Page 97 of Loving You

APRIL

I stepped onto the terrace of the Granite Springs B&B, my heart floating out of my chest and getting lost somewhere in the cloudless summer sky.

A handful of tables had been arranged in a line for today’s brunch, adorned with white tablecloths and pink tulips, along with plenty of elegant silver buckets holding champagne and orange juice, of course, becausehello,brunch.

It was quite the spread, but we’d needed room for a lot more than our usual guest list of Rachel, Kate, Ellie, and myself.

Not only had this brunch been scheduled so uber-famous Brenna Walker could attend on the same trip to Granite Springs as the engagement party tonight, but Janie, May, and June also joined us—taking off their first Saturday morning in who knew how long so they could.

And huddled close together at one end of the table, looking suspiciously like they were gossiping like a couple of town busybodies, sat Jenna Walker and my mom.

All of the most important women in my life sat at one table in the morning sunlight, smiling and laughing like they didn’t have a care in the world.

I couldn’t have been happier.

No, that wasn’t quite true. Icouldbe happier, and someday, I would be, if I got what I wished for next.

Eric and I might not be officially married yet, but my left hand still sparkled just as much as the left hands of the Walker women who chatted with my sisters.

Maybe a little more, frankly, becausegood lordythe man knew how to pick out a ring.

And since everything in my life had fallen into place so damned beautifully, I wanted nothing more than for my sisters to get their own happy endings. I wanted to see them settled and full of the peace I now felt.

“April, come sit down,” Rachel called, waving me over to the table.

I shook my head with a quiet laugh, realizing I’d been standing there watching them drink mimosas and chat amongst themselves like a total weirdo.

But then, as I stepped forward and my gaze tracked across the field that separated the bed-and-breakfast from Walker’s Brewery, my heart squeezed in my chest.

Eric had stepped out the back door of the bar wearing his company polo, and even from this distance, I could see the muscles of his chest and biceps straining against the material.

Fuck, he was a good-looking man, and it never failed to take my breath away.

I watched greedily as he walked across the gravel to the brewhouse, nose buried in his handy-dandy leather folio. I’d take great pleasure out of reminding him that all work and no play made Eric a dull boy when we got home later, but for now…

I just smiled as I watched him attempt to work while walking.

It’d been the same thing I’d been doing the morning I’d seen Cliff in that cafe and ran smack-dab into Sammy, setting off a chain of events that led me fromwhat-the-fuck-is-my-lifeto… well, the same phrase but with a much more enthusiastic tone.

Before I knew it, Eric reached the brewhouse, but right before he went inside, he looked up.

Maybe he’d heard one of the women at the table laughing. The sound sometimes carried that far when the wind blew right. But when he turned and faced the B&B and our eyes locked, something in my heart pretended he’d simply had a feeling I was there. Like somewhere in that serious, focused mind of his, he’d felt a little tug and immediately sought me out.

It was a sweet and silly thought that filled me with warmth, and I gave him a wide smile, wagging my fingers in a delicate wave.

His responding grin hit me like a well-aimed arrow to the chest, and then with a sexy chin nod, he was gone.

“Are you done having eye sex with your fiancé?” Janie asked dryly from beside me, making me jump. She giggled. “You’re even blushing, you freak.”

“Shut up. You’re just jealous,” I shot back, watching her carefully for any sign that it was true.

Not of Eric,specifically, but I hadn’t seen Janie go on a single repeat date in several years. So unless she was a ninja who could manage a secret relationship without anyone in this tiny town knowing, I had a feeling she’d be the one I’d have to wait the longest to see settle down.

And it was unfortunate, too, because my youngest sister was gorgeous, smart, and had a hell of a lot to offer to any relationship.

“Psh, the only thing I’m jealous of is you’re the one who managed to break the Walker-boys-are-off-limits rule,” she said in a low tone, so only I could hear. “Not that they didn’t all find their perfect women, but after drooling over them from afar for all these years only to miss my chance at the last man standing is kind of a bummer.”

I slowly faced my sister, my mouth hanging open. “Seriously?”

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