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I take one of the glasses from her hand, and she takes a seat beside me on the floor.
I nod, unable to find the words to express the depth of my emotions.
“But it’s also a new beginning,” she continues, “and as salty as I am at Weston for stealing you from me, it’s a chance for you guys to create new memories together.”
I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes again, but this time, they aren’t tears of sadness; they are tears of hope.
I lean over and rest my head on her shoulder. “I’m ready,” I murmur.
“Glad one of us is,” she grumbles.
Weston appears with his own flute of bubbly.
Brandee raises hers in the air. “To new beginnings,” she bellows.
We clink our glasses together and shout the same.
Weston takes a sip, then sets it on the coffee table and reaches for Kaela. “Let me have her. I’ll get her changed and read her a story while you two watch that sappy Christmas movie,” he offers.
I hand my sleepy daughter off to him, and she instantly goes limp in his arms as he whispers to her.
Brandee and I watch as they disappear down the hallway.
“Dammit, there is nothing sexier than a man being sweet to a baby, is there?” Brandee mumbles.
“Nope,” I agree.
“I’m so happy for you. I’d ask if he had a brother you could set me up with, but we all know that door has slammed shut,” she gripes.
“I take it, your date didn’t go well last night?” I ask.
She frowns. “He wore sunglasses. In the restaurant. I kept waiting to see if he’d realize it. Like,I can’t see the menu that well. Why is it so dark in here? Oh, silly me. I forgot to take these off. Or maybe they were those stupid transition lenses that are supposed to lighten up once you’re out of the sunlight. But nope. He was just a douchebag,” she explains.
“Ew.”
“Right? And that’s not the worst part. His card was declined. I ended up paying for dinner and a taxi home because I wasn’t getting back in the car with him.”
I listen to her recount her experience and think to myself,Some people go their whole lives searching for true love. Hoping to make an intimate connection with another human being.How blessed am I that I found it not once, but twice?
“Sara-Beth did say the boys have some single cousins coming to the wedding,” I tell her.
Her head snaps to me. “The hell you say?”
I nod.
“Interesting.”
I laugh, and the heaviness of the day seems to float off my shoulders and away.
I look up to the ceiling and smile.
New beginnings.
Weston
I’m standing in the office, facing down an angry Anna.
She has been spending most days at the boutique since the ski resort opened, and today was a busy day, as the Santa’s Village—complete with holiday shopping, food, and the big guy himself—opened this morning. I offered to take Baby Duck to spend the day with me, as December is usually a slow month on the farm.
