Page 1 of In this Moment

ChapterOne

Getting her boutique—Live, Love, Lake—up and running was a dream come true for Evie Rose. At least most days. There were other days, like when the scheduled deliveries were three days late and when they finally came in and the inventory needed to be done and the part-time employee you’d hired to help you out during the busy summer months called in sick when you knew she was only sleeping in after a late night and you were alone in the middle of what could only be described as a chaotic dress mess, that weren’t so great. Those days were more like nightmares than dreams.

But even though there were most definitely crazy days, the awesome ones far outnumbered them. It was a fact Evie tried to remind herself of as she sifted through yet another box of dresses that needed to be inventoried, tagged, and put on the racks before Friday when the weekend shopping rush would start.

“This too shall pass,” she reminded herself for the dozenthtime.

The truth was, she loved her shop. And she worked hard to get it up and running. Damn hard. Nothing seemed to be easy for a young single mom, especially one who was starting a small business. But she’d done it. Evie had saved and scrimped, and even worked two jobs at times while her son Jonah was babysat by friends and family members. She’d always dreamed about having her own business, and when her little town of Cedar Springs started to boom after the new fancy resort, and then the ski hill, opened up and brought in loads of tourists, she saw her chance.

She had enough for a small down payment and the bank fortunately agreed that she was worth taking a chance on. She was able to lease the space on Main Street before the rents got too high. After sourcing the inventory, and enlisting even more help to get the shop ready, Live, Love, Lake was open just in time for the summer season. And now, after only a few months, the store already had a loyal clientele and business was expanding everyday.

But with an expanding business came some growing pains. Especially when her employee didn’t show up ontime.

Not that Evie was complaining; far from it. She would take the chaos any day over all the menial jobs she’d been working for the last few years since her son Jonah wasborn.

But a mother had to do what a mother had to do in order to live the best life for her and her son. And that’s exactly what Evie had done. And what she continued to do. Besides, he might not be able to reach the top shelf yet, but Jonah was proving to be a valuable employee in his own right.

“Jonah,” Evie called to him across the stack of boxes. “Can you pass me that price gun? I need to get these dresses tagged so you can put them on therack.”

At eight, Jonah was still young enough to want to help his mom, but just old enough to start giving her a hard time about it. “Why can’t you get anything cool? Like water guns and surfboards or something? Why does it have to be all girly dresses and things?” Jonah picked his way through the pile of boxes in the middle of the store and handed his mom the pricinggun.

“These things are cool,” Evie tried to explain with a straight face. “If you’re a woman.”

“Well, I certainly don’t think they’re very cool.” Jonah shook his head and reached into the box, pulling out a lace dress. “I mean, why can’t this be camo or something? Now that would becool!”

Evie laughed. “I really don’t think the ladies of Cedar Springs will think that lace camo wascool.”

“I bet Jules would think it’scool.”

Evie couldn’t completely disagree with that. But Jules was a teenager, not a woman. And not really her clientele. But there was no point trying to explain that to Jonah. She pulled another dress out of the box and slipped it onto a hanger. It would still need to be steamed before it could go on the rack, but that was a job that would have to wait for later. She adjusted the pricing on the price gun and tagged the garment before turning to the next one. Jonah sifted to the contents of the boxes while she worked, no doubt in search of something he deemed cool enough to comment on. After a few moments, Evie had enough dresses for him to start moving them to an empty rack. It wasn’t ideal for her to display wrinkly garments, but it was better than not having them for sale in case somebody came in. She was only one woman; she could only do what she could.

Jonah did as much as he could around the shop, and despite his grumbling, Evie knew he would do more if she asked. But she didn’t want to ask. He was only a kid and she felt bad enough that he wasn’t having the summer he should be because she had to work so much. Whenever possible, she would try to make arrangements for him to go to the lake with schoolmates, or have sleepovers or just play at the park with his friends. That also opened up a whole other can of guilt. Because she was just too busy to return the favor for the parents. Evie had never been one to rely on strangers; she always tried to be as self-sufficient as possible. And when she did need help, she did her best to repay the favor as soon as she possibly could.

But it had been eight years of favors. She hadn’t planned on getting pregnant and having a baby at nineteen. But it happened, and as hard as it was, she wouldn’t change anything. Because Jonah was her world. She’d do anything for him. Anything.

“Jonah?”

He peeked around behind the rack of clothes he’d been hanging.

“I was just thinking, you’ve been working so hard for me lately. And I know that’s not exactly how you want to spend the summer.”

“It’s okay, Mom. I know you need help. I don’tmind.”

His giving nature and how eager he was to please her almost broke her heart. Evie swallowed hard. “I know you don’t mind, kiddo. But nonetheless, I want you to know I’ve really noticed how hard you been working for me. And I was thinking, maybe you deserve a little treat.”

Jonah’s eyes grew wide at the mention of the word treat. No doubt he was envisioning ice cream sundaes with extra whipped cream and cherries, or maybe a cinnamon bun from Dream Puffs and a big cup of hot chocolate, again with whipped cream and cherries on top. But Evie had something better in mind. Her new friend, Mitch McCormick, had given her the idea after one of his tutoring sessions with Jonah. Mitch’s older brother ran the new Dockside marina, with rented canoes, kayaks, boats, and jet skis. Mitch had held Jonah’s tutoring sessions at the Dockside earlier in the summer, and she’d noticed the way Jonah’s eyes had lit up when he saw the jetskis.

Evie herself hadn’t been on a jet ski since she was young, but she remembered how fun it was. And if she asked, there was no doubt Mitch would help herout.

Or maybe his younger brother Declan.

Declan McCormick.

There was something about that man. Sure, he was incredibly handsome. All the McCormick brothers were. Some would definitely argue that the youngest brother, Cal, was the most good-looking. He was also a television star and a former model. But for Evie, it was an easy choice. Declan was definitely the most gorgeous. He was different. It wasn’t just his vibrant green eyes that were always full of kindness and laughter. Or his tall, lean build that made Evie’s stomach flip a little. No, it was Declan himself. The genuine kindness that radiated from him. Just being around him made Evie feel good in a way she couldn’t even begin to explain.

She hadn’t dated since Jonah was born. Not really. There’d been no shortage of men who had asked, and she’d even agreed to go out with a few of them. But nothing had gone beyond a drink, or maybe a dinner. They were nice enough guys, but none of them sparked in her the feelings that she knew she was going to have to have if she was going to go to the effort of dating. After all, a single mom didn’t have the luxury of dating just anyone. He’d have to be special and none of the men she’d met were. Beyond that, she’d never given it a lot of thought.

But as Jonah got older, something had shifted. It was starting to become clear that he needed a male role model. Someone beyond his grandfather or Evie’s brothers who occasionally visited. He needed a man around.

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