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“And I never want to make you feel those things again. I promise that I’ll never intentionally hurt you. I never would, and I never will.”
Everything inside me knew and believed what Brady was saying was true.
It was love. It was strong enough—wewere strong enough together—to get past the temporary hurt and pain we’d both been feeling.
“I know, Brady. Thank you. I believe you. I love you.”
And when Brady put his arms around me and pulled me close, kissing my forehead and telling me again how much I meant to him?
It was perfect. It was home.
It was everything I wanted, and I felt my heart—the heart that had felt broken before Brady had walked back in—start to open. And I already knew I could trust it this time. That Brady’s love was what it had been waiting for, was all my heart had needed to finally have the chance to bloom.
Chapter Thirty-Nine -Brady
One Year Later
I heard the truck door slam outside and moved quickly to the window I’d been pacing in front of for the past half hour. It was only seven o’clock in the morning, but I had been awake since five, mentally walking through the day ahead, trying to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything.
Looking out the window, I could see the men unloading the ladders and tools they’d need for their job. The large sign in the back of the pickup looked perfect, even from a distance. It was exactly what I had hoped for when I’d placed the order, but now, in person? It was fantastic.
Better than I could have imagined—and that was saying a lot, since I’d thought of little else over the past few weeks.
Months, really, since the idea had first started to take root.
I grabbed the keys to the shop off the dresser and looked over at Joanne, still sleeping soundly. I grinned.
Joanne had no idea what was about to happen, and it made me almost giddy with happiness to imagine the look on her face when she woke up and came downstairs, when—hopefully, please God—I had everything set up and looking fantastic.
The year before, The Anderson-Beachman’s Wedding Day—had passed in a blur, the shop so busy and I still so new to it all that other than a huge bouquet and a nice dinner, I hadn’t really had the chance to show the woman I loved just how much I, well,lovedher.
Joanne knew, but still, not a single day passed that I didn’t feel grateful to my father… to Castle Falls… to God or the universe or my own dumb luck that she had come into my life and that, by some miracle, I had found a way to turn that into forever.
Or… hopefully forever.
If Joanne said yes.
A rumble from the truck outside and the faint sound of voices from the workers who’d come to install the sign jolted me back into action, and I took the stairs down to the shop so quickly I had to catch myself a couple of times to keep from slipping.
That would be just great, wouldn’t it?All this excitement, only to surprise Joanne with a trip to the hospital.
But no. There would be no hospital trips that day. This was going to beJoanne’sday, Joanne’s show, Joanne’s time to shine.
And I wouldn’t do anything—accidentally or otherwise—to screw it up.
Hurrying through the shop, the grin that I’d been wearing ever since I’d woken up got even wider.
Joanne was amazing, and over the last year, the cheerful, welcoming atmosphere of the place that I had noticed the first time I’d walked in had been… not changed, but definitely transformed.
It had become somethingmore.
Morewelcoming.Morecheerful. More polished and professional and efficient, but more wonderful, too. With Joanne’s innovative business ideas and the support of our customers, my decision to keep the place had proved not onlyright, but immensely profitable.
Working together, Jo and I—and Naomi, too—had been able to make the business Henry had started to honor my mother truly bloom.
“Good morning,” I said, finally making it out to the parking lot just as the two sign guys were getting everything set up. I greeted them with a friendly wave, sure that my excitement about the day—about Joanne’s surprise—was visible on my face. “Thank you for coming out so early. I know it’s not the typical way you guys do things.”
“You’re right about that,” the bigger of the two men said, grinning back at him. “But we were told this was a special occasion, so we’re happy to help.”
