Page 2 of Cherishing Happily Ever After

“Oh good,” Hope said as she approached. “You decided to join us after all.” Hope’s husband, Levi, jumped up and moved to grab an extra chair, but Stephanie stopped him.

“No,” she said. “I just wanted to stop by and let you know I was leaving. I have some things I need to take care of. So I’m going to get going.” There was a round of protests from almost everyone, but Stephanie wouldn’t be swayed. “We’ll talk soon, okay?” Steph bent and gave Cole a kiss on his chubby cheek. “Be good to your mama today, kiddo.”

Stephanie straightened and smoothed her signature red hair over her shoulder. “Happy Mother’s Day, Mrs. Langdon.” She waved across the table to Levi and Katie’s mom, who’d also been like a mother to Logan, Faith’s husband. “And to you, too, Katie!” She’d almost forgotten that Katie and her husband Damon were expecting their first child, too. “There’s a lot to celebrate here. I hope you have a fabulous day, everyone. I’ll—”

“Steph.” Faith stood next to her, her hand on her arm. “Please stay and—”

“I’ll pop around later, okay?” She wiggled out of her sister’s grasp and managed to escape out into the warm spring day, where she could finally take a breath.

She truly loved everyone inside, and it didn’t usually bother her that she was single and alone. But for some reason, her singleness was becoming harder and harder to ignore when all around her, the people she loved were all getting their happily ever afters while she…well, she just couldn’t seem to figure out her own happy ending.

“Tink!” Travis Bishop pulled his T-shirt over and off his head and used it to wipe his forehead before he popped his cowboy hat back on. “Tinker Bell! Leave that alone.” He called the puppy away from his pile of wood, where she was trying to pull a board off the neat stack. He’d adopted the puppy almost two months earlier, or more accurately, she’d adopted him when he’d found her in the woods, lying in a patch of crocuses, lost, cold, and hungry. After a bit of digging, he’d learned that a litter of puppies had been abandoned down the road and most of the other pups had been rounded up and taken to the shelter. The animal control officer told him he was welcome to surrender her to the shelter as well. A kill shelter.

No way.

He may not be a softie, but he wasn’t totally dead inside. Besides, she’d obviously been spunky enough to wander away from her litter mates in search of food and shelter. If she was independent enough to do that, she wouldn’t be too needy for him. At least, that was the theory. It hadn’t taken long for Tinker Bell, named because he liked the irony of a dainty name for what was likely to be a massive dog, to wiggle her way into Travis’s heart.

He was used to being alone. Preferred it, really. But the puppy’s companionship wasn’t offensive. Even if she was a pain in the ass from time to time. “Tink! I said, leave it.”

With a growl, the puppy managed to pull a board from the pile, causing the whole thing to topple over, scaring her. She whimpered and ran to Travis to hide behind his legs. “Silly dog.” He bent down to reassure her and rough up her fur. A moment later, the puppy was licking his hand and jumping at his face, the scare forgotten.

“Come on. We’re never going to get this done at this rate.”

Once more, Travis picked up his hammer, grabbed a board from the stack, and set to work on the fence he’d been working on. It was a simple perimeter fence, and although it wouldn’t serve to keep anything or anyone out if they really wanted into the property at Lynx Creek, it would serve as a border marker for the security system he’d ordered for Stephanie Starz’s property. He hadn’t told her yet about the state-of-the-art system he’d picked out for her, but he had a feeling she wasn’t going to disagree with him that it was a good idea. She’d been pretty shaken by the incident that had taken place in her cabins less than six weeks ago.

As had he.

Shaken maybe wasn’t the right word.

More like angry.Reallyangry.

It’s not as though it were his job to defend the property from intruders. He’d been hired to fix up the cabins, build decks, and generally fix things. Not protect them.

Still.

The fact that he’d been living so close by and hadn’t noticed that a strange man—who’d turned out to be the abusive ex-boyfriend of a local woman, Charlotte—had been living on the land and stalking Charlotte for weeks before making himself known in what had culminated in a very dramatic series of events that had left Charlotte with a gunshot wound she’d almost died from, didn’t sit well with Travis. Not at all.

How hadn’t he noticed the man? What would have happened if he’d come across Stephanie? Steph had been staying in her cabin, down by the river. Alone. She would have been defenseless by herself.

It wasn’t Travis’s fault that it had happened, but it didn’t mean he didn’t blame himself at least a little—or a lot. It also didn’t mean that he couldn’t do something about it now.

Which was why he was building the fence. It was something. Even if it wasn’t enough. Stephanie hadn’t stayed in the cabin since it had all happened. She hadn’t come right out and said anything, but Travis knew she was scared. And he hated it.

He’d been with Stephanie in her cabin the night everything happened. They’d been…well…he’d been consoling her.

With her shirt off and his hands—

Who knew how things would have turned out if they hadn’t heard the gunshot?

He knew.

He knew how it would have turned out. He’d wanted Stephanie almost from the moment he’d laid eyes on her, and he was pretty sure the feeling was completely reciprocated. He knew exactly how the rest of the night would have gone.

He’d found her crying and lonely. So he’d wrapped an arm around her and then finally let himself do what he’d been trying not to for months. He’d kissed her and it had been…everything. Once they’d gone inside and clothes had started to come off, Travis knew exactly what would have happened. He would have taken her to bed and shown her exactly how she made him feel. And it was anything but lonely.

The gunshot had interrupted them, and he’d spent the last few weeks feeling conflicted about that interruption.

It was for the best. He didn’t do relationships. Not of any kind. And especially not with a woman like Stephanie Starz. He did casual, no strings attached, one-night stands with zero expectations. Period. End of story.

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