Tessa rested a hand on his chest and looked up at him. Since he was only a few inches taller than her, it wasn’t hard to lean in and brush a kiss against her lips.
“Then we’ll go out.”
She nodded. “That sounds good. This dress wouldn’t be comfortable out there.”
Gray put the snack in the freezer to let it harden a bit while they changed and then followed her up the stairs.
He noted that she still didn’t take them all normally, but some she did. Two or three steps in a row before she took one or two one step at a time. Improvement.
Gray himself took them one at a time because she was right. He’d overdone it, but he wasn’t going to give up this time with her for anything.
Most of his clothes were still in the room he’d been staying in until the night of the storm, so he went in there to change.
They met in the hallway.
“You need to move your things into our room.” Tessa didn’t look at him, but a becoming blush pinked her cheeks. “And I need to figure out what I need to do to change my name.”
Gray chuckled. “Almost like we’re becoming an old married couple.”
She started down the stairs in front of him. “I don’t know who you’re calling old, old man. You’ve got me beat.”
“Not by that much. Less than a year.”
“Still.”
He grabbed the treats and followed her out to the unlit fire pit. “Do you want me to start a fire?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s still warm, and we don’t need it.”
“You mean we can’t see the stars come out as well if we have the light pollution?”
“Exactly.”
He handed her frozen custard and spoon to her before sitting next to her on the two-person glider she’d chosen.
They just rocked back and forth, legs touching as they ate, leaning back slightly to look upward. When she was nearly finished, Tessa finally spoke.
“I’m glad I married you, Gray. You’ve been my best friend forever, and I can’t think of anyone better to marry. I almost feel sorry for people who don’t marry their best friends.”
He scraped together one of the last bites in his cup. “I feel like a lot of people marry the person who is their best friend, though they go about it somewhat differently.”
She took her last bite and set the cup to the side, shifting to snuggle into his side. “Probably.”
“You said earlier that even if we had gotten married sooner, we wouldn’t have kids yet. You want kids still, don’t you?” He knew she used to, but they hadn’t talked about it since getting married.
“Of course! I don’t know when yet, but probably after I finish school.”
“You know, if this internship turns into a job, and I think it will, then you won’t have to work. I’ll make enough for both of us to live on and farm expenses paid out of the money Pop Pop left. I talked to the lawyer. We get an annual stipend that’s really pretty reasonable, and we can request more for specific things if we need to. The example he used was if we needed to rewire the house, but that’s already been done. But if the barn fell down or something, and we needed a new one.”
She was silent for a moment. “It’s good to know we can afford it, but I reserve the right to work, at least for now. I also reserve the right to change my mind.”
Gray chuckled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
His phone buzzed. He didn’t want to break the spell being woven over them, but something told him to check.
He blinked as he read the text from his brother.
Heidi knows so everyone else will soon. Lexi and I are married and have been since before the storms. Please don’t ask for details or give her a hard time about it. We had our reasons, and they’re good ones. Mama Beach performed the ceremony for us one night near the lake. We’ll tell you more later, but please don’t spread the word. I just wanted you to hear it from me.
“Wow.” Tessa had been able to see it too. “That explains so much.”
“And raises a thousand more questions.” He put his phone on the arm of the glider, wrapping his arm around Tessa to pull her closer. “Is this all right? Is your back okay?”
“I’m fine, but I love that you care.”
“Of course I care.” He kissed the top of her head. “I love you. I don’t want you to be in pain. The sight of you on the ground that day... Tess, that was the worst feeling ever.”
“Almost like not knowing where you were when a possible tornado came through.” The hand resting on his knee squeezed lightly.
The weather gurus decided there might have been a funnel cloud, but no tornado had touched down near them that night. The strong winds were enough for a half-rotted tree to fall over on the building where Gray had taken shelter. Opinions were mixed on how well he would have fared trying to get back to the house, but the consensus was that he’d done the smart thing.
“Do you think they’ll be happy?”
Gray rubbed his thumb on her arm. “Mama Beach wouldn’t have married them if she had reservations.”
“True.” They sat in silence for several more minutes.
“I grabbed that box from the barn this morning,” Gray told her. “I was going to surprise you with it when we got home, but we came out here. I think you’re right about it being my family’s. We can look through it later.”
Her finger had been drawing random patterns on his knee but stilled. “Does it bother you that we’ve declared our love and want to be married for real but haven’t done more than kiss a little bit?”
He didn’t want to answer too fast but wanted to be honest. “Bother isn’t the right word. I want to kiss you more. To be more with you, but we’re both healing.” He kissed her head again. “We have the rest of our lives together. It’ll happen when the time is right.”
“I wish that was tonight.”
Gray chuckled. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish the same thing.”
“I always thought the small town girl who married her best friend was a ridiculous cliché, but I don’t anymore. I think there’s a reason.” She sat up and turned her body toward him. “I love you, Gray. I’m so glad Pop Pop pushed us together.”
He kissed her more intensely than he ever had before but kept it lighter than he wanted. “I love you, Tess. I’m so glad this small town boy married his best friend.”
One more kiss and they snuggled together, watching the stars, content with the turn their lives had taken. They wouldn’t want it to turn out any other way.
Epilogue
Violet Braverman frowned.
Sean Beach had been spending far too much time with one of her other granddaughters for someone who just broke up with his fiancée.
Heidi was back in town and that could only spell trouble between the three of them.
It was odd how Sean and Alexis had both disappeared for several days, only appearing for a few hours when Gray was missing after the storms earlier in the week.
Maybe she needed to help him decide he belonged with Heidi. The two of them had always been so in love.
Except Heidi loved Paris more.
Now that she had returned home, it should be time for them to rekindle their romance. They hadn’t even been apart two months.
That was unlikely to happen if he kept hanging out with Heidi’s cousin.
Violet loved all of her grandchildren, but Heidi was a better fit for Sean. She always had been.
Except...
Violet had only spent a few minutes with Heidi since her return. That, in and of itself, was unusual as they’d always spent a fair bit of time together.
What was even more unusual was Heidi’s demeanor.
Something was going on with that girl.
But what could it be?
Was a job loss the real reason she’d returned home?
Or was there something more to it?
Could there really not be another job for her in Paris?
Violet had no
idea, but her grandchildren had never fought over a man before, and she wasn’t about to let it happen now.
One way or the other, she was going to have to get Sean and Heidi back together.
That was the best move.
The smart move.
Wasn’t it?
I thought Madi would be next, but Sean and Lexi insisted. What’s an author to do?!
For Sean and Lexi’s story, be sure to check out
Small Town Girls Don’t Marry Their Back Ups!
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When your fiancée breaks up with you, you should have a broken heart.
That’s what Sean Beach always believed.
So why didn’t he have one?
It had only been a few hours, but he’d already proposed to his former-future-sister-in-law in order to keep her family farm in the family.
She’d turned him down.
Kind of.
Not in so many words, but even when he’d said he’d marry Tessa, Sean had known she’d marry his brother. Tessa and Gray had been best friends since birth, more or less, and everyone wondered when they’d realize they’re perfect for each other.
It looked like her great-grandfather’s death was going to push them toward fast-tracking a romantic relationship.
And Sean was alone.
Single.
Not surprised, but not happy about it.
He pulled into the driveway of the house he’d bought a couple of years earlier and turned off the ignition.
Heidi had never liked the house, but they had only been on a few dates when he moved in. Could that be part of why she called off the wedding?
Sean didn’t think so.
No. As soon as she told him about the internship in Paris, he knew she wouldn’t be coming home.
But Sean was small town born and bred. He had no desire to move to Serenity Landing, much less Paris.
He sighed then went into the house. Even though Heidi hadn’t liked the place, her touches were still all over the place. The frou frou pillows on the couch. The framed pictures on the walls.
The photos of the two of them, framed and not, were everywhere.
Sean turned on the oven and put the casserole his aunt had dropped off earlier in without waiting for it to preheat. While it baked, he went around and picked up the photos, stashing them in a drawer.
About the time he pulled the tin foil pan out of the oven, the door bell rang. He frowned. Who could that be? Gray wondering if he should really marry Tessa?
“Just a minute,” he hollered, setting the pan on the stove top and shaking the oven mitt off.
When he opened the door, it wasn’t his little brother. “Lexi? What are you doing here?” He’d seen her earlier at the reading of her great-grandfather’s will.
Catching himself and how rude he sounded, Sean shook himself out of it. “I mean, come on in.” He stood to the side to let her by. “What’s up?”
Alexis Braverman shook her head. “Nothing.”
He didn’t buy that for a second, but she’d tell him when she was ready. They’d been friends for a long time, though they hadn’t hung out together much since college ended six years earlier.
“I just pulled dinner out of the oven. You’re welcome to join me.” He headed for the kitchen, knowing she’d follow. Two plates went on the table, along with two forks. He used hot dog buns to make garlic toast in the air fryer. “I’m not fancy,” he said by way of apology.
“Like I am?” She sat on the back side of the table next to the wall, while he took the seat across from her.
They talked about a little bit of nothing during dinner. He wanted to ask her why she was there, what she wanted to talk about, but he kept his questions to himself.
After dinner, they went into the living room.
“I’m sorry about Pop Pop,” Sean told her. “I know you loved him.”
“We all did. Tessa was closest to him. I heard Pop Pop wanted her to marry Gray, and they get the farm, including the Beach House.”
“Something like that.”
She looked over at him. “Is that what the lawyer talked to the four of you about?”
Sean nodded. “If one of us married Tessa or Heidi, we’d get the whole farm.”
“But your engagement is off.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. Heidi is staying in Paris indefinitely. That means we won’t be getting married.”
And his heart should be broken, but it wasn’t.
He didn’t know how he felt about that.
“You’re not just postponing the wedding until whenever she gets back?” Lexi looked down at the drink she held in her hand.
Sean shifted in his seat and dug the ring out of his pocket, holding it up for her to see. “She gave it back voluntarily when she called it off.” He set it on the side table. “We didn’t have any idea what the terms of the will were.” He snorted. “I even offered to marry Tessa so she could keep the farmhouse.”
Lexi’s head snapped up. “You did?”
“Only to get Gray to speak up. He hadn’t volunteered yet, but everyone knows they’re made for each other. Pretty sure the wedding will be Monday or Tuesday. You know much Tess loves that ranch.”
She nodded.
“Heidi broke up with me before we ever went to the will reading.”
“I noticed she wasn’t wearing the ring and that you two seemed off.” She rubbed her thumb over the moisture on the outside of her glass.
He waited for her to go on.
“I know you two have never been all lovey dovey, but you’d hold hands and put your arm around her and whisper to each other.”
Sean nodded.
“You seemed almost like you wanted to sit somewhere else, but maybe didn’t want to make it about the two of you by sitting apart. At least, now that I know she’d already broken up with you, that makes sense.”
She took a deep breath. “That’s why I’m here.”
“Why is that?”
“Do you remember our deal?”
Sean wracked his brain for a couple of minutes. “You mean the pact we made when we were fifteen?”
Lexi nodded.
He remembered it well, now that he knew what she was talking about. “We’re not forty yet.”
“I know. But we’re nearly thirty, and I can’t afford to wait any longer.”
He sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “So you want to get married and have kids. Now?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
The last thing Alexis Braverman wanted to do was steal her cousin’s fiancé.
But Heidi had called it off, which meant Lexi could at least ask him to push up the date on their high school pact.
If they weren’t married at forty, they’d get together and have kids, if they both still wanted some - or more, if one or both of them already had children from previous relationships.
Unfortunately, she no longer had the option of waiting much longer. At least, according to her doctors.
The pact had come to her mind several times over the last few days, but if she hadn’t suspected Heidi had ended things with Sean, she never would have come over in the first place. If he hadn’t confirmed the break up, she wouldn’t have broached the subject.
“Can I ask why?” At least he hadn’t dismissed it out of hand.
“My doctors say I don’t have that long to have children. It’s a whole medical thing. I can tell you more later, if you want, but they say it’s a lot better for me to have kids soon if possible. They want to be able to do one procedure or another to help me, but will make it impossible to have more kids.”
“A hysterectomy?”
“That’s one possibility.” She really didn’t want to go into details. Not now. Maybe someday
in the future when she could talk about her personal reproductive system without blushing furiously.
Sean set his drink down on the side table as he blew out a breath. “I knew something was bothering you the minute I opened the door, but I never would have guessed this was it. I’d almost forgotten about the pact.”
“I understand if you don’t want to. You broke up with your fiancé like five hours ago. She happens to be my cousin. We’ve never dated. We haven’t spent much time together since college.”
He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, hands clasped between them. “I’m not saying no. I am taken by surprise, and I’m probably not reacting the best because of that.”
Lexi nodded and stood. “I get that. Why don’t you think about it for a while and get back to me?”
Sean stood with her. “Stay. Let’s spend the evening together, watch a movie or something, and I’ll let it percolate in the back of my mind. We can talk more before you leave.”
She gave him a wry grin. “Percolate is better than fester.”
That made Sean laugh. “Hazards of having a writer for a sister. She always makes me pick a better word. I can’t say I’ll think about it. I have to say something like percolate.”
“I’ve never seen that side of Madi.” She settled into the chair as Sean did the same on his recliner.
He flipped out the footrest. “We were always closest out of the five of us, I think. She and Lani are close, too. Mia not as much, to any of us, for reasons I’ve never quite understood. Things changed around the house when Mia was born, but I have no idea what happened.”
Confiding in her about his family was a good sign, right? “I have noticed you guys all seem to spend more time with Mama and Papa Beach than your parents. I think a lot of people do, related or not, though.”
“They’re amazing,” he confirmed. “And you’re not wrong. Whatever happened back then isn’t over. They’re not happy together, but we don’t know why or why they even stay together.” He shrugged. “I don’t know if you want to marry into all that.”
Small Town Girls Don't Marry Their Best Friends: Contemporary Christian Romance (Beaches of Trumanville Book 3) Page 17
