Page 5 of All You Need Is Love

Shannon pulled her gaze from his. “Noah! Lucky! Time to go.”

“Aw, man!” But despite his protest, the boy dragged his feet, hanging onto Lucky’s collar as he trudged toward her.

She turned back to Marshall. “Thank you for teaching me to catch. And for listening while I talked your ear off.”

There had been something so freeing about sharing with someone she’d never see again. Because in a town the size of this one, everyone knew everyone else’s business. And to them, Shannon Baker was merely the “shyest” member of the ginormous Baker clan, the daughter of the local pizza parlor owners, the younger sister of twins Tyler and Quinn.

The one always in her sister’s vibrant and terrifying shadow.

But Marshall No Name from Who Knew Where—he only saw what she’d shown him. Whether he recognized it or not, he’d given her a gift. The ability, for a brief moment in time, to be more than she could be otherwise.

“It was my pleasure.” He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it. Frowned. “Maybe I’ll see you around?”

He wasn’t going to ask for her number then. But what did she expect? She may have momentarily felt like Cinderella at the ball, but he was obviously someone else’s Prince Charming.

Besides, she didn’t have time for romance anyway. Her attention needed to stay focused on Noah’s adoption. And, more immediately, on the Baker family reunion. She was kind of in charge of the whole thing since her cousin Ashley had handed it over to her last month.

Shannon forced a smile. “Maybe.”

“Would it be weird to ask for a hug?” And there was the adorably charming grin he’d flashed at her more than once today—the one that toasted her insides. “I mean, you did kind of tell me your life story.”

Biting her lip, she studied him. “And yet I know almost nothing about you.”

His features darkened for a moment, then neutralized again with a shrug. “Not much to tell. Although I will say … I felt more myself today than I have in a really long time. So thank you, Shannon.”

Then he stepped forward and, after pausing to give her time to escape if she wanted to—she didn’t—enveloped her in a hug. Now she could tell that his cologne smelled like cinnamon and some sort of flowers. Geraniums, maybe? Whatever it was, the combination was heady, as was the all-too-brief sensation of being in his arms.

Even if her proverbial midnight had finally arrived, this was what dreams were made of.

As Marshall stepped back, Shannon snagged Noah’s hand in hers, whispered goodbye, tucked this perfect day away in her heart, and put on her game face.

Because dinner with her family—including Quinn—was just hours away.

And that was enough to spoil almost any fairytale.

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