Page 83 of Time For You
“Most likely,” she replied but made no hint of moving.
“I should go save Sadie.”
That information perked Autumn up and she bounced down from the desk. I groaned at the loss of contact and my unabashed stare at her swaying breasts.
“Get dressed, Colton. I want to meet your sister.”
“She’s not going anywhere,” I joked, only for Autumn to throw my hoodie at my chest.
“Yes, but she’s your family. This is huge.”
Grasping her arm, I waited for Autumn’s rush to change to stop.
“Autumn, you’re my family. You, Brett, and Lily, and the rest of the Easterlys are more family than I ever thought I deserved. It took meeting Sadie to realize that.”
“Oh, Colton. They all love you just as much as I do.”
“Hopefully in a different kind of way,” I teased as I finished tugging on my shoes.
“It’s definitely different. You didn’t steal their house from them.”
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” I draped my arm across her shoulder.
“Not in a million years.”
I walked Autumn to her vehicle and then we caravanned back to the house. Upon entering, I kissed Autumn one more time because I knew once she met Sadie the two women were going to spend the rest of the night together.
“Look who finally arrived,” my annoyingly sweet sister said from her perch at the kitchen island where she swirled a piece of bread in a dish. She shoved the starchy goodness in her mouth and made her way over to us. “You must be Autumn,” she said with a mouth full of food.
“Yes, and you’re Sadie. I’m so excited to meet you.” In true Autumn fashion, she wrapped my sister in a tight embrace and I wasn’t surprised when Sadie returned it.
“You made it back just in time for dinner. Everyone have a seat,” Mrs. Easterly called out to the room as she poured noodles into a dish.
Autumn’s hand trailed against mine as she went to take a seat at the table, making sure my sister had the open chair between her and Nash. I watched in fascination as the Easterlys welcomed us at their table as if we were old friends, not mere acquaintances.
“You going to join us, son?”
Nodding, I made my way over to the table and the open seat on the other side of Autumn. I glanced around the table, watching everyone interact. This was all I’d ever wanted growing up, and by the look on Autumn’s face, she did too. All we needed was to take the time to find it.
Epilogue – Autumn
I hung the last of the decorations for the open house event we were hosting at The Easterly Barn. It was a chance for the town to see what we created and drum up some word-of-mouth marketing.
Not that we needed much. After Colton had allowed cameras in his fully furnished 1800s home, he not so slyly mentioned that the now bed-and-breakfast was available for those booking events at The Easterly Barn. Our calendar was booked up for the next two years from the single mention.
In the last six months, we’d completely overhauled the space and instead of looking like a rustic wasteland, it now appeared like a well-loved space with exposed wood and stone. It was romantic.
“Hey, Sadie, can you hand me that string of twinkle lights, please?” Colton’s sister was here on spring break and was helping us with the event tonight. It seemed like everyone was chipping in. Vendors from across the state were interested in contracting with us and we now boasted a slew of options for our guests.
All of our hard work was coming to fruition.
The girl, who just celebrated her twenty first birthday held out the thin strand and I casually draped it around one of the beams that ran across the three-story roof. Apparently, I was the only Easterly sister that wasn’t terrified of heights as I stood on scaffolding just to reach the beams.
“You’re making me nervous. Can you get down from there?” It seemed it wasn’t just the Easterly sisters affected.
“Yeah. I need to get the crew to tear this all down, Alex,” I called out. “What time will the catering staff arrive?”
“In thirty minutes. Plenty of time.”
