“So, let’s drink a toast to my girl Allie and her colorful imagination!”
He took a sip of liquor—this one was cherry—while Allie slugged down a glug of icy bottled water.
Someone from the crowd called out, “Whatsa matter, Allie? Sample too many flavors last night to drink a toast to your own product? Or do you know something about this drink that we don’t?”
She looked at Justin, and her lips tilted, she shrugged, and said, “Might as well tell ’em.”
“Well, yeah, as a matter of fact, there is something we’re not telling you, but it’s not about bad whiskey,” Justin said, looking toward his parents and Lorena.
His mother smiled, excited pleasure already sparking from her. How did women know these things? Lorena’s faux pleasant facade had a few cracks, but he couldn’t read those at all. And his dad wore a puzzled frown, probably wondering how soon he was going to lose his investment.
So Justin looked back at Allie. “You all know that I love this girl here. We were waiting until we had the business off the ground and out the door before we planned a wedding, but we’ve decided to move things up a little.”
He held up her left hand with its twisted toilet paper engagement ring.
Everyone hooted and clapped while Allie grinned and hugged him. Her arms around his waist were the best thing he’d ever felt. Except when she did it naked.
“So yeah. We’re moving things up a little, because we don’t want little Davey McGrath Morgan to get here before the ink is dry on his parents’ marriage certificate.”
There were more noises from the crowd, but Justin didn’t hear them, because he was looking at his bride-to-be.
“Allie McGrath, you have been a little part of my life as long as you’ve been alive, and I can’t tell you how grateful I’ll be if you agree to be all of my life for—”
He was suddenly aware that they weren’t the only two people standing in front of the crowd. Lorena was standing next to them, hands folded in front of her, perma-smile in place.
“Mom? We’re kinda in the middle of something here.” Allie’s eyebrows were pinched in concern. They’d all been waiting for Lorena to crack. Justin had just hoped it wouldn’t happen in front of everyone they knew.
“I don’t want to interrupt, but I think you need something here,” she said, holding out her fist. “My mother-in-law gave this to Allie’s father to give to me, and I had planned to give it to David. Since he’s not here, he would have wanted you to use it instead of that ridiculous bit of bathroom tissue.”
She opened her fist and revealed the enormous blue topaz ring that she’d worn forever.
Both Allie and Justin stared at it, then her.
“Mom…”
“Mrs. McG…”
“I suppose you’ll have to start calling me Mother now, won’t you?”
Justin looked at his own mom, who was covering her mouth, trying not to laugh, no doubt imagining Justin greeting Lorena the way he did her, with a big smooch, “Hey, Ma,” and a twirly hug.
He nodded and took the ring. “Thank you, ma’am.”
Lorena’s smile cracked a little, something glistened in her eye, and she grazed Allie’s arm with her fingers.
After his future mother-in-law glided back to her seat, Justin refocused on Allie.
“So whaddya say, Sneezy? Want to catch a cheap flight to Vegas tomorrow?”
“Don’t you dare!” both his mother and Lorena shouted together.
Allie laughed and kissed him. “Maybe we should carpool to the courthouse instead.”
“Only if we can get the judge to dress up like Elvis.”
“Fine, but you still owe me a karaoke serenade.”
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Acknowledgments
So many people held my hand, kicked my butt, and yanked my arm along the road to get this story told that I’m probably going to miss a few, but here goes!
Major thanks to Nicole Resciniti, the best agent in the universe and Supreme Goddess of Great Ideas, who said, “Why don’t you write about bourbon?”
Which leads me to the bourbon industry: thank you for landing in Kentucky. Everyone who has spoken to me about distilling has been amazing. I’ve taken a few liberties, and claim full responsibility for any mistakes—please forgive me, I’ll buy the next round!
Thank you, Liz, for giving me a read and being such a positive force in my world. I love being an Entangled author!
Robin, you’ve been amazing to work with. Omigod, you get my jokes (well, at least you pretend to, and that’s HUGE). Thank you so much, and I look forward to more fun and games!
To the Saturday at Skips girls and guy, thanks for being there; I miss you!
Kathryn—for all those early rounds of reading—you da bomb.
For my Monday Night Homies—especially Kim B—y’all have given me the spiritual fitness to work and not let this project derail me, one chapter at a time.
As always, thanks to my parents and my in-laws for your support.
And finally, to my three favorite kids and the best husband I’ve ever had, I couldn’t—wouldn’t—do it without you.
Wait! One more thing. Operation Homefront—the charity that Justin donated his military pay to—is a real organization, one of many groups that help our active and veteran warriors and their families, and they all need our support.
About the Author
Teri Anne Stanley can do (and has done) just about anything, especially if the directions are on the internet: turn dryer lint and old lottery tickets into paper, make posing suits for female bodybuilders—heck, give her a sheep and some cherry Kool-Aid, she’ll give you a red sweater. She can also sequence your DNA or provide sex therapy for rats.
But what she’d rather do is write sassy, sexy, fun romances populated with strong, smart heroines and hunky heroes. Along with her three favorite children and a couple of dogs, she and Mr. Stanley live just outside of Sugartit, which is—honest to God—between Beaverlick and Rabbit Hash, Kentucky.
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