Page 21 of Nashville Lights

Daisy’s eyes fill with tears. “But what about theice cream? It’s the best part. It’llmelt.”

“We can bring her up to the house after dessert,”Dakota offers. “It’s still early. She could come over to the lodge with us and we’ll drop her off after that. Is that okay?”

“Please, Uncle Nate.” Daisy stares at him with pleading blue eyes. “I want to have ice cream with my pie and then go to the lodge with Miss Roxie.”

Nate nods, like he wishes he could do that too. “Sure, honey. If that’s what you want to do.”

“It is.”

“Are you okay with that?” Nate asks me, and the question and its delivery in his deep, husky voice does things to me I’m really not prepared for.I’m not over him. I never was over him.And my problem—which I didn’t actually realize was a problem but it very definitely is—is that…I still love him.

I’ve always loved him and I still do.

“Of course.” I smile at Daisy, because the intensity of him and my reaction to it is going to give me away. I softly wipe a tear on Daisy’s cheek with my thumb. “We’ll have fun.”

“I’ll see you after that, then. I’m sorry, everyone,” he says again. Nate’s gaze lands on me. “I’ll, uh, I’ll see you later.”

Daisy and I watch him go as the others return to their food and their laughter.

I smooth a strawberry-blond curl back from Daisy’s face and when she looks up at me I feel a deep connection to the concern in this little girl’s eyes. She misses him already.

And so do I.

7

We drivealong the winding dirt road in Tobias’s white pick-up (mine was politely deemed too ancient to guarantee a six-year-old’s safety). It’s twilight now. The sky is lavender and the moon is rising.

“I’d forgotten what it’s like to be out in the country like this,” I muse. “Look at all those stars.”

“Do you know what the Big Dipper is, Miss Roxie?” Daisy’s in her car seat next to me in the back seat. She reaches for my hand and the light, heartfelt clutch of it is comforting to me in a way I can’t name. The thing is,I know how the enormity of this little girl’s loss feels. I was older than she was, but I also lost my parents in a gruesome, tragic car accident. I don’t know if she can somehow detect this about me, but I feel an immediate bond with this lost child.

Then again, she’s notreallylost. She has Nate, the rock of all rocks. And the beautiful, boisterous, close-knit Boone clan. Like me, she wasn’t alone in her grief. But it doesn’t mean you feel it any less.

I get a sudden wild and surprisingly raw craving toalsohave Nate, the rock of all rocks, asmyrock too. And the close-knit Boone clan asmyclan. Not just on an occasional visit, but to belong here. To behisandtheirsand to become one with this magical place that’s already so much a part of me. I’ve missed it and them—and him—so much more than I realized.

“I can show it to you if you want,” she offers sincerely, her inky blue eyes solemn.

“It was your Uncle Nate who taught me about the stars, a long time ago.”

“Uncle Nate shows them to me too,” she tells me. “He always asks me to show him the Big Dipper and I find it every single time.”

“I bet you do.” I remember the night. I was maybe twelve and we were all camping out on the porch. We were all laughing and talking like we always did. Nate pointed out the North Star, the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, but I was the only one paying attention. I remember him smiling in that lazy way he had. To this day, when it’s a clear night I can always find the constellations he showed me and they always remind me of Nate. “He must be a good teacher because I can find them every single time too.”

Daisy smiles, holding my hand a little tighter.

We turn around a bend and I can see the lodge coming into view. It sits on the edge of the largest pond on the farm. The water reflects the lights of the buildings and the moon and stars.

“There’s the lodge!” Daisy whispers.

“The main entrance is off Southern Road,” Dakota says. “No one will be driving through the farm to get to it. Luke and Leo were adamant about that detail. So we’re trying to keep it as separate as possible.”

“How long did it take you to set this all up?” The magnificence of the buildings comes into full view. “And why didn’t youtellme about all this?” There are at least seven buildings, one large one and six or seven smaller ones. I’m guessing the large one is the restaurant and the smaller ones the accommodations.

“We’ve had the idea for so long.” Tobias turns into the long entranceway and we drive under the Western-style gate, whereThe Sugar Mountain Lodgehas been sculpted under the arch with chopped birch logs. “We’ve been talking about this since we were kids. But we couldn’t afford to build it, at least not the way we wanted to. Nate came to us around a year ago when we were both at a loose end and said he had some money to invest. We sat down and came up with a business plan. Then he brought in one of his teams to help us design and build it.”

“He basically threw a shitload of cash at the project,”Dakota continues. “At first we weren’t sure we should take it. It was such a huge amount of money and we didn’t know if we could earn it all back. But Nate talked us into letting him do it. He said it was burning a hole in his pocket and he couldn’t think of a better way to spend it. So he paid cash for the whole thing and now the three of us each own a third of it.”

“Wow.” I’m not surprised that Nate has money. All he’s done since we were kids is work. But as we get closer and the grandeur of the lodge comes into full view, it’s obvious no expense has been spared. This would have costa lotof money.

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