Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80957 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Ford’s whisper was barely a whisper, and his entire body tensed with excitement as he clutched the controller. His eyes were glued to the screen, and his fingers were moving as fast as they could. And he was biting down on his lip, trying his damnedest not to yell.
“On your left,” I whispered, leaning in. “He’s in the bush.”
Ford’s fingers flew over the buttons. A second later, a gunshot rang out through the speakers, and the words Victory Royale came across the screen. Ford gasped, and his arms shot up in the air. “We won!”
“Damn right, we did.”
Tallie stirred on the sofa, and we both froze.
She stilled, and her breathing stayed slow and steady. Ford let out a breath of relief, then whispered, “I better hit the bed, or she’ll know I was up late.”
“Good call.”
He got up and tossed the controller onto the coffee table before whispering, “’Night, Holt!”
“Night.”
With that, he disappeared down the hall. Once he was gone, I turned my attention to Tallie. She was curled up on the sofa, and she was out cold. Her hair had fallen loose around her face, and there was something about the way she looked, so peaceful and angelic, that made my chest tighten.
For so damn long, this house had been just a house.
It was a place to sleep, to eat, and to just get by.
But with her and Ford here, it felt like home.
I pushed to my feet and leaned down, sliding my arms under Tallie’s back and legs before carefully lifting her into my arms. She sighed in her sleep and curled closer to my chest, but she didn’t wake. As I carried her to our room, something settled inside me, something deep and certain.
I had her. I had Ford.
I had my club and a roof over my head.
I didn’t need anything else.
24
TALLIE
“If it’s any consolation, I think your shop would’ve done amazing.” Jenna looked around the room with a smile. “Your stuff is incredible.”
“Thank you.” I ran my fingers over the rim of one of my favorite vases and traced the smooth ceramic as I let out a slow breath. “I’m hoping it will do well at the gallery.”
“Oh, you won’t have any problem there. People around here love anything handmade.”
I looked around at the half-empty shelves and sighed.
This was my dream. It was going to be my fresh start, and now, I was packing it all up. I couldn’t deny that it was hard—harder than I’d expected. Casey must’ve sensed the shift in my mood because she came over and placed her hand on my shoulder. “You sure about this?”
“Yep. I’m all good.”
“You say that, but you look like you’re on the brink of tears.”
“No, no crying today. I’m all good.”
“Mmhmm. We’ll see.”
I sighed and picked up another piece, wrapping it carefully before placing it in the box. “It’s just weird, you know? I spent so much time thinking about making this place mine, and now I’m just leaving it.”
“You’re not leaving it,” Casey corrected. “You’re taking it with you.”
“Exactly,” Jenna agreed. “And let’s be honest, you’d run yourself ragged if you tried to keep this place going.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Moving in with Holt had changed things. Not just for me but for Ford, too. He was starting a new school and making new friends, and I needed to be there to help out whenever I could. I couldn’t do that and run a pottery shop two hours away. It just didn’t make any sense.
So, I made the decision to do something different.
I’d turn the barn into my new workspace. I would make my pottery there and sell it at the local art gallery. Eventually, I would work toward online sales. I may have been a little sad to let go of a dream, but I knew I’d made the right choice.
Casey nudged my shoulder. “We should have girl’s wine night at the barn. You can show us what you’re making and even teach us a thing or two.”
“Oh, I’d love that!” Jenna gasped. “You could do pottery for kids, too! I know Luna would love that.”
“Toby would, too!” Casey's mouth dropped wide. “That’s a really good idea! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it.”
“Hey, hey. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still have a lot of packing to do.”
“She’s right.” Jenna gave her a stern but playful look. “Let’s get to it.”
We spent hours boxing everything up and making trip after trip, loading everything into the trailer. We’d been at it for over an hour when I said, “Holt and I had an interesting talk last night.”
“Oh, yeah?” Casey stopped in her tracks. “What about?”
“Everything.” I continued wrapping one of my bowls as I told them, “We’d really never talked about the years we were apart, so we spent a lot of time talking about that. I told him all about my time in Paris and New York, and he told me about his time in the military.”