Page 118 of Someday You Learn

“Me too, sweetheart. Now kiss me, please. I need to taste you because I feel like it’s been way too fucking long.”

She doesn’t hesitate, leaning in to press her lips to mine. When our lips meet, I feel like a piece of me snaps back into place.

It took a lot of strength and work to get here, but I wouldn’t trade a second of it—not when the woman I’m holding is the one who taught me how to love again.

The stranger from the airplane who turned out to be the one person I’d realize I couldn’t live without.

Chapter twenty-three

Cashlynn

“To Cashlynn, and Carrington Cove’s very first art gallery!” Willow holds up her glass of sparkling apple cider while everyone else holds their flutes of champagne, toasting to me and the official opening of my gallery.

Somebody please pinch me.

“Here, here!” Everyone echoes around the room.

Astrid speaks first as Scottie opens the door, letting in people who have been lined up outside all morning. “I think I speak for everyone when I say that we are so proud of what you’ve created here. The artwork is phenomenal, and I, for one, can’t wait to buy a piece for my house.”

Sally, one of the waitresses from Catch & Release, stands at the door to greet people and hand out the flyers for the classes I have scheduled for the next month. Dallas said she was eager for another job, so I jumped at the opportunity to hire her as my first employee.

Penn snickers. “And I’ll be the one figuring out someplace to put it.”

Everyone laughs as Astrid glares at her husband. “But not only that, you’ve brought an artistic outlet to our community. Lilly has been asking me every day for the past month about when she can come here to paint.”

“I told you not to tell her about it,” Penn mutters.

“I was just too excited! You know how I get,” she says as Willow approaches.

“I’m very ready for this little boy to leave my body, but part of me is very grateful that I got to be here for the opening.”

Dallas rubs her belly. “Me too. But we aren’t going to stay long. Doctor said I need to keep this woman off her feet until my son is done cooking.”

Willow rolls her eyes at her husband. “Oh, he’s done all right. And if he keeps kicking my bladder, I’ll be waking him up every night foryearsto pay him back.”

I can’t help but laugh, though part of it is from nerves. My eyes keep moving to the door as more and more people trickle in, but none of them are the two men I’m longing to see.

“Well, I can’t wait for you to come to the school in a few weeks to do the squirt gun painting with my class,” Scottie says as she bounces her daughter in her arms. “The kids are so excited. I also made the mistake of telling them, so I get asked about it at least five times a day.”

Grady shakes his head. “And then I get to hear about it just as many times.”

“You all sound so happy in your wedded bliss,” Hazel quips before taking a sip of her champagne. “You really make a person want to get married over here.” She points to herself.

Dallas chuckles. “Oh, I can’t wait for the day you get married, Hazelnut, so you can eat your words and vent about all of the annoying things your husband does, and we can all just laugh about it.”

Hazel scoffs. “Yeah, well, you have to actually date someone in order for that to happen and do you see a man for me around here?” She twists her head around the room. “That would be a no.”

But it’s at that moment that the man I’m in love with walks into the room, with my father trailing right behind him.

“Oh my God, I think I’m gonna throw up.”

Scottie places her hand on my shoulder. “Just breathe. This is neither the time nor the place you want to do that. But just in case, do you have a trash can under your desk? Because that saved my life when I was pregnant with this one.” She waves her daughter’s hand around.

Grady pulls her away from me. “Not everyone is as interested in the topic of throwing up as you are, babe. Let’s give Cashlynn some space, shall we?”

When I turn around, the entire Sheppard family has dispersed, leaving me alone as Parker and my father approach.

Parker leans forward and kisses my cheek. “Congratulations, sweetheart.”

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