Page 88 of Falling For You

I shivered at the thought.

The truth was that Owen gave me a confidence that I didn’t even know was lacking.

I tried to push the thoughts awayandfocus on the task at hand.

Yet, every time my fingers hovered over the keyboard, I could only think about Owen. His smile, how he looked at me, and how he genuinely cared.

The way he was there today.

Was it better late than never?

“Violet! You’re missing all the fun in here!” Fifi’s voice broke through my thoughts.

I looked up to see her triumphantly waving a card in the kitchen. “Uno.”

Sienna groaned and shook her head.

“You’re letting her win again, aren’t you?” I teased.

Sienna rolled her eyes and glanced at Liam. “Hey, can I have one of those ciders?”

“My pleasure,” Liam said, standing up and entering the kitchen.

Fifi grinned and threw another card down on the table with a flourish. “Gracious loser or sore loser? Doesn’t matter to me. The point is, you lost.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as Sienna groaned even louder. Her face twisted in mock agony. “I’m being noble in defeat.”

“Sure you are,” Liam chimed. He grabbed a hard cider from the fridge and handed it to our sister.

“It’s five o’clock somewhere,” she teased.

The light-hearted banter eased the tension in my chest. I let myself get lost in the warmth of my family’s company for a moment.

But it wasn’t long before my thoughts slipped back to the uncertain future we all faced.

Sure! The protest had gone well, and we even made the local news, but the weight of Vern’s decision still hung over us.

Mom entered the family room from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her red apron as she crossed the room to sit beside our dad.

She let out a contemplative sigh as her eyes filled with the same quiet worry that had settled over us all.

“How’s the blog going, honey?” she asked.

I shrugged, glancing back at my laptop screen. “It’s… going. I’m just scheduling some posts, but I’m not feeling it today.” I thought back to the word from Owen that stuck out the most.

Persistence.

“But I have to be persistent if I want things to stick.”

Mom gave a knowing nod. “It’s hard to focus on stuff with everything that’s been happening.”

“So true.”

Liam took a sip of his cider. “Well, if the protest was any sign, Vern must be rethinking the whole deal. I mean, the turnout was huge. The town really came together.”

“Exactly,” Fifi chimed in. She threw down another card on the table. She flashed a grin at Sienna’s growing frustration.“He has to see that this isn’t just about money. It’s about what Buttercup Lake means to all of us. No resort can replace that.”

Beck nodded in agreement, but our dad shook his head.

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