Page 45 of Trusting Fate (Hope Falls: Brewed Awakenings 2)

Grace didn’t blame her sister for being concerned, but she hoped that Ava would give her the same benefit of the doubt that Grace had extended to her a few months back when she’d decided to stay in Hope Falls after getting a Dear Jane letter on the morning of her wedding instead of going back home to Illinois.

Viv and Audrey had been concerned that she was maybe in shock or would regret her decision, but Grace took one look at her little sister and knew she knew exactly what she was doing.

“It’s the fucking Hope Falls Effect. I’m telling you. It’s a real thing,” Viv stated as if there was some scientific proof to her theory.

Now it was Grace’s turn to be the one asking questions. “You always say that, but what do you mean by it?”

“I mean, it’s the Hope Falls effect,” Viv emphasized the words as if that was clarification somehow.

“That doesn’t help,” Grace said.

“It’s like the Bermuda Triangle or Stonehenge, it’s an unexplainable phenomenon,” Viv explained.

“You still didn’t answer my question.”

Ava put her hand on Viv’s forearm as she smiled at Grace. “I explained it to Asher like this, it’s when someone who never thought they would ever fall in love or fall in love again and then suddenly they meet their soul mate. A person who thought that their career was over suddenly gets a new opportunity that changes their life forever. Someone who is running from something bad in their past, or has issues with their family, they move here and the situation resolves itself. If you’re lonely, you find support from the community. It’s like everything falls into place here. Love. Family. Career. Friendship. It heals people. It saves people. It’s the missing piece in people’s lives. The Hope Falls effect.”

“Exactly.” Viv nodded as if her sister’s answer was as obvious as the sky being blue or grass being green. “That’s what I said, the Hope Falls effect.”

Grace never dismissed a theory without trying to prove or disprove it. In twenty-four hours, it had felt like everything had fallen into place.

She’d met someone, she wouldn’t go so far as to claim he was her soul mate, but he’d agreed to be her fake(ish) boyfriend for the next six weeks.

Her career was over, and she had definitely had an opportunity on the horizon, the jury was still out as to whether or not it would be life changing.

And whether or not she’d been aware of it on a conscious level, she was becoming aware that she had been lonely, very lonely, and she now had her family around her.

The Hope Falls effect. Damn, maybe Viv was on to something.

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