Page 109 of A Novel Love Story

They all had happy endings eventually.

Don’t look back, I reminded myself as I put Ruby’s shoes by the front gate, and started running down the sidewalk toward the bookstore. I changed out of Gemma’s dress, and said goodbye to Butterscotch.

It was time to go.

Sweetpea was exactly where Frank had parked her yesterday. He’d even buffed out the scratches I’d gotten in Atlanta traffic. True to his word, there were two bottles of Frank’s Hotties in the glove compartment, along with a note—

Lovely workin’ on this old lady! Safe travels!

I slipped the note back into the glove compartment, and put my weekend bag in the passenger seat, and situated myself behind the wheel. Adjusted the rearview mirror. And inserted the key.

I turned the ignition.

The car gave a rumble, and came to life.

I pulled out of the parking spot, and I took the only road in and out of Eloraton.

I tried not to look back.

As the red covered bridge approached, I reached up to the rearview mirror to see if I could angle it back and see the town—but then I stopped myself.

The bridge came, and I passed over it.

And I turned the page.

36

True Love

IPARKED IN THE GRAVELlot that, in any other year, would be full with a white Prius and an SUV rental, but this year it was vacant. The A-frame cabin sat dark in the shadow of the moon. It was a gorgeous house. Olivia had found it a few years ago, and we’d stayed here ever since. There was a Jacuzzi on the back deck that looked out across the green hills of the Catskills.

I cut off the engine.

Took a deep breath.

Everything looked just a little different outside Eloraton. Just a little louder, a little more vibrant. The town had already begun to feel like a dream, where I remembered snatches of things, but with every mile I put behind me, another small thing was lost. The smell of rain on the damp grass. The sound of the starlings in the morning. And whenever I tried to hang on to those memories, those moments, the feeling of warm sunlight on my skin—it began to sound like the rustle of paper, and the scent of old books, and the feeling of pages between my fingers.

The one thing that remained—the only thing—was Anders. His taste, his touch, the rumble of his laugh. I had been right all along, hadn’t I? He was going to make a dreamy hero, once he found his happily ever after.

And I was going to finally find mine, too.

Unbuckling myself, I stepped out of my car, and I got my things from the trunk. The books were sharp again, the words back on their pages. I flipped throughDaffodil Daydreamsand paused on a page with the first mention of Junie’s name, as she wondered if she’d ever fit in there in that small town of Eloraton. I smiled, remembering her and Will framed in the soft glow of their wedding, surrounded by an entire town of people who loved her, and I thought—

It was a good ending. Or maybe a beginning.

Either way, it was good.

There was a sound of a door opening, which was wrong—I knew it was wrong—because no one was here, and we had rented the cabin for one more day.Bear?I thought, but bears couldn’t open doors … right?

“And here I thought you’d never show,” said a familiar voice, and my heart leapt into my throat. I closed the hatchback quickly, and there, framed in the doorway to the cabin, was my best friend, still in her faded college sweatshirt and pants she’d worn threadbare. Her dirty blond hair was pulled up into a ponytail, greasy from travel, her eyes tired like she’d just gotten off a red-eye.

And she had.

I couldn’t believe it. I blinked a few times, just to make sure. “Pru … but—but what happened to Iceland?”

“It’s still there,” she replied. She held up her hand, and the engagement ring on her finger. “I’d kick myself forever if I missed this week with you.”

I started toward her, and she swept down the steps. She was here, she was here, my best friend—

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