Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 323(@200wpm)___ 259(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
But it wasn't.
"So about Guilia..."
Ethan's gorgeous face turned expressionless.
"I just wanted to say," she went on doggedly, "I've always believed - and I still believe this - that she only has to see Hartland, and she'd get it. You just need to figure out a way to get her to finally say yes and come here. I really believe all she has to do is see Hartland," Anah said earnestly, "and she'd get it. She'd understand what your dream is, and then that's it."
Ethan still didn't speak.
"You'd live happily—-"
Ethan cut her off with a sharp look. "Stop it."
"Ethan—-"
"Enough, Anah. I mean it." Did she really think he wouldn't be able to see how much all these words were costing her? Maybe she was right, and he was no longer the same man he was before. Maybe something really had changed, and that was why agony no longer ripped through him every time he had to think or talk about Anah.
But even so...it wasn't fucking enough.
And that was why he never wanted Anah to hurt herself the way she was doing now.
"It's okay, Ethan," Anah whispered.
But it wasn't okay. How it was between them had never been okay, and they both fucking knew that.
Ethan breathed hard. "I wish..."
"I know."
And so she did, Ethan thought dully.
This was Anah, after all. His little Anah, who even at sixteen had been able to read an entire story simply by looking into his eyes—-
Just like she was doing now.
And the story, even to this day, remained painfully the same.
Boy meets girl. Boy falls in love. And the girl's name was still not Anah.
Chapter Ten
MORE WEEKS PASSED. Kady and Slade were now a couple. Ethan had to fly back to Jackson Hole for work, and it was there he remained when Anah celebrated her nineteenth birthday. His absence would've been devastating...if not for the fact that it was his texts she woke up to each day. Granted, the text messages were all forwarded ones - everything from memes to GIFs and even the odd chain letter or two - but she cherished each and every one of them nevertheless. She knew, without being told, it was Ethan's way of letting her know that he and Guilia still hadn't gotten back together.
As spring came to an end, Hartland's mayor Oliver Winterbourne II scheduled an emergency town hall meeting that had his fellow billionaire residents trooping to the library. Apparently, a film crew had requested to shoot in Hartland for three months, and at its helm was a critically-acclaimed director who was likely to be troublesome if the town were to reject his request for no valid reason.
Much discussion ensued, along with frequent swearing, but in the end, the founding members unanimously approved Oliver's plan. New local policies would be enacted to strongly discourage future interest in Hartland as a filming location. In the meantime, Director Hector Bautista would be given a maximum of three months to film, with no possibility of extension.
For those three months, most of the town's founding members simply opted to fly out of Wyoming. Slade and Kady had been one of the first to leave, with the billionaire insisting that they were going away for their honeymoon, never mind if the couple had yet to exchange wedding vows.
A few others, however, hadn't any choice. Aidan had to stay as the town's police chief, and naturally so did Oliver as its mayor. Thornton had also opted to stay but had the mayor's secretary, Frankie, to hire him an assistant to manage the bookstore. When Frankie suggested her friend Blake, Thornton had agreed, thinking Blake was a man. He was wrong though, but it turned out to be the luckiest mistake in his life.
ALTHOUGH ETHAN, NOW back in Hartland, had played a hand in getting his older brother and his shop assistant together, it had still come as a surprise to him when he saw the invitation in his mailbox. Thornton was the last man Ethan would ever imagine getting involved in a whirlwind romance.
And yet here they were now, Ethan thought contemplatively, drinking to the newly engaged couple.
The affair was decidedly low-key, with the party taking place in the town's community hall and Cook Nancy flying in to personally supervise the catering. The guest list, however, wasn't limited to Hartland residents but also included close friends of both Blake and the Blackwoods. One of the latter, in particular, had Ethan a little uneasy. Ever since Damian introduced Anah to Sarah, his stepsister-turned-wife, the two girls had been separable. God knew what those two could be talking about for hours, but one thing he was sure of was that Sarah was only likely to corrupt his little Anah.
And speaking of the she-devil...
Ethan and Aidan were the only ones left at their table once the dancing had started, and both men automatically rose to their feet when Sarah and Anah suddenly approached them.