Evie knew that Dockside Days had been a complete fabrication of Declan’s imagination, but not surprisingly, Ian quickly saw the value in the idea and soon enough all the McCormick brothers were on board and working to make it happen.

It all came together extremely quickly, although as far as Evie was concerned, it couldn’t come fast enough. As excited as Jonah was about the idea of finally getting to ride on the jet skis, he was still full of stories of the time he spent with his father. Sharing her son may have been the hardest thing she’d ever done, but pretending to be excited about the fun times he shared with his dad was even harder.

It wasn’t a competition, and even if it was, Evie didn’t have any interest in trying to compete with a holiday dad. Tony had no idea what it was like to actually parent and have to do all the hard stuff. And if she had her way, he’d never know.

Not that she would have her way. In fact, every time she spoke to Russ about what was happening, she got a little more nervous about what the outcome would be.

But she wasn’t going to think about it. Not today. Because the day had finally come. She was leaving the shop early, putting her part-time staff in charge so she could join Jonah and Declan down to the lake for the first annual Dockside Days.

Declan had offered to take Jonah down early and help out with the last-minute setup details while Evie was at the shop, leaving her to do at least a few hours of work.

Walking down Main Street, she was once again amazed at how quickly the entire town had gotten on board with the idea of Dockside Days and had turned it into an event. If there was one thing Cedar Springs enjoyed, it was a party. Any excuse for a festival or event that the whole town could get involved in, and Dockside Days was no different.

Scott’s Stop had a sandwich board out front, proudly proclaiming a “Dockside Deliwich” on special. Dream Puff’s was offering a Dockside Donut. She knew the Grizzly Paw had similar drink specials and lunch offerings. Not only were the local businesses supporting the McCormicks’ impromptu festival, but almost everyone in town had joined or created a team to compete in events like “Tricky Triathlon,” which involved paddling a kayak through a course, to run a three-legged race around the beach, and finally run through a series of paddleboard yoga moves before swimming to the finish line.

Declan also told her they were doing a jet ski race, a trick water-skiing demonstration, some fun team races that involved water balloons and water guns, and of course, when the sun went down, there would be music and dancing on the docks.

It really did sound as though it would be a lot of fun and, in the middle of it all, would be Jonah. Declan had included him in all of the preparation and not only did he love to be busy with something besides the store, Evie could see how much he enjoyed spending time with Declan. It warmed her heart and made her nervous all at the same time. How would he react when their fake engagement was over?

She couldn’t think about it. Not yet. She’d cross that bridge when it was time.

For now, they were both enjoying Declan’s company and that would have to be enough.

She could hear the Dockside Days before she could see it. When she came across the lawn toward the marina, the sight took her breath away.

How they’d pulled it off in only a few days, Evie had no idea, but the lawn outside of the marina was full of picnic tables, inflatable castles, balloons, and all kinds of other things that hadn’t been there the day before.

Jonah must have seen her because he ran across the lawn to greet her, wearing a life jacket. “Mom, you’re just in time. Declan was going to take me on a jet ski so we could be judges.”

“Judges?”

Declan came up behind Jonah and gave her a kiss on the cheek, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It sure felt like it was, and the way her stomach flipped at his touch was certainly natural.

“That’s right,” Declan said. “We’re going to be judges for the crazy triathlon. Do you want to come?”

She laughed and shook her head. “I think I’ll be okay on land.” She turned to Dec. “Is it safe? For Jonah, I mean?”

“Mom!”

Declan laughed. “Of course it’s safe. And he’s been working so hard helping us get set up around here, I promised him he could be guest judge.” They walked as they talked, and Evie took in all the hard work they had done. It really did look as if they had been working hard. And she was all for Jonah having a reward.

“We get to make sure that they come around the buoy, Mom.”

“That sounds important.”

“It is,” Declan said. “We can’t have any cheaters for the first annual Dockside Days.”

She beamed up at him, full of happiness and a grateful type of warm feeling she couldn’t explain. He’d done it for her. He’d made this whole spectacle happen for her and her son. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear. “I can’t thank you enough.”

He pulled her close and murmured into her ear. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to thank me. I’m happy to do it.” He kissed her then, completely uncaring who saw them, and she melted under his attentions

“Eww.” Jonah groaned. “Can you do that somewhere else?”

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” another voice came from somewhere behind them. “But I’m going to.”

Declan pulled away and Evie immediately missed his closeness. As if he sensed that, he twisted his arm around her and together they turned to face Gwen, Ian’s fiancée.

“I don’t mean to break up this little party,” Gwen said. “But like I said, I’m going to because I need to properly welcome Evie into the McCormick family.” She lunged forward and pulled Evie into a hug. “I know I’m not officially a McCormick myself. At least not yet, but it’s such a great family and we’re all such a tight unit, I’m so glad that Declan has someone too.”

Evie felt something twist in her stomach. She hated lying. She hated everything about it. It was bad enough lying to her son, but lying to all of these wonderful people who just wanted to welcome her into their family full of love and unconditional acceptance—it was too much. A tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.

“Oh, don’t cry,” Gwen said. “I know an engagement is always full of all kinds of emotions, but this is a good thing. This family is just so wonderful. And I know it’s overwhelming to plan a wedding—I mean, we haven’t even started,” she added with a wave of her hand, “but I can imagine it will be a lot.”

Evie nodded because she didn’t know what else to do.

Thankfully, Declan slipped his arm around her again and pulled her close. “We’re not rushing anything,” he said. “We just got engaged and we want to enjoy the whole process without any pressure.”

“Oh yeah.” Gwen waved her hand. “Of course there’s no pressure.” She laughed. “I mean, you could be like Mitch and Jade and just do it and get it over with.”

Mitch had proposed to Jade and married her in the same night earlier in the summer. It had been a whirlwind, which Evie was starting to see was a bit of a trend with the McCormick brothers. But she wouldn’t be doing that. In fact, as exciting as it was talking about weddings with Gwen and pretending she was a real part of the McCormick family, she needed to keep reminding herself that she wasn’t. And she wouldn’t be actually joining the family at all.

Even if she wanted to.

“Don’t you guys have to get out there and judge?” She changed the subject altogether and right away Jonah perked up.

“Yes! Come on, Declan. We have to go.” He tugged on Dec’s hand. “If we’re not there, they’ll cheat.”

“They might,” Dec agreed. He turned to Evie and leaned in close. “You’ll be okay with my family?”

Before Evie could answer, Gwen jumped in. “Of course she will. We’ll take good care of her.”

Declan looked at Evie for confirmation, but there was no way she was going to say otherwise. She nodded. “Go,” she told them. “Take care of Jonah for me.”

Declan’s smile faded and his face became a mask of seriousness. “Evie. I’ll always take care of Jonah.” She blinked hard and looked into his eyes. “And you,” he said.

She almost completely melted right there on the spot.

“Don’t worry.” Gwen grabbed her hand and yanked her to the side. “I’ll make sure she meets everyone and by the time you get back, she’ll be fully integrated into the family. I got this.”

---

Gwen wasn’t kidding when she said that Evie would be fully integrated into the family. By the time Declan and Jonah were done judging the triathletes, and they got back to the dock, not only had Evie been properly introduced to everyone in the family, but she was sitting at a picnic table between Jade and Gwen and was being grilled on wedding details.

Declan’s first instinct was to go to her and help her out. No doubt she would want to be saved from a situation where she had to create stories and perpetuate their lie. But when he got close and overheard the discussion, he stopped himself from intervening and just listened.

“I guess I always dreamed of a mountain wedding,” Evie said. “Something by the river. Simple, but elegant and just…us. A day to celebrate the love we have for each other. Shouldn’t that be what a wedding is about?”

“Absolutely.” Jade jumped in. “That was one of the best parts of our wedding. It was simple but that’s what made it amazing. It was all about us. I mean obviously I’m super biased, but I loved everything about our wedding.”

“That’s because you didn’t have any say in planning it,” Gwen piped up.

“Maybe.” Jade shrugged. “But even if I had. It was just about the two of us. It wasn’t about anything else, or making anyone else happy or doing any of the crazy stuff for anyone that you think should be done. It was just us.”

“It really was,” Gwen agreed. “It was beautiful and the words you spoke to each other…” She put her hand on her chest. “So romantic. You two surely set the bar high.”

“So who’s going to be next?” It was Evie who asked the question.

“Not you?” Milena, Cal’s girlfriend, asked.

Evie shook her head. “Not me. I think we’re going to wait and really enjoy the engagement.” Hearing her say that hurt Declan’s heart a little bit. Something had changed between them after their little camping trip. They were closer. More in tune. And it wasn’t only because she was letting him sleep in the bed with her instead of on the couch. And that he was holding her close to him, feeling her skin against his every night.

Maybe that had something to do with it. He wasn’t going to deny that it could be part of it. But they hadn’t had sex again since coming down off the mountain. Not for lack of wanting to.

Declan’s dick twitched in his pants, just thinking about what it felt like to hold her close and wrap his body around hers. He’d had some of the best sleeps of his life with her in his arms. But he knew he would sleep even better if he could turn her over, kiss every inch of her skin and sink his—

“Dec! You’re back,” Ian called out to him. He turned his focus from the women, to his brothers who stood by the office, huddled over a sheaf of papers. “Do we have any disqualifications?”

He shook his head, took one last look at his faux fiancée and went to join the guys. “No,” he called. “Everyone was legit. There was some stiff competition out there today. I’m very impressed with all the teams, but Jonah and I didn’t see any infractions. Did we, Jonah?”

The boy had appeared at his side. He handed him a soda and held up one of his own for a toast. Declan happily made the cheers and they both drank their cola.

“I actually can’t believe you pulled this off,” Cal said to his oldest brother. “But it looks like Dockside Days is a huge success.”

Ian nodded and looked around. “It is. I mean, it’s too early to say how it’s going to affect the bottom line, but it certainly does look like a success.”

“Oh yeah. You’re going to have bookings for the rest of the summer,” Mitch chimed in. “This is huge. And what a great way to give back to the community. This town does like a good party.”

“That it does.” Ian raised his beer can and they all clinked to that. “I’m so glad to be back here.”

“I’m glad we’re all back,” Declan said. “It’s been too long. Speaking of which, where’s Mom?” He looked around. “Did she come?”

“Of course she came. She’s been busy over at the kids’ tent, painting faces,” Ian said. “She can’t get enough of the kids. I think she’s desperate for grandkids.”

“We’re working on it. We’re working on it.” Mitch rolled his eyes. “A few more months yet.” Quite a few, since the baby wasn’t due until the end of February.

“Do you think Mom will stay in Cedar Springs if her grandchild will be here?” It was Cal who asked but Declan had been wondering the same thing. He felt bad that he hadn’t spent as much time with his mom as he should have, never mind the whole giant lie he’d been telling her.

“It’s not just her grandchild, right?” Ian grinned. “I mean, all of her kids are here now. And when is the last time she had all of us in one spot? I think we should ask her to stay. Maybe Milena could find her a little place.”

“Those new condos are going in,” Cal said. “One of those would be perfect.”

His brothers kept talking, making plans for their mother, but he drifted off in thought because they’d just assumed he’d be staying in Cedar Springs, too. Of course they had. After all, if he was marrying Evie Rose, he wouldn’t be leaving. She owned a store and had a child. She had roots in Cedar Springs. The thought was a little scary for a guy who’d spent his entire adult life moving around and avoiding settling down.

But it was only a little scary. Not nearly as frightening as he would have thought it would be. The idea of giving up the transient lifestyle to go home to the same house every night, sleep in the same bed, with the same woman…it was nice.

Especially if that woman was Evie.

Declan’s attention drifted to the picnic table full of women. The music had started and a few of them were getting up to go dance on the grass. His gaze locked onto Evie and the way she laughed, carefree and relaxed as she swayed to the music.

He certainly couldn’t take all of the credit, or any at all really, but Declan couldn’t help but think that maybe he’d had even a little bit to do with that smile.

He know he did, just like she had everything to do with the way he was feeling, too.

Ignoring his brothers, who were still making plans for their mother, Declan left the group of men and walked over to the table of women.

He tapped Evie on the shoulder. “May I have this dance?”

“Now?” She looked around. “Here?”

“I’ll dance anywhere with you, sweetheart.”

“Oh, how can you say no to that?” Jade asked with a faux swoon.

“I can’t.” Evie held out her hand, which Declan took and helped her to her feet.

He led her a little distance away and pulled her into his arms. It wasn’t a slow song, but he didn’t care. He wanted her as close as he could get her. “Are you having fun?”

She nodded against his shoulder. “I really am. Your family is so nice.”

“They are.” He spun her around and caught a glimpse of the women watching them. “A little nosy,” he added. “But nice.”

Evie laughed. “I think they’re all just so happy you’ve found someone.” Her smile faded a bit so he kissed the doubt away.

“Don’t think about that right now.”

“It’s hard,” she said. “I mean, it can’t go on forever, can it?”

It could. Why couldn’t it? After all, there was no doubt in his mind that he was falling in love with Evie Rose. It may have started as a lie, but it sure felt real. Why couldn’t it go on forever?

The reality of the situation and what he was thinking slammed into him. Was he really thinking of settling down? With Evie? In Cedar Springs? And what if he was? Did she feel the same way? Would she even consider it? For real this time?