Page 155 of Holding You
Declan and I pull apart, still lacing our hands, and I frown at Linc.
“That dating app isn’t working out, huh?”
He grunts.
“I know there are single women in Lovers, but none of them interest me, and the two I met in Wind Valley weren’t ... we didn’t jive.”
“Probably because you saidjive,” I say and Declan laughs. “Is that an older man thing?”
Linc points a finger at me. “Declan isn’t that much younger than me, Ruby.”
“She wasn’t talking about me,” Declan adds.
Linc just sighs. “It’s not as easy as I thought it would be.”
I reach out and rub his shoulder. “Love comes when you least expect it. At least it did for me.”
He nods. “That’s the thing though. I feel like I have to have some dramatic backstory to my life that I’m trying to overcome to find love. All the great love stories have it, but what about us average Joes, huh? We deserve a love story, too, even though our lives are good, happy. We just want someone to share it with.”
I stick out my bottom lip. I want that for him, too.
“No woman wants a man who has his shit together and is confident with the direction his life is going. They want the man who needs to be fixed just as much as they want to fix themselves. I think I’m doomed,” he adds and then gets up to leave.
“I hope he finds someone someday,” I say, snuggling inunder Declan’s arm. “I mean, look at you. You don’t have some elaborate backstory, and you found love.”
“Yeah, with the woman who lived next door and hated me because I’m just so damn cool and smart and the town favorite.”
I roll my eyes. “Who is Linc’s enemy? Maybe that’s the direction he needs to go.”
Declan rubs his chin.
“Ah, yeah, well, I think Linc is too nice to have enemies.”
“Bummer. I’ll have to keep thinking. It must be something about weddings and all the love in the air,” I say with a laugh.
A slow song comes on, and Declan pulls me onto the dance floor.
“If we want to keep up this chat about couples,”—Declan nods to the side of the room—“tell me about that.” He points to where Gavin Richford and Brooke are standing in the corner.
I smile. “That’s Gavin.”
Declan pinches my side playfully.
“I know who he is. Dutton has been trying to recruit him to the basketball team. But he seems to be standing pretty close to Brooke.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s nothing. Brooke has zero interest in the Richford family.”
“Except when it comes to Grace.”
“Of course, since she’s her friend.”
“The Richfords just have the two boys and the two girls, right? I interact with Dutton mostly, and Grace when the group is together, but the others, I’ve never really spoken to.”
I nod.
“Yep, Dutton, Grace, Gavin, and Wren, but Wren doesn’t live here. She’s still away at college, living in an off-campus apartment, so she hardly even comes home in the summer.”
“And are the others all part of the lodge here?”
