Page 75 of Cherished Lands
"I can't use these documents," I said. "It would destroy everything my great-grandparents built. Everything Mom's worked for."
Emma squeezed my shoulder. "Then we'll find another way to beat him. Together."
Together.The word settled something in my chest. I wasn't alone anymore—I had the Evertons.
Even if one particular Everton hadn't had any more to say about making this arrangement permanent.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELLIOT
"Kai."I dipped my chin at the gruff bartender in greeting. I was a big guy, but I'd definitely be worried about taking him in a fight. "Shouldn't you be at Callaghan's?"
"Closed. Whole town's here."
Jasper and Natalie's wedding reception was in full swing. We'd set up a massive white tent in the orchard and strung fairy lights between the surrounding tree branches. The whole area felt magical.
And Kai was right. Nearly all of Sable Point was in attendance.
I spotted Mrs. Gregory from the post office, chatting with my mother, and Principal Martinez dancing with his husband. The Hendersons huddled near one of the cocktail tables, their silver hair glowing under the lights.
"Who's that dancing with Chase?"
I scanned the crowd. "Oh, that's my baby sister, Charlie. You haven't met yet?"
"No." Kai was a man of few words.
"Not surprised. She's finishing up her last semester of college, but sounds like she'll be home for good in a couple months." I twisted in my seat and cupped my hands around my mouth. "Hey, Char!" Chase twirled and dipped her before the two stumbled our way, laughing. When they got close enough, I grabbed my sister's hand and pulled her to my side. "Charlie, this is Kai Callaghan. He's running the bar now."
Charlie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and offered a shy smile. "Hi. Nice to meet you."
Kai just stared at her. I mean, I knew the guy wasn't big on chatting, but damn. Eventually, he nodded once in her direction, then became intensely interested in the label on his beer bottle.Weird.
A flash of blonde hair near the dessert table caught my eye.
I pushed off the bar with a muttered, "'Scuse me." I was beelining for my wife when my dad, the asshole, swooped in and stole her for a dance.
I hung back, nursing my beer. Watching.
Tessa looked fucking stunning. She was wearing an emerald green dress that made her eyes sparkle. At some point in the last hour, she'd swapped her heels for boots. She looked perfectly at home among the apple trees.
Dad was telling her some story—probably embarrassing, knowing him—while they moved across the dance floor. Her head was thrown back in unselfconscious laughter, and my father was beaming at her like she was already his daughter.
She was. She had been since that first Sunday morning she showed up in our kitchen.
The last month had flown by. The cidery was steadily taking shape behind the barn. We were four months intoconstruction with two left to go, right on schedule despite the brutal winter.
It was mid-April, and the apple trees were just starting to bud, tiny promises of the fall harvest to come. Dad had the recipes dialed in—the test batches getting better each time. Between his traditional brewing techniques and Tessa's modern marketing ideas, we might actually pull this off.
Assuming her father didn't find a way to shut us down.
The lawsuit was still hanging over our heads, but watching Tessa work her ass off alongside us, it was hard to remember she used to be the enemy. Especially when she showed up every morning with coffee just the way I liked it, cursing the early hour but ready to work.
Watching her now, surrounded by my family, looking goddamn delectable... I needed my hands on her.
I set down my drink and walked toward them.
"Mind if I cut in?"
