CHAPTER 8
Sara exhaled as she took in her surroundings. Foster Pond was a hidden gem that the locals had somehow been able to keep a secret. She was honored that they’d given her a special pass and included her and the kids in the annual gathering. There was a pond, of course, with a small island in the middle accessible by a charming bridge and surrounded by acres and acres of rolling green grass. In the very center of the island sat a large gazebo that was adorned with twinkle lights.
The kids were in a bouncy castle that was inflated close enough that she could keep an eye on them and be there in seconds if an emergency arose, but far enough away that the adults could speak without having to raise their voices to be heard. She was seated around a fire pit with Ali, Jess, and another friend of theirs Brynn sipping a glass of wine. The foursome had spent thirty minutes talking about what a small world it was that Sara had shared Jess’s engagement video and that Ali and Jess even knew who she was, they’d FaceTimed Shelby, who instantly recognized both Ali and Jess from the engagement video. Sara had forgotten that Ali appeared at the end of it.
Then Sara blew her sister’s mind for a second time when she dropped the bombshell that Fairytale Love had been filmed in Whisper Lake. Both Ali and Jess said they’d been dealing with some personal things when the show was happening. Austin had told Sara that Ali’s brother suddenly passed away a couple of years ago, leaving her the guardian of his twin sons KJ and Ricky. And when they’d arrived at the BBQ, Charlotte had asked about a scar that Jess had on her chest, leaving Sara to want to crawl under the nearest rock and hide, but Jess hadn’t seemed to mind. She told Charlotte that she’d been sick, but two years ago, she got a new heart and now she was all better. Sara figured those were the reasons Ali and Jess hadn’t been too invested in a reality show being in town. But, Brynn filled Shelby in on some behind-the-scenes gossip she had about the show Fairytale Love, including that it was returning and would be aired on a streaming network.
All of Shelby’s life Sara’d been the disciplinarian, the buzzkill, the “mom.” The role was partly attributed to her Type A personality but mainly it was because someone had to be. And that was always how her rebellious sister had looked at her and treated her. But tonight as Sara was hanging up the phone, she saw the look she’d always wanted to see in Shelby’s eyes. She saw the very specific hero-worship that a little sister had for a big sister that was cool. It was an experience she’d never thought would happen. She’d been certain that ship had sailed since it was something she’d only witnessed in kids or preteens.
She’d shown up tonight with the hottest guy in town. Been included in a small-town ritual. Gotten to have adult conversations and hang out with amazing women that she hoped she’d remain friends with after this week. Her sister had actually thought she was cool and her kids were having the time of their lives.
Tonight was the kind of night that she’d seen in movies and television, and read about in books but never thought existed in real life. It was perfect.
Maybe this town really was magic.
A flutter erupted low in her belly and on instinct she turned her head and saw that Austin was staring directly at her. The drive over had been filled with the kids asking a billion questions, and once they arrived Ali had intercepted her and Austin had been hanging out with the guys. But for the past hour, they’d kept catching each other’s gaze.
Every single time they locked eyes, Sara experienced a flash of connection, a wave of intimacy, a bond of familiarity. It was unnerving and invigorating simultaneously. The two of them hadn’t had a moment alone, yet she felt like they knew one another. Not on a logical level, but deeper, on a soul level. And it wasn’t the wine talking. She’d been nursing the glass for the past hour and hadn’t even drank half of it.
“So how do you know Austin?” Jess asked, snapping her right out of her bliss bubble.
“Oh.” She blinked in surprise and spun her head back to Jess, feeling like a teenager getting caught sneaking in after curfew and finding a parent sitting in a chair in the front room. Not that she’d ever been the sneaker, she’d always been the parent in that scenario. “I um…I don’t.”
“You don’t?” Jess’s left brow arched. “Didn’t you two come together?”
“No…yes…I mean…” She’d spent the past hour talking to these women with no issues whatsoever. Why in the name of all that is holy was she stumbling over her words now? “Yes. We came together. No. I don’t know him, not really. We just met this morning.”
Wow. Hearing that out loud sounded strange even to her. How was it possible that last night at this time, she’d been snuggled between her two munchkins in a hotel room in St. Louis, Missouri, having no idea that Austin Stone even existed. It seemed truly inconceivable. And unlike Vizzini in The Princess Bride she knew exactly what that word meant.
“Really? This morning?” The surprise on Jess’s face seemed to back up the whole inconceivable theory Sara had.
“Yep.”
“Wow.” Ali shook her head. “You guys seem…”
“Like you know each other.” Jess finished Ali’s thought and emphasized the word.
“That’s what it was like for me and Axel the first time we met.” Brynn smiled from ear to ear.
From what Sara had seen, all three women were madly, head over heels in love with the men they were with. And Sara couldn’t blame them. After they left the rental shop Austin mentioned that Kade was a recently retired MMA fighter. Sara’s first thought had been, well his body sure hasn’t retired. Jess’s fiancé Ethan was a U.S. Marshall and looked every bit the part. He was tall, gorgeous and had an air of command that Sara could see women falling all over themselves for. And Brynn’s betrothed, Axel, was a master woodworker that was so good looking and sexy he could easily be the star of his own HGTV show. It would be number one in the 25-50 female demo.
All three of the men were very easy on the eyes, and would be described by Shelby as “panty-droppers” but to Sara, none of them held a candle to Austin. They were all tied for a distant second in the Hot and Sexy category.
Jess leaned forward toward Sara. “Has Austin seen you naked?”
“What?” Sara let out a nervous laugh just thinking about that. “No.”
“Have you touched his—” Jess cleared her throat and glanced down to her lap. “—junk?”
Sara’s head reared back slightly as she vehemently denied the question. “No!”
A large smile spread across Jess’s face as she looked back at Brynn. “Then it’s nothing like the first time you and Axel met.”
All three women started cracking up laughing and Sara had a feeling she was missing out on a great story.
Brynn waved her hands in front of her when she stopped chuckling. “It’s not what you think. I was taking a bath and then I dropped my keys.”
“Sure,” Jess nodded obviously giving her a bad time. “The old dropped-my-keys-in-the-bath excuse. We’ve heard that one before.”
“Stop!” Brynn and Ali laughed harder as Brynn pointed an accusatory finger at Jess. “You know what I meant. Stop trying to make this sound worse than it is.”
Jess lifted her hands. “Hey, you’re the one taking baths and dropping keys with a guy you just met.”
“I was not!” Brynn playfully tossed a wadded up napkin at Jess. “I was in the bath when he came to the door and I put a robe on but Lucy, my pug, wanted to play tug of war with my belt. And then later, when I was fully dressed, I dropped a key I was handing him and I reached for it and ended up cupping his…” she put her hand out demonstrating the action even as her fair cheeks turned almost as red as her hair.
Sara’s head fell back as she laughed, a real laugh that she felt spread through her like a cool breeze on a hot day. It felt so good to be this relaxed and enjoying herself. It made her realize the stark contrast of her “real” life compared to this. She hoped that once she moved close to Shelby and Matt, she’d have more nights like this.
“Uh oh. Incoming.” Jess said beneath her breath as she stared blankly just over Sara’s shoulder.
“Be nice.” Ali said without moving her lips as she held a smile firmly in place.
Sara glanced behind her and saw a severely put-together woman heading straight toward them. Her light brown hair was pulled back in a slick ponytail, not a strand out of place. Her makeup was minimal, but flawless and she wore a black tank top paired with white linen drawstring pants…that didn’t have a smudge or stain on them…at a BBQ. In a large grass area. A long silver, single chain necklace hung to her mid-belly and she had a matching Apple Watch on her left wrist.
She looked like she’d walked out of a catalog and also like she didn’t quite fit in with the crowd. It wasn’t like any of the women that Sara had met tonight were carbon copies of each other. This wasn’t a Stepford Wife situation. Far from it.
Jess had black hair that was styled in curls on the top of her head with a red bandana tied around it. Vibrant tattoos on her thighs, arms and back jumped off her olive skin. Her high waisted, dark blue jean shorts and a white button up shirt covered in tiny cherries that was tied at her waist was straight out of a pin-up photo shoot. Bright red lipstick and a perfect cat-eye finished off her model worthy look.
Ali, in contrast, reminded Sara of a quintessential California surfer girl. She wore cutoff jean shorts and a white tank top and flip-flop sandals. Her long blonde hair flowed effortlessly around her shoulders and she had not a stich of makeup on.
Then there was Brynn. Her red locks were just past shoulder length and she wore a flowered sundress with strappy sandals. The petite redhead with bright blue eyes looked like a Disney princess. Literally, she looked like Ariel from The Little Mermaid come to life.
None of the women resembled one another, but they all looked like they belonged together. The woman approaching them seemed to be operating on an entirely different realm. But Sara couldn’t quite put her finger on why.
As soon as she got within earshot, Jess greeted her. “Hello Prissy!”
“Hey, Chrissy.” Brynn sounded genuinely cheerful.
“Hi, Chrissy!” Ali over-punctuated the name. “I’d like you to meet Sara Kellan.”
Chrissy didn’t acknowledge Jess’s greeting, but she smiled at Ali and Brynn before she held her hand out to Sara. “Hello, I’m Christine Caldwell, nice to meet you.”
Sara smiled. It wasn’t that Christine was rude, far from it. It was just that Sara didn’t feel the same warmth that she felt exuding from the rest of the town. Maybe that was what set her apart.
“Hi, Christine.” Sara stood and used the name that she’d introduced herself as. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Christine pointed at the jumpy house where Charlotte and Trevor were jumping with several other children. “Are those your children?”
Oh dear lord.
Those were four words every parent dreaded coming from a woman that looked and carried herself like Christine.
Sara’s back straightened and her shoulders tensed as the guard that she hadn’t even realized she’d ever had, much less dropped since arriving in Whisper Lake, slipped right back into place.
How long had it been there?
Years?
Decades?
“Yes.”
“They’ve been playing with my two youngest, Cassidy and Kimber.”
This woman had children and she didn’t have a wrinkle or a stain. Forget how long she’d known Austin, that was inconceivable.
“And I had to come tell you that I have never—”
Oh boy.
“–witnessed children that young be so kind and show so much empathy.”
Oh thank God.
“Oh, thank you.” Sara felt both relieved and elated. Her children were by no means angels. Whatever the interaction was, could’ve gone a much different direction and she didn’t take for granted for a second that Christine was seeking her out for a positive reason.
Christine lowered her voice as she discreetly explained, “Sally Tripp is potty training and she had an accident when she was trying to climb out of the bouncy house and started crying. Your son not only demanded that everyone stop bouncing so she could get out. He then unzipped the flap and held her hand as her mom got her down but not before offering her a handkerchief that he had in his back pocket so she could wipe the tears from her face.”
Around her there was a chorus of “awws” and “how sweets” from Brynn, Jess, and Ali.
Trevor assisting the little girl didn’t surprise Sara in the least. Trevor always tried to help. Honestly, he was probably just happy that Sally didn’t scream at him like Charlotte had a tendency to do. As far as the handkerchief, that was Austin’s doing. When they’d been headed out of the B&B Trevor had asked what was in Austin’s back pocket and he pulled out a white handkerchief. He’d told her son that a man should never be without one. Trevor had asked why and Austin said it was because you never knew when someone might need one.
So, of course, Trevor asked Sara if she had a handkerchief. She’d started to tell him that they could go buy some the next day, she’d needed to go to Walmart to pick up some things she’d forgotten, but before she got the chance to explain that, Austin handed his to him. Trevor shook his head and didn’t accept it stating that Austin might need one. But Austin quickly put her son’s mind at ease and stopped by his truck before they piled into her SUV and grabbed a navy blue handkerchief as he explained that he always had backups.
Sara had thought the exchange was sweet at the time, now her son had actually used it to give to a little girl that was crying.
“And then, when Sally came back wearing a different outfit, your daughter noticed she was sad and asked if she was okay. Sally told her she was embarrassed because she had on different clothes so your daughter turned her own shirt and shorts inside out and told her that now they both did.”
There was another round of “awws” and “how sweets.” Sara’s eyes automatically shot to Charlotte. Sure enough, her shirt and shorts were inside out.
The good news was, her baby girl had been kind and made someone feel better. The bad news was, she’d stripped down in front of God and everyone. She tried not to think about the bad news and focus on the good.
Sara’s motto was: Fake It Till You Make It (which was the motto she’d voted on for the blog but Shelby had overruled her). It might look like she was confident and had her shit together, but most days she went to bed and played over everything she should’ve done differently. Every wrong choice, harsh word, or mistake she made would play on repeat. She was just doing the best she could and hoping she wasn’t doing any permanent damage. It’s not as if she’d had stellar role models or any role models at all.
But days like this, hearing her children helped someone like that, they gave her hope that she was doing something right.
The women all praised her kids and she was just starting to get uncomfortable with all the attention on her when Jess groaned. “Oh no. She’s got Austin in her web.”
Sara was happy the subject changed, but she didn’t like the thought of it being about a woman catching him in a web. A foreign emotion sank in Sara’s stomach and it took her a moment to realize that it was jealousy.
She was jealous about a man that she’d known twelve hours being caught in a web.
That was a problem she’d deal with after she turned to see the black widow…or um…the woman.
A smile tugged on her lips when she saw that the “spider” strongly resembled Mrs. Claus.
“She’s got him cornered. He might be their next target.” Christine said as if they were talking about something nefarious.
Sara looked back at the women at a loss of what was going on.
“I mean, do you think he’s ready to date again?” Christine sounded concerned. “I mean that had to be quite a blow.”
Normally, Sara didn’t butt into other people’s business, but she found herself asking. “Why, what happened?”
Jess sighed and lowered her voice as she leaned in. “He was overseas and got shot. Apparently, when he came home he found his fiancée pregnant with his best friend’s baby. At least that’s the story I heard. And I was able to Facebook verify some of it.”
“Oh…wow…” Sara wasn’t sure what to say. She hated thinking of him being blindsided like that, but selfishly, thinking of him with a wife and a baby wasn’t something that she wanted to think about.
“And now Mrs. Dobrinski—” Ali began.
“Mrs. D—” Jess interjected.
“Mrs. D and her friends—” Ali pointed to two women that were huddled together under the gazebo. One wore a shawl, had a cane, and looked so thin Sara was worried a high wind would knock her into the water. The other was the spitting image of Betty Crocker.
“Partners in crime.” Jess amended.
“Cohorts.” Ali compromised. “Are most likely setting him up so they can play matchmaker.”
“Oh.” Sara thought she must be missing something because that sounded sweet to her. Endearing. At least, it would be if they weren’t trying to set up Austin.
“Don’t let their LOL appearances fool you,” Jess cautioned.
A grin tilted on Sara’s face as she questioned, “LOL?”
“Little old lady.” Ali supplied.
“Yeah.” Jess’s eyes narrowed. “They may look harmless but they also run this town using the Needlepoint Mafia as a front.”
“The Needlepoint Mafia?” Sara repeated.
This just kept getting better and better.
“It’s a knitting club.” Brynn interjected.
“Oh, I love to knit.” Grandma Betty had taught her before Matt and Shelby were born, when it was just the two of them. They’d knit while she watched her “shows” (soap operas) and drink tea. It was some of Sara’s favorite childhood memories.
“It’s a very exclusive, invitation only knitting club.” Christine snipped.
“Invitation only?” Sara was so confused.
“Yes.” Ali confirmed as she, Jess, and Brynn all shared a look.
If Sara was a betting woman, she’d put money on the three of them having received an invitation and Christine being left out. She felt bad for the woman who seemed to be on the outside looking in. Until today, it was where Sara had lived. In middle school, high school, and college she’d been worried about raising Shelby and Matt so she hadn’t had much of a social life. Then she got pregnant, married, and was for all intents and purposes a single mom. It didn’t really give her a lot of time to make friends.
Wanting to stick up for Christine, Sara said, “I’m not sure I’d want to be a part of a group that wasn’t inclusive.”
All four women’s eyes, including Christine’s, grew large and they shook their heads slowly back and forth.
“Oh, no, you don’t have a choice,” Ali explained.
“It’s like the mob, you don’t turn down an invitation.” Brynn backed her up.
Sara started to chuckle, but she saw that all of the women were serious.
“If you get invited into the Needlepoint Mafia, you go and you kiss the ring.” Jess explained.
“Wow.” Sara wasn’t sure one week in this town would be nearly enough. These people were fascinating.
Jess’s phone dinged and she picked it up off the seat beside her. “Yes. It’s here. Ethan’s getting lucky tonight.” Her shoulders bounced up and down.
“Ethan gets lucky every night,” Ali countered.
“True.” Jess beamed as she wagged her eyebrows and turned around her device revealing the book cover of the newest Jennifer Bernard release. “But a little inspiration never hurt.”
“Oooh! I forgot that was coming out tomorrow. Do I have it yet?” Ali grabbed her phone out of her pocket. Brynn dug in her purse. Her nose scrunched when she looked at the screen. “I must’ve forgot to preorder it.”
“I didn’t forget.” Sara pulled out her phone and clicked on her reading app, sure enough she had two new books. She showed the women. “And I’ve got Erika Wilde’s newest, too.”
“You knit and read romance? Where have you been all of our lives?” Jess gave her a high-five.
“I’ve been reading Erika Wilde since she was Janelle Denison.” There was a hint of challenge in Christine’s voice.
“Oh, me too.” Sara ignored it and smiled, excited that she’d found—in the immortal words of Anne Shirley—kindred spirits. “I’ve read her Wilde series at least ten times.”
Sara noticed the conversation drop silent after she spoke. She glanced around and saw that Brynn, Ali, and Jess were all staring at Christine with slacked jaws.
“You read romance novels?” Jess pointed at the well-put-together woman.
“I do. I read The Fear of Flying by Erica Jong in seventh grade and have been hooked ever since,” Christine shared.
Sara had discovered them a year later than Christine. She’d begun reading them when she’d found a bodice ripper at her grandma’s house in the eighth grade.
“I think romance has an undeserved, negative reputation.” Christine continued, “People assume that they are anti-feminist when in fact, it is the only genre with female driven plots. Nine times out of ten, the heroine is strong, resilient, and empowered.”
She was right, and all the women stood for a moment nodding.
“And the sex isn’t bad either,” Christine added as her lips turned up in a small smirk.
“Holy shit! Maybe you’re not Prissy Chrissy after all.” Jess gave her a high-five, too.
Christine, or Chrissy smiled and the conversation quickly turned to who everyone’s favorite authors were. The women all had a ton of crossover, including a very on topic series by Heidi Betts called Chicks with Sticks that had both romance and knitting.
Sara was still listening to the conversation when she directed her attention to the kiddos to check on them. They were still jumping and couldn’t look happier.
When she started to turn back to her new friends, she got that funny feeling. The flutters. The hair sticking up on her arms. The thrill racing down her spine. She looked over and just as she’d come to expect, Austin was looking right at her.
It had been happening ever since she’d walked down the hallway at the B&B. The same symptoms and the same outcome. Butterflies. Chills. Hair rising. Finding him looking at her.
She wasn’t sure how her body knew when he was, but she was enjoying it so much, for once in her life she wasn’t going to question it. She was just going to enjoy it.
* * *
“Hey, how’s your cousin doing?” Ethan lifted his beer bottle to his mouth and took a swig.
Austin had nine cousins that lived in Texas, but whenever he got that question he never had to ask which one the person was asking about. JJ Briggs had been a major league pitcher for a decade. He’d retired recently, but people were still interested in how he was doing.
“He’s good. He’s back home. He’s married. And he started a training center.”
“Nice.” Ethan nodded as he glanced, once again over in the direction of his fiancée who was sitting around the fire pit with Ali, Brynn, and Chrissy. The women had been there all night.1yyy9
Austin had noted that Ethan never went more than five minutes without his gaze landing on Jess. He’d noticed it because the same could be said for him looking at Sara. He was drawn to her in a way that he’d never experienced before. He just couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. And he wasn’t the only one that was suffering from the condition.
It was clear as day, to anyone with two eyes, that Kade and Ethan both had it bad. It seemed everywhere Austin went since he’d been back in the states people were falling in love. In Wishing Well, three of his cousins had gone head over heels in the last few months. One-third of the notoriously single Briggs siblings were either married or headed in that direction.
He was sure after Brielle that he was done in that department. He’d tried love, marriage, and the white picket fence, and hadn’t even made it to the altar. But that was before he met Sara. In less than one day, she’d snuck behind his barriers and made him feel things, think things, want things, that he had no business feeling, thinking, or wanting for a woman he just met. A woman who was a single mom with two kids.
Two amazing, bright, funny kids.
Shit.
There he went again. He’d never been a glass half-full person. But when it came to Sara, every time he attempted to focus on the reasons he should keep his distance, his sub-conscious countered with a positive spin on his reasons she was off-limits.
It was frustrating and exhausting.
Hoping to change the subject, he tipped his beer toward Kade. “So you and Ali, huh?”
His old friend inhaled slowly before he nodded. “Me and Ali.”
“Damn, I did not see that one coming. I don’t have a single memory of the two of you together when you weren’t arguing.”
“I know.” Kade smiled from ear to ear, looking like a kid at Christmas as he flipped a burger. “So, how long are you going to be in town? Are you just here for the festival?”
“I don’t really have a plan.” It was strange to say those words out loud. But after every plan he’d had imploded he just hadn’t gotten around to making any new ones. “I need to get the B&B in shape, so I’ll definitely be here for the summer, but after that, I’m not sure.”
“If you need a hand, let us know.”
Since retiring from MMA Kade had started flipping houses with Axel, who Austin hadn’t known growing up, but seemed like a solid guy. “I will, thanks.”
“I stayed at the B&B a few months back, and I’d love to get my hands on that kitchen. Seeing that someone painted over those gorgeous oak cabinets, table, and chairs was painful.”
Austin could see that Axel meant what he was saying.
“Yeah, I’d love if you guys could come by when you get a chance and give me an estimate.”
“How about tomorrow?” Kade asked.
“Sure.” Austin hadn’t planned on anyone being available until after the festival, but if Kade and Axel had the time, Austin wanted to get started as soon as possible.
“Mr. Stone, I expect to see you tomorrow.” Mrs. D had “asked” if he’d be willing to come and take a shift at the welcome booth she was running for the opening day of the festival.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there. One o’clock.”
“Mr. McKnight, Mr. Steele, Mr. Vaughn, I know I can also count on you for your participation in this year’s festivities.”
“Yes, ma’am,” all three men chorused.
Satisfied with their answers, Mrs. D nodded before heading down to the pond.
“Be careful. She’s probably going to try and set you up,” Kade warned.
“I doubt it. I just got to town.” Austin wasn’t worried about it even if they did. His Grandma Alma had let him in on a little secret about the matchmaking trio that made their efforts seem a lot less scary to him. Plus, if things got too out of hand, he had the information in his back pocket and he could use it as leverage to halt their schemes.
Of course, if their schemes included a certain brunette, he wouldn’t have any problems with that at all.
His eyes traveled across the grass to where Sara was sitting. After only a few seconds, as if on cue, her head turned and their eyes met. All night, they’d been doing that. At first he’d thought it was coincidence. But he was starting to think it was more than happenstance that their gazes repeatedly locked. He couldn’t explain why he thought it was more, it was a feeling. A feeling he knew could get him into a lot of trouble, if he let it.