Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133878 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 669(@200wpm)___ 536(@250wpm)___ 446(@300wpm)
“I will, and thanks so much, Logan.” Logan was only a year older than she was and he had a kid. A whole kid. Wesley Stark-Warner was the cutest baby. After her niece and nephews, of course. Wes was a cuddly six-month-old who looked at the world through curious eyes.
She’d held him and wished she could find wonder in the every day the way that baby did.
The Navigator rolled away, and Brooke stepped into Stella’s Café and thought about the fact that just this morning she had been in Manhattan. It had taken less than twenty-four hours to leave her entire life behind. She’d even packed what little she had in case she decided not to come back. She’d stuffed her suitcase as full as possible and started searching the Internet for the cheapest flight she could find, thinking it could be days before she could get home.
“Brooke,” a familiar voice called out.
She turned and saw her brothers sitting near the window in a corner booth at the front of the café. Their booth. When she’d been a kid, they would always try to get that particular booth because you could see all of the people walking down the sidewalk. Stella’s was in the heart of Bliss’s downtown. Which consisted of about two blocks. Doc’s office was on one end and the “downtown” ended with the sheriff’s station on the other. In between were a bunch of stores and restaurants. Stella’s and Trio and The Bear Creek Lounge. The Trading Post was across the street, and she’d noticed the Bee Bliss Store. The honey farm had been selling their wares for decades, but someone had given the place a glow up.
Home. She was home, and even though a couple of things had changed, what hadn’t was this feeling.
Her heart filled. She’d been numb the last couple of weeks, but seeing her brothers made those walls quake. The numb part was going to end at some point, and she was not looking forward to it. Not at all.
But not now. It wasn’t happening now. She plastered a smile on her face and strode over, rolling her big suitcase along the black and white laminated floors. Nothing changed in Stella’s except the special. When things got worn, Stella found a way to restore them, from the red leather seats to the shiny countertops, Stella’s looked the way it had when Brooke was a kid.
A wave of comfort sank into her skin for a moment. This was her home. These were her brothers. They would understand. They would help her.
Then she remembered all the ways they’d helped her before. Like giving up their twenties to raise her, pouring all their money into her education. They’d spent their party time, college time, young adult era, working—Max on the horse ranch they’d grown up on, and Rye had taken a job as a county deputy and later was elected sheriff. All so she could have a good life, be successful.
She put them in danger by joking about them.
“Hey, how was the flight? I heard Seth took the big jet this time,” Rye said, scooting out of the booth and opening his arms for a hug.
She breathed her brother in. He smelled like pine and fabric softener. Home. She was not going to cry.
She stepped back, settling the big case beside the booth and sliding in across from them. Max hadn’t gotten up but she didn’t mind because he had a baby sleeping on his shoulder. Her newest nephew. Eli Harper was almost a year old, and he was the sweetest chunk of humanity. “It was great. I was so lucky Georgia called.”
Max snorted, his hand on his son’s back. “You weren’t lucky. Rach called Georgia and demanded she take you with them. She knew damn well Seth, Georgia, and Logan were coming home this weekend and staying for a few weeks. She also knew you hadn’t taken a lot of personal time in the last couple of years beyond quick trips, and she knew that company of yours takes time off this month to send a big part of the team to Milan.”
Brooke felt her jaw drop. “Rachel said she was inviting me out of courtesy.”
Rye’s head shook. “Nah. She planned this whole thing to make it as easy for you to come home as possible. Now she thought you would be coming in for the shower. She meant to talk you into a week if you weren’t going to Milan.”
That ticket to Milan had been far too expensive. “I’m not part of that team, and we do slow way down when they’re gone. We’re encouraged to take time off now.”
Not untrue. They were between fall and spring. She supposed most of the vacations she’d taken in the last few years had been around this time. Had her sister-in-law been plotting and planning? To get her home?