AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Love. That was a big word. I wasn’t ready to say it yet, but I certainly wasn’t scared off. Not by a long shot.
“Let’s do this.” I reached for his hand. “Starting with going inside and meeting everyone. You can leave if you want to after that.”
He hesitated a long moment, then finally gave a nod. “Let’s do this.”
He shut off the engine and we both got out of the truck. But I still felt his trepidation as we walked toward the front door of the gigantic cabin. This wasn’t in his comfort zone. In fact, this might be the one situation that could intimidate this man.
I’d just lifted my free hand to ring the doorbell when it burst open. A man with a big smile stood there. It was the groom himself—the man who’d stopped by the cabin to ask about my wrecked SUV.
“Dallas!” Bo said with a big smile. “I was wondering if we’d get the two of you out of that cabin.”
I looked over at the man standing next to me. Bo hadn’t indicated they really knew each other when he stopped by the cabin, but now he was greeting him like they were friends.
“Hey, everyone!” Bo called out. “Dallas and Phoebe are here.”
Hearing our names together like that warmed my heart. This was right. It was how it should have been all my life.
Dallas and Phoebe.
“Come on in,” Bo said.
I looked over at Dallas, who appeared more uncomfortable than ever. For a long, heart-stopping moment, I was sure he would make some excuse and bolt, maybe never to return. That was okay, though. I knew where he lived. I’d just have someone drop me off at his place when the wedding was over.
Instead, I tugged on Dallas’s hand and he budged, following me straight into the house. Progress.
I couldn’t help but smile as he said hi to the dozen or so guests gathered around. Some were visiting relatives, some were from this area. It made sense that Bo was well known, considering he was the town bartender. That tended to make a person popular.
Dallas and I eventually settled onto the couch with the rest of the group and waited as the newly arrived catering crew set up food for the rehearsal dinner. The bride and groom had decided no rehearsal was necessary. We were lucky just to be able to move forward with the wedding at all, considering the weather.
“I guess this beats steak made on a propane grill,” Dallas commented.
I shook my head. “I can’t wait to try your steak. I’m definitely going to take you up on that dinner offer as soon as this wedding is over.”
I smiled at him, then snuggled against him. I put my head on his shoulder as we listened to the people around us talk.
I felt at home here—not just with these people, but in Blackbear Bluff in general. I guess I’d never thought of myself as a small-town girl before. I’d assumed I’d live in the suburbs for the rest of my life. But in just a half a day, my entire worldview had changed.
This was my future. This was my man, and some of these people would become my friends.
A sigh escaped, and Dallas couldn’t help but hear it. He leaned away a little to look down at me, then moved back toward me, planting a kiss on my temple.
“I love you,” he whispered.
I looked up at him and mouthed the same words back to him. They were words I’d be saying for the rest of my life.
EPILOGUE
DALLAS
Iwoke up with a smile on my face.
Okay, so I did that a lot these days. It happened when you were married to the most amazing woman alive.
But today, I had even more reasons to smile. It was snowing. That meant the new daycare in town would be closed, which meant Phoebe couldn’t go to work.
Still smiling, I left my wife sleeping in bed and headed to the kitchen. I fired up the solar-powered stove Bo Phillips had convinced me to buy and opened the full-size fridge. Now that Phoebe and I were talking about starting a family, I looked at my lifestyle a little differently.
It was no longer about me. It was about making a home for my family.
