AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m really glad you decided to come to Cedar Springs for Christmas,” Maureen said after pouring her own glass and joining her at the table. “Did you know it’d been years since I’ve been back here myself?”
Amber shook her head. “I didn’t know. Are you glad you’re back?”
“Very much.” The smile that crossed the older woman’s face was genuine. “Watching my boys find love the way they have, well…the lake has always been a special place and once again, it’s brought my family together and more than doubled it in size.” She laughed.
Amber laughed, too. “It does seem like a special place.” She meant it. “I haven’t spent much time in small towns until very recently, but I’m discovering that I like them. A lot.”
It was something she’d been thinking about more and more since being in Crystal Creek with Josie. And those feelings had only intensified in the days since she’d been in Cedar Springs. Never before had Amber felt more at home, more…well, she didn’t know what. But it just felt right. Way more right than moving to Toronto and taking a corporate job. And although she wasn’t completely abandoning the idea of traveling either, more and more, she liked the idea of settling in a small town. She told Maureen as much and then went on to tell her how she’d met Cole and how things had changed so quickly for her.
“Wow.” Maureen shook her head slowly and took a slow sip of her wine. “That’s a lot of change, for sure. Declan told me that you were definitely the most responsible one, even more so than him, which I find hard to believe.”
Amber laughed. As responsible as Declan was, he had always been far more adventurous than she was. It wouldn’t have fazed him at all to jump on a plane with someone he’d just met.
“And how do you feel about it all?” Maureen asked.
“Honestly?”
“Of course.”
Amber took her time to answer and the other woman didn’t rush her. “I feel okay about turning down the job. I didn’t think I would,” she said. “But I do. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I don’t want to spend my life working at that intensity for someone else. I feel good about that.”
Maureen nodded. “And the rest of it? What’s next for you?”
She tried to hide her reaction by lifting her wine glass, but judging by the look on Maureen’s face, she hadn’t been fast enough to hide the confusion in her heart.
“Talk to me,” she encouraged.
“I’m mixed,” Amber confessed. “Not about leaving Toronto.” She shook her head. “I think I’m more than ready to leave the big city behind. It never felt like home to me. In fact, Vancouver never felt like home either.” She blinked a few times before looking up again. “Do you think that’s strange? That I’ve never actually felt at home anywhere?”
“Anywhere?”
“No,” Amber admitted. “I felt at home when we were in Crystal Creek. And, I know it’s only been a few days, but…”
“You feel at home here, too?”
Amber nodded.
“That’s not strange at all.” Maureen’s smile was warm. “Cedar Springs has something special.”
“I don’t want to leave.” She blurted it before she realized what she’d said. A moment after the words left her lips, Amber pressed her hand to her mouth. “I don’t know why I said that.”
“Because you meant it.”
She shook her head, but even as she denied it, she knew it was the truth. She’d said the words because she’d meant them. She didn’t want to leave. Travelingdidsound appealing. Being with Colewasappealing. But the more time she spent with her family, the more she wanted to stay put.
“I did,” Amber admitted. “But I don’t know what to do.”
“Ian told me that one of your plans might include going to Australia with your boyfriend after the holidays. Is that the problem?”
She nodded. It was so easy to open up to this woman she didn’t know. Maybe that was exactly why it was easy. Because she had no idea who Amberwas,who shehadbeen, or who she thought shecouldbe. No preconceived notions at all. It was freeing to talk to someone like that and without even realizing it, Amber was opening up to a whole host of feelings that had been building inside her.
“Have you told him yet?”
“Cole?”
Maureen nodded. “Have you told him how you’re feeling?”
“No,” Amber said quickly.
