Page 20 of Autumn Feud With The Mountain Man
Sara knew how to read me, and I had a feeling everyone at the party had already heard I’d left with Thatcher.
“Just another day in paradise,” I quipped back.
She spun my office chair around until I was facing her.
“Don’t bullshit me. I need all the details, girl. Was he as good in bed as I’ve heard?”
My mouth dropped open, and I whisper-hissed, “Sara! Hank might hear you!”
She giggled. “Don’t worry. He’s hard of hearing. But really, are you and Thatcher a thing now?”
Shyly, I nodded. It felt strange to announce it to the world, but it was true. We were a couple now.
In a rush of girlhood optimism I’d thought died in me a long time ago, I told her, “We spent the whole weekend together. And yes, he fucks like a caveman. But… I think it’s more than that. I think he might actually like me.”
Sara laughed and nodded. “Of course he does. He’s been crazy about you since the first second he saw you.”
I whipped my eyes up to hers. “How do you know that?”
“Because he started asking around about you. And I could see it in his eyes every time you went outside to yell at him.”
That embarrassed me. “I was such an ass.”
But the look on her face told me none of that mattered. “We’re all fools when it comes to love. If you only knew the way I treated Steve before I finally admitted my feelings, you’d feel better about it.”
Steve was such a sweetie I couldn’t imagine Sara being nasty to him.
“What happened?” I asked, my work for the day forgotten.
But she shook her head. “That’s a story for another day.”
“A few weeks ago, you and Brook asked if I wanted any help decorating my new place. I think I’d like that. I hadn’t been sure if I was going to stay, so everything’s still in boxes. But now… it looks like I might’ve found home.”
Sara grinned at me. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day! Let me call Brook and set up a day for us to come over. There’s a TJ Maxx in Fernwood, and we can get your place all girled up.”
I loved that I was finding my group. Sara and all her friends had been so open and inviting.
Deer Springs was like nothing I’d ever imagined existed.
There was just one thing missing. My best friend, Elizabeth.
Chapter 9
Thatcher
We were stopped at the top of the Ferris wheel. The whole Autumn Harvest Festival was laid out below us, cheerful lights shining on the pumpkin patch.
From here we could see the whole haybale maze.
“We should have come up here first. We could have cheated,” Shelby said as we snuggled close on the ride.
I chuckled. We’d gotten lost in that maze for two hours, dizzily running down one dead end after another.
What Shelby didn’t know was I could’ve gotten us out of there at any moment. I’d known the way out. I just liked being lost with her too much to let it go.
And she’d been shrieking with laughter the whole time, except during those quiet moments when no one was around. That’s when I’d kissed her, over and over again. Until we heard the next rustle of leaves announcing another group coming through.
“This is where we’re going to get married,” I told her with complete and utmost confidence.
