Page 105 of This Heart
Less than a few seconds later, Declan returned to the line. “She is intrigued.”
I chuckled. “Great, I’ll send you the address and meet me behind the house.”
“You got it. See you in a few.”
Ending the call, I let my eyes scan the surrounding trees and imagined what it would look like with snow all around.
“Yeah,” I softly said. “This will be the perfect spot.”
Aurora
Life was bliss.
There wasn’t any other way to describe how the last few months had been. Summer had turned to fall. And with that came two more camping trips, endless walks to the park, my personal storytimes with Liam and Winnie, and countless evenings spent wrapped up in Liam’s bedsheets. The fall festival and apple festival hit differently this year, and I knew it was because I had gone to them with Liam and Winnie. I could see how happy it made Liam to watch his daughter get to enjoy the same things he had growing up in Moose Village.
“No need to ask you what you’re thinking about,” Harper said as she placed a bowl of mashed potatoes on the table.
I felt my cheeks heat, and I placed my palms over them to cool my face. “That obvious, huh?”
Harper winked. “With the way the two of you can’t keep your eyes off each other.”
“Or their hands,” Brystol commented, putting the bowl of gravy next to the potatoes.
“Will the two of you hush!”
Both of them laughed as Cadie walked up and set the green bean casserole on the table. “I have to say, I love your house, Harper. I’m so glad you’re hosting Friendsgiving here this year! Who is going to host next year?”
“I don’t think my small apartment above the bookstore will hold very many of us.”
“Kian and you should host, and you should make a murder mystery Friendsgiving!” I suggested.
Brystol gasped. “That is a great idea!”
“What is a great idea?” Kian asked as he walked into the formal dining room of Harper and Declan’s lakeside house, carrying the large turkey.
Cadie replied, “If we host a murder mystery Friendsgiving next year.”
After he carefully placed the platter with what was the largest turkey I’d ever seen on the table, he turned to his wife and grinned. “That is a great idea!”
“Credit goes to Aurora!”
Kian faced me. “Great idea, Aurora.”
“Okay!” Harper called out. “The turkey is served. Everyone, make your way into the dining room!”
All of our friends piled in, and as each one came into view, my heart felt like it grew tenfold. Mary and James walked in, holding hands and completely besotted with one another. So much so, Mary nearly ran into Kian.
Declan walked up and pulled out Harper’s chair, causing Gavin to do the same for Brystol.
“Copycat,” Declan stated as Gavin shot him the finger.
Kian gave Cadie a quick kiss before they both took their seats. Liam scooped Winnie up and placed her in her big girl seat, which was next to James and sandwiched between Liam and James. Over the last few months, with James coming over to visit Mary, our little Winnie has found herself a new best friend in James. Of course, my brother Nathan, who was currently with my mother, father, and Lou in Canada skiing, acted as if he wasn’t bothered by Winnie’s undying attention now on James and not him. Liam and I knew better.
Harper stood and picked up her glass. “I think it should be the writer in the group who speaks, but Kian is exhausted from carrying out the bird…or so he claims.”
Everyone laughed.
“I just wanted to thank you all for coming to this year’s Friendsgiving. After this, everyone is going to help me clean up, and then it’s off to The Muddled Moose for an evening of trivia!”
