‘I’m the same. But I’m willing to give it a damn good shot. I’ve taken a lot of risks in my life, and this kind scares me the most. But what I’ve realised is … I’ve never really had a strong friendship as the basis for a relationship before. It was always short-term attraction. That’s why it feels different. It’s also why it feels so good. I know it’s real. Whatever we have,’ he moved his hands up to her shoulders, pulling her closer, ‘it’s something real. Something worth pursuing.’
Oh God, it so is. And that was what made it so incredibly terrifying. Her belly fluttered. ‘I’m so used to being on my own. I’m not sure how to … do a relationship yet.’
‘Same boat,’ he replied with a smile. ‘We can learn together. That’s all part of the adventure.’
With his hands on her shoulders, his gaze on her eyes, and his words floating with the breath from his lungs that tickled her face, she was succumbing, surrendering, and wanting so much to just trust it and say yes.
‘How do you know you won’t change your mind in a few weeks, get itchy feet?’
He took a deep breath. ‘I’ve always said that my adventures choose me. I follow my gut. I go where it feels right. And I could say that I’m here today because I choose you, Olivia, but I don’t. I don’t choose you. This, us, chooses me.’ He patted his chest where his heart would be.
Her hands trembled and her voice shook. ‘Wow,’ she said. ‘Wow.’ Her hands found their way to his chest. ‘And what about your next trip, surely you don’t want to stay in Tarrin’s Bay and never go anywhere else?’
‘Hmm, well,’ he said, eying her with an eager glimmer in his eye. ‘I was hoping to have a travel companion with me. Or even two.’
‘Two?
‘You and Mia.’
Olivia’s eyebrows rose.
‘Uh-huh,’ he said. ‘I was thinking something even more risky next time, like, say, a five-star hotel perhaps? Gold Coast, theme parks, something terrifying like that.’
Olivia laughed. ‘You’re really serious. You want to give up the travelling bachelor lifestyle and go on a highly commercialised expensive holiday with a single mother and her nine-year-old, no, make that soon-to-be ten-year-old daughter?’
‘Yes. I do. Except I don’t want the mother to be single.’
Olivia smiled, his face coming close to hers.
‘You and me,’ he whispered, his voice genuine and his eyes serious. ‘Let’s just give it a shot. Make some memories that go beyond May, and June, and July.’ He caressed her cheek, then ran his thumb across her lips. ‘Do you accept the challenge?’
Her body softened at his touch, her soul soothed by his words, his promises. Being in his presence again felt so right, so normal, so perfect. ‘Does it come with hashtags?’ she asked with a chuckle.
He laughed. ‘Of course. I call it the …’ He made a hashtag symbol by crossing his first two fingers of each hand over each other, ‘Relationship Challenge.’
‘And that R word doesn’t scare you?’
‘A little, but what scares me more is the idea of moving on without you.’
He pulled her body close to his, nestling his lips into her neck, sprinkling kisses below her ear.
‘Oh God,’ she said. ‘I missed this.’
‘Me too. I don’t want to miss this again. I want you close to me, every night, every day.
She moaned and ran her hands over the back of his neck.
‘I thought I just wanted to stay friends, that it would be easier. But what was I thinking?’
‘You were thinking out of fear,’ she said. ‘Live without fear, my grandma said. That’s what I plan to do from now on.’
‘Wise woman,’ he replied. Then he pulled back and stared into her eyes, and it was then she noticed that the ocean-blue shade had a sort of … diamond look about them, like her grandma had observed about William’s. ‘So, do you accept the challenge or not?’
She raised up onto her toes, kissed his lips, and said with a grin, ‘Challenge accepted.’
Their lips kissed, their hands caressed, and they moved backwards into the storeroom. Olivia giggled as he moved items across her desk and sat her on top of it, wrapping her legs around his waist.
‘One question before I am unable to do anything but rip your clothes off,’ Olivia said. ‘When did you decide you were going to come in here and win me over?’
He grinned. ‘Ever since I saw you at the funeral. I couldn’t bear the thought of not being a part of your life and supporting you in moments like that. But I knew you needed time to grieve, time to write, and time to process everything.’
‘And the postcard … nice touch!’
‘That was your idea. A great one too, I might add.’ He leaned forward and kissed her lovingly. ‘Plus I wanted you to have another book-worthy moment.’
‘This one takes the cake,’ she replied, sighing at his delicious touch and his kisses.
He ran his hands through her hair and she watched in awe as his eyes scanned her face like he was admiring a piece of art. ‘You know what?’
‘What?’ she asked with a curious smile.
‘You, my dear Olivia Chevalier with eight syllables, may just be my biggest adventure yet.’
Epilogue
The following May …
‘I never thought that by writing my grandmother’s story, I would end up writing my own.’ Olivia stood at the microphone at the back of the store, reading out her speech to a small, but special gathering of people at the Memories of May book launch.
Marcus had started off the evening by reading out memories from the memory jar to warm up the crowd, and Mia had handed out canapés and drinks. Joel, who was standing at the front corner of the crowd with Mia, caught her eye and winked in support. She smiled then returned her gaze to the piece of paper in her hand. ‘Mrs May said that there are no endings, only beginnings, and she was right. Life goes on, new memories are created and shared, and I was privileged to be part of hers.’ She cleared her throat. ‘This book was a long time coming, but I’m glad I persisted with it. Glad I was able to finish it and tell her it was complete before she died. She trusted me to tell her story, and I’m forever grateful for that.’ She glanced at the soft smiles of the people in the crowd, all listening intently to her speech, and was overcome with emotion. Her hands shook a little. She promised herself she wouldn’t cry, that she would get through this speech and get all the words out, and she would try to keep that promise. She could shed a few tears later, but for now, the words were more important. ‘I learned a lot more about my grandma while writing this book, a lot more than anyone else knew, about her personal life and experiences. And I didn’t know back then how much of an impact her stories would have on my own life. I learned that we were similar in many ways. She encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and take a few risks, and with the help of someone else who did the same, I’m glad to say those risks paid off.’ This time, she glanced at Joel and winked.
‘I’ll never forget my grandmother. She truly was miraculous, magnificent, marvellous, magical, and memorable. A beautiful, special soul, who touched the lives of many. And now I’d like to share with you a small video I’ve created with some of her photos, her favourite music, and a few words from the book.’
Joel came over and helped with the projector, and the cover of Memories of May graced the screen as music played. Olivia looked down at the copy of the book in her hand with William’s drawing on the front cover, and smiled. And as the images transitioned on the screen and everyone watched with glossy eyes, she flipped the book to the final page and read the last line to herself: Life is merely a collection of moments, of memories. Every life matters. It is up to you to take risks, live your life fully, and follow your heart. Don’t settle for a life half lived. Make amazing memories. Make memories matter.
She closed the book with a light, reverent touch, and held it to her heart. She glanced towards the velvet armchair in the corner of the store. A warm rush ran through her body as th
e scent of lilies arose, and she could have sworn for a moment that she saw her grandma sitting there smiling, at peace, knowing that her life had made a difference.
THE END OF ONE STORY, THE BEGINNING OF ANOTHER
Thanks for reading MEMORIES OF MAY. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage www.julietmadison.com, follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/juliet_madison or like my Facebook page www.facebook.com/julietmadisonauthor
You can also follow me through my publisher’s page here www.escapepublishing.com.au
Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.
You’ve just read a book in my TARRIN’S BAY series. The other books in this series are THE JANUARY WISH, FEBRUARY OR FOREVER, MIRACLE IN MARCH, APRIL’S GLOW.
This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.
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ISBN: 9781489241467
Title: Memories of May
Copyright © 2017 by Juliet Madison
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Level 4/132 Arthur Street, North Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2060.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
® and ™ are trademarks of Harlequin Enterprises Limited and are used under license to the Publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in Australia, New Zealand, the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.
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