cut the cake.
And that’s when I learn it’s espresso chocolate, which Cash serves with Bonnie’s homemade coffee ice cream.
Bonnie and Bill are doing much better these days. Bonnie is taking her thyroid medicine like a champ, and feeling as perky as she should. Bill is keeping up with his physical therapy. And everyone on Paradise Lane is helping out at the bait shop and general store whenever they can. Bonnie insists on handing out free treats for all the volunteers on Paradise Lane, but there’s always a pile of money on the counter. That’s just the way it works around here.
After we’ve all had our fill of goodies, Cash strides around the table, fills everyone’s glasses with champagne, and makes a toast.
Everyone raises their glasses.
“For my wife, who stole my heart the day she stole my ice cream.”
I look up at my husband, who looks back at me with so much admiration that I wonder who he’s looking at.
Me. He’s looking at me. Cash is so much more than the grump I met a year ago. He is my match.
And he did all this for me.
Bestseller or no bestseller, whatever insecurities I’ve ever felt about my future seem to dissipate like smoke.
All I feel is a bottomless peace, deeper, broader, and grander than the lake we call home.
THE END
