Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 362(@300wpm)
“Oh, no, dear,” Barbara says. “Quite the opposite.”
My face scrunches, clearly not following along, and she laughs as she takes my hand. “While we are moving, we’re not selling,” she explains. “We had a meeting with the over-fifty-five village this morning, and they’ve accepted a deposit.”
I shake my head. “No. You can’t go there. This is where you belong. You’re going to fold into the furniture and just be here forever.”
“No, Riley. We’re not. The time has come to pass the torch,” she says. “I have had many wonderful memories in this home. It has done us well. Seen us through sixty years of marriage, and now it’s your turn. We’d like to gift you the property. We don’t want to see our home go to strangers who aren’t going to care for everything we’ve built here. It’s your turn, Riley. You’re our family. We want the both of you to have many wonderful years here just as we have. Fill the room with children and laughter. Thrive on the land, and see what it can do for you.”
Stone shifts his gaze to Ray. “You’re just offering us the property?”
Ray nods. “When you first arrived, the property wasn’t worth anything, and without you, it would be run into the ground. You are what’s valuable. You are the one who has put in the work. You are the one who gave it new life. You, Stone, you are what makes this property thrive, and it wouldn’t feel right going to anyone else. It’s yours now.”
Tears well in my eyes, and I turn back to Barbara, the dam threatening to break. “You’re sure about this?”
Her gaze softens, and she smiles at me with the most brilliant warmth as she takes my hand again. “We wouldn’t have it any other way,” she tells me. “Now, that’s enough of that. We can talk details in the morning. For now, we celebrate. Fill your plates and your bellies, and then scram. Reruns of Wheel of Fortune are coming on in an hour, and I don’t want to miss it.”
We don’t even get a chance to thank them before she starts spilling the tea from her bingo group, and an hour later, we’re banished to our cottage, barely getting enough time to finish helping with the dishes.
We walk hand in hand back to our small home, and the moment we step inside and close the door behind us, Stone takes my waist and lifts me up onto the kitchen counter. He steps between my thighs, and I automatically lock my legs around him, pulling him in against me.
“I can’t believe they’re leaving,” I murmur, a profound sadness weighing on my shoulders while also so unbelievably shocked that they’re gifting us this home and magnificent property. “It’s not going to be the same.”
“It won’t,” he agrees. “But Barb can’t manage the stairs. I know you see it when the arthritis flares up. She shouldn’t have to struggle in her home.”
“I know, I just hate that they’re moving away. They’re the closest thing to parents either of us has ever had.”
Stone laughs and leans in, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead. “They’re just moving down the road to the retirement village, and it’s not like you’re going to miss water aerobics and shuffleboard with her every week.”
“Ugh,” I groan, playfully swatting his chest. “Don’t use logic against me. It’s not fair.”
He kisses me again, his lips moving over mine. “What’s not fair is having all those big bedrooms up in the main house and not filling them with kids.”
“You want to start having kids?”
“Maybe,” he says with a shrug. “I hadn’t thought too much about it because we’ve been in this cottage and trying to figure out what life on the run is supposed to look like. Having kids hasn’t been an option, but in that house . . . I can see it. Sunday morning sleep-ins with kids begging us to wake up and make pancakes. Little bikes scattered across the lawn. Laughter. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty fucking good to me.”
“It does,” I agree.
“What do you think? We start trying straight away?”
“I think that I have everything I could ever need right here in my arms,” I tell him, his hands sliding up my thighs and under the hem of my dress. “But if a little somebody was to come along with your dark eyes and need to cause trouble, then—”
“Then what?” he prompts, smiling against my lips as he hooks his fingers into the waistband of my thong and starts slipping it out from beneath my dress.
“Then I’d be the happiest version of myself that ever existed.”
And with that, he scoops me right off the counter and walks us into our small bedroom, his lips already glued to mine.