by Bella Andre
And leave one last time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Lakeside Stitch & Knit was the only store on Main Street with its lights still on at six thirty on a Monday night. As Calvin and Jordan walked up to the front door, he could see the women laughing together inside, toasting each other with mismatched wineglasses.
Sarah had kept herself from being part of a group of women for so long. He was glad, so damned glad, that she'd finally let them in.
He hadn't wanted to wait this long before coming to find her, but he'd had to go home to pick something up. Something important.
The din of voices was so loud it reached all the way out to the sidewalk, and at first none of the women noticed them walking in. Christie saw them first. "Calvin? Jordan?"
Everyone turned to face them, their questioning, interested gazes eating up the situation. But Calvin only had eyes for Sarah.
Dorothy and Olive drew Jordan over to them, and then without even realizing he had moved across the room, he was down on one knee in front of Sarah.
"It's not the deed to the carousel that has me here." He needed her to understand that before he said anything else. "It's you. Always you, sweetheart. Only you. And I swear that I would have been here without the deed. It was just that after the town hall meeting, I was hurt. Upset."
"I'm so sorry, Calvin. If I could go back in time and change what I said, I would."
He wanted to stop her, kiss her, tell her he loved her right then. But first he needed her to know how sorry he was for what he had done. Reaching for her hands, he said, "For ten years, I haven't let anyone get close to me. Not until you came back to town and I couldn't resist getting close with you again. But even as I was telling myself that I had faith in us to get it right this time, I was waiting for you to leave. I was looking at the condos as though they were a test that I was daring you to fail. But it wasn't you failing. It was me."
"You've never failed me," she swore as she dropped to her knees to be face-to-face with him. "Never."
"We both know I did. And we both know we'll disappoint each other again, that over the next seventy years one of us is bound to mess up." He cupped her face. "Remember when we were kids and we'd go out sailing and one of us would blow it and we'd end up in the lake?"
"Laughing," she said softly, pressing her cheek into his palm. "We were always laughing."
"It was an adventure. And it didn't matter that we'd screwed up, because we knew we were just going to climb right back into that hull and keep sailing." Her eyes were huge, beautiful, shining with tears that were on the verge of falling. "There's no one else I'd rather take an adventure with, Sarah. No one else I'd rather go sailing off into the distance with. It's always been you, sweetheart. You take away the darkness. You fill all my empty spaces. And I'll take you any way I can get you. Any hours you can spend here with me, whatever part of your life that you've got to share. I can't promise I won't keep asking for more, because we both know that I will, but if it's a choice between losing you or getting to love even a little bit of you, I choose love. I choose you. I don't care how we do it--if I move to be with you, or you move to be with me, or if we have to constantly put new tires on our cars from all the miles we're burning up to get to each other. All that matters is that we're together."
"You could never live like that." Her words were raw, shaky. "Neither of us could."
Calvin's heart all but stopped. His eyes closed involuntarily, just as they would have the second before he slammed into a brick wall. But then her hands moved to his face, and she traced the line of his jaw with her fingertips. And when he opened his eyes again, he saw that she was smiling through her tears.
"I'm not returning to the city." He could barely process her words until she smiled again--bigger, stronger, steadier this time. "I'm moving back to Summer Lake. I'm going to run the store with my mother and grandmother." Everyone in the room, especially Olive and Denise, gasped with happiness, but Sarah never turned her gaze from his. "I would have stayed just for you. You know how much I love you, don't you?"
"I do."
He was vaguely aware of her shifting slightly to reach into a bag beside her. Something soft brushed against his knuckles, and he looked down to see a beautiful sweater in her hands. "I have something for you." She held it up for him to push his hands and arms and head through. It was a perfect fit. "I knit one of my hairs into this sweater. Do you know what that means?"
He had to kiss her before saying, "You ran out of yarn?"
She gave him that beautiful grin that he hoped to see for at least the next seventy years. "It means you're bound to me now."
He kissed her again, longer, even sweeter this time. "I've always been bound to you." He'd never felt happier, never felt his heart beat so true, so steady, as it did when he pulled the ring that had once belonged to his mother out of his pocket. "Marry me, Sarah."
"Yes." She threw her arms around him and kissed him with all of her passion, all of her love. "Yes!"
And as he slid the engagement ring onto her finger, a room full of knitters cheered.
EPILOGUE
"You guys were right," Sarah said to Calvin and Jordan. "This really is the perfect spot for a rainy day."
The three of them sat on the carousel beneath the red-and-white-striped canopy, sipping hot chocolate and looking out at the lake. Sarah and Calvin were in the chariot behind the matched pair of horses, while Jordan rode one of the horses pulling the sleigh.
They could hear the sounds of construction on the new condos that were being built on a wooded lot with lake access within walking distance of Main Street. John Klein hadn't given up on convincing her to consult on the project, and in the end, Sarah had really enjoyed working part time on the new residences over the winter. Smaller and more affordable than her original plan, the units were still beautifully designed and crafted.
From where they were sitting, she could look across the street and see her mother and grandmother through the window of Lakeside Stitch & Knit, helping customers. Over to the right, at the inn, she knew Christie was inside making guests smile.
Sarah had finally caught that brass ring she'd been reaching for her whole life. Family. Friends.
Love.
"I know we're planning on getting married at next year's Fall Festival." She smiled a secret little smile. "But all that planning is giving me a headache."
"You?" he teased. "Not wanting to plan?"
She shrugged, hardly able to keep herself from blurting it out. "How do you feel about a shotgun wedding instead?"
Calvin's eyes got big. Really big. He swallowed hard. "Sarah? Are you--"
She reached for his hand, intertwined their fingers, then laid them both over her stomach. "Yes."
*
For news on Bella Andre's upcoming books, click BellaAndre.com/Newsletter to sign up for Bella Andre's New Release Newsletter.
*
I hope you absolutely loved Sarah and Calvin's Summer Lake romance! Now, here's a sneak peek at Christie's story, Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You. Plus, Alec Sullivan and Harry Sullivan's stories, the third and fourth New York Sullivan books, will be coming soon! Please be sure to sign up for my newsletter (bellaandre.com/newsletter) so that I can let you know as soon as I have the release dates for their books.
*
CAN'T TAKE MY EYES OFF OF YOU (New York Sullivans Spinoff, Summer Lake #2)
Christie Hayden escaped to Summer Lake to heal from heartbreak, but found so much more than that: a job she loves as an innkeeper, a close-knit community of friends, and a chance at the perfect romantic future she's always longed for. But nothing is as it seems, especially when it comes to Liam Kane, the gorgeous millionaire who sweeps into her life from out of the blue...and instantly turns it--and her heart--upside down.
The first time Liam Kane lays eyes on Christie, he's a total goner. He knows he should keep his distance, because he's not capable of giving her the happily-ever-after she's looking for. But when it comes to her smi
les, her laughter, her kindness--and her sweetly sinful kisses--for the first time in his life, he can't hang on to his self-control. Not when the love she offers him is everything he never thought he could have, but now craves with every fiber of his being.
But Liam has been keeping a secret for twenty years, one that nearly destroyed him--one that has the potential to tear his whole family apart too. When Christie can't stop herself from trying to help out of pure love, will Liam be able to let himself heal? Or will they both end up broken, leaving her to pick up the pieces all over again?
Please enjoy the following sneak peek of Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You: New York Sullivans Spinoff (Summer Lake #2), copyright 2017, Bella Andre...
Liam Kane heard the applause and cheers as he walked through the inn's front door. From the flower petals drifting out of the event room, he could easily guess it was a wedding.
It instantly struck him as strange. Why would his brother, Wesley, schedule another wedding at the inn on the same weekend as his own? And how exactly did his brother plan to clean up this wedding party and still have time to set up for his own rehearsal dinner that night?
Liam had been planning to head straight upstairs to his suite to take a shower after his red-eye flight from China. It had been a crazy three weeks of constant flights, of hotel rooms he'd barely had time to check in to before he was leaving for the next airport, the next meeting. But he hadn't been back to the lake in so long that curiosity had him dropping his bags behind the check-in counter and walking toward the large room that overlooked the lake to see who was getting married.
As he stopped at a side door behind a large potted plant, he was stunned to realize that Sarah Bartow, whom he was related to through his grandmother, was wearing a wedding dress and holding hands with her old boyfriend, Calvin Vaughn.
As far as he'd known, they'd been broken up since graduating high school. When had they gotten back together? And how come he'd had no idea they were getting married today? Admittedly, he hadn't done a great job of keeping up with his family, or the Summer Lake locals, over the past few years. But that didn't mean Sarah would deliberately leave him off the invite list, did it?
Telling himself there must be a rational explanation why he hadn't known about the wedding, as Sarah and Calvin kissed to seal their vows and the crowd cheered, Liam could see that they really were in love. For now, at least. It was what happened later--ten, fifteen, twenty years down the road, once they had kids and were supposed to be a cohesive family unit who all looked out for each other--that he had no faith in. In fact, the only thing he knew for certain was that the people who got hurt when love failed weren't just the man and the woman who had once made vows to each other on their wedding day. No, the net was cast much wider than that.
Which was why in nearly twenty years of dating, Liam had never wanted to get married, had never been even remotely tempted to get down on one knee and ask one woman to be his for eternity.
He never normally let rogue emotions get the better of him like this, so he pushed them back down deep as he scanned the occupants of the room. It had been a long time since he'd been back to town, but he recognized nearly everyone at the wedding. The old football coach. The owner of the general store. Several people he'd gone to school with. The Sullivans he'd gotten to know during the summers when they'd come to the lake from the city to help their father, William, build his log cabin.
And then he saw a flash of movement that caught his gaze--and held it.
Golden hair was gliding like silk across a woman's shoulders as she moved out from behind a tall elderly man. And when she turned toward Liam, his breath actually lodged in his chest. Her eyes were glittering with tears, and her cheeks were flushed. She was biting her lip, her hands covering her heart.
And she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.
The bride and groom were starting to make their way up the aisle and out of the room, and he knew he should head over with the rest of the crowd to offer his congratulations. But he couldn't tear his gaze away from the woman who wasn't only taking his breath away, but who was making his heart beat faster too.
Her green dress was well tailored, but not at all flashy. The pearls at her earlobes and around her neck were elegant, but not intended to draw a man's eyes. Neither were her shoes, low-heeled and silver. He got the sense she wasn't the kind of woman who would ever try to draw attention to herself.
Even though she had every ounce of his.
By now, everyone had followed Sarah and Calvin out of the room through the opposite door, but the woman hung behind, bending over to pick up stray flower petals strewn around her seat. Something jogged his brain, a prickle that was more than just awareness of a beautiful woman. A warning that he knew her from somewhere. But where?
She was picking up another handful of flower petals off the floor when she suddenly looked over and saw him standing at the side door. She was closer now, near enough that he could see just how delicate her features were, from her high cheekbones to her slightly pointed chin and the tiny indentations in each cheek as she smiled.
"Oh, hello." A bunch of the rose petals fell out of her hands and fluttered to the floor. She gave him a wry smile as she bent down to pick them back up. "These smell good, but they're so messy."
Liam knew she was expecting him to say something, to tell her who he was or what he was doing standing there staring at her. But he hadn't yet found his voice.
She was the first woman to ever leave him speechless.
"With the wedding taking place, I haven't been monitoring the front desk," she continued, her welcoming smile still in place. "Can I help you with something? Are you visiting a guest at the inn, perhaps?"
Finally, he told her, "I'm Liam Kane."
In an instant, her smile disappeared. Her mouth opened slightly, and her cheeks grew flushed. She took a quick step backward and bumped into one of the covered folding chairs. "Oh my gosh. Of course you're Liam." She bit her lip, drawing his attention to their full, soft shape. Despite the conservative nature of her dress and shoes and jewelry, her lush mouth and the deep green of her eyes seemed to show a deeper truth about her. A sensuality she couldn't hide. Sensuality that wrapped around him from nothing more than his name on her lips. "I knew something about you looked familiar. I should have realized it earlier, but the wedding must have scrambled my brain. Sarah was wondering why you didn't respond to her wedding invitation, but you ended up making it after all!"
As she spoke, her big green eyes were stealing his brain cells away one at a time. It felt like a hammer was pounding away in his brain. How did she know exactly who he was when he couldn't for the life of him think of who she was? "I've been on the road for the past month," he explained, "and I'm guessing that their wedding invite must have been misplaced in my pile of unopened mail. I actually had no idea they were even getting married. I'm here for my brother Wesley's wedding."
Her eyes grew even bigger. And, if he wasn't mistaken, more than a little horrified. "You don't know what happened?"
The hammer pounded harder, joined by a warning bell inside his brain that told him something was definitely wrong. Hadn't he known it from the minute he'd walked into the inn and realized there was another wedding taking place?
Immediately worrying that something bad must have happened to his younger brother, who he'd always looked after when they were kids, but hadn't been around to check on much over the past few years, he said, "Like I said, I've been on the road continuously and my cell phone doesn't always work reliably in some of the countries I've been in. And if Wesley tried to get a hold of me through my staff, I certainly didn't hear about it." Concern for his brother had him putting his hands on her shoulders to make sure he had her full attention. "What happened? Where's Wesley?"
Her eyes were wide enough now that he couldn't help but memorize the exact color of green, like fresh growth on bare trees in spring as she said, "I don't know where he is."
Suddenly, he could feel her tremb
le beneath his hands. What the hell was he doing manhandling her? "I shouldn't have grabbed you like that." He was lifting his hands off her when he finally realized why she looked familiar. He blamed the red-eye on making it take this long for him to put two and two together. "You're Wesley's fiancee."
Wesley had sent a picture of her back when they'd announced their engagement, and Liam's secretary had laid it on top of the rest of his business correspondence. He'd been late to a meeting and had barely had time to look at the picture before it was filed away--and then he'd been in Asia when they'd had their engagement party, so he hadn't had a chance to meet his brother's fiancee before now. But from what he recalled, while she had seemed pretty in the picture, nothing about her had drawn any special notice.
He could hardly believe this woman before him was the one beside Wesley in the staged photo. Same hair, same eyes, same face, same features--but totally different. As if she'd somehow come into focus since that photo was taken.
"Yes," she said. "I'm Christie. I was his fiancee."
He couldn't miss the was. She hadn't intended for him to. "You're supposed to be getting married tomorrow."
"Yes," she said again, but she was shaking her head even as she agreed with him. "We were, but--"
A door was flung open, and Liam heard his mother's voice. "Christie, have you seen my wrap? I think I left it at my sea--" The words fell away as she realized her oldest son was standing there.
Christie moved away so fast he swore he felt a blast of cold air in the spot she'd been standing.
"Liam?" His mother moved toward him, her gaze immediately going to his scar and holding there for several seconds. "Oh, honey, I'm so glad you're finally home. It's all been such a mess. For all of us. Your father and I kept trying to reach you, but your secretary always said you were in a meeting or on a plane somewhere." She lowered her voice. "I didn't want to leave such a personal message with a stranger."
"So there's no wedding?" He directed the question to Christie rather than his mother.
"No," she said softly, "Wesley and I are definitely not getting married."
