Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Our ten-dollar bill had not been in my back pocket when I’d gotten dressed that morning, but based solely on the pride in his eyes, I was positive it was there now.
Dipping low, he brushed his nose with mine. “That ten has always been a safety net for us. A way we could find each other and a reason to come back. It was what bound us to one another when we couldn’t be together in reality. We don’t need it anymore, Nora. This is real now. It’s you and me forever. From here on out. Every day. No searching for just-in-case moments. No fallback plans or fail-safes. If I need you, you’ll only be in the other room. When you need me, I’ll be just outside. What better way to use that money than to put it down as the first building block on our future together?”
I dove into his arms, tears spilling from my eyes. “I love you so much, and I love every single thing about the words you just said too. I will happily give you ten dollars as soon as we get back to the car. But you have lost your mind if you think I am ever getting rid of our ten-dollar bill. That is mine. Do you hear me? You gave it to me, and I’m finally ready to accept it.”
“Well, it took you long enough.” He laughed deep and rich, cocooning me in his strong arms, which had been holding me up even from a distance for the majority of my life. Arms that I had no doubt would hold me close, through good times and bad, every day for the rest of my life.
God, I loved this man.
I didn’t deserve Camden Cole, and I never would, but I wasn’t entirely sure anyone on the planet was good enough for a soul like his.
Choices. Everyone makes them.
And by some miracle I would never understand, Camden chose me.
Ten years later…
“Nora!” I called, using my foot to shove the front door open, my hands—and face—filled with Fraser fir needles. “Where do you want this?”
“Do not ask her that. She’ll have us toting it all over the house,” Ramsey grunted, supporting the back end of the biggest Christmas tree I had ever seen.
Nora and Thea had tagged it with a sold ticket earlier in the day while volunteering at the tree sale to benefit the ever-growing bag lunch program. It was a good-looking tree, but they had failed to mention its enormity when they’d sent Ramsey and me in a damn sedan to go pick it up. Joe had come to our rescue with his buddy’s truck then promptly disappeared when it had come time to load it up.
“In the living room,” Nora replied. “Wait. Unless you think it would look better at the top of the stairs so you can see it from the window?”
“See?” Ramsey hissed and then called back to his sister. “Living room it is!”
I was all about filling the house with happiness and joy every chance I got, but a fourteen-foot Christmas tree that was almost as wide as it was tall was seriously pushing the limits.
After Nora and I had bought the creek, we’d gotten to work on the home renovations immediately. This had led to us finding termites in almost every wall, a crack in the foundation, and electrical work that was held together by tape and a prayer.
We had a long talk one night while going over the estimates to make the necessary repairs, including a frank discussion about our finances. Nora was planning to teach after we moved to New York, but finding a job straightaway was going to be difficult. I made good money, so we would have been fine without her income, but not if we were paying on two homes, one of which we wanted to completely overhaul. In true Nora fashion, she hugged me tight and told me the creek house could wait until we had time to save up for it. All she needed was me.
I understood exactly what she was saying because all I needed was her. Yes, we could have waited and made improvements little by little on a house that would work and be fine for us. But fine was not what I wanted for Nora Stewart ever again.
I wanted her to smile every morning when she woke up.
I wanted her to feel safe and proud each time she walked in the door.
I wanted her to have something that was even half as beautiful as she would always be to me.
So I presented her with a proposal. No, not that kind of proposal—yet. But rather, what better way to get back at my dad than to live happily ever after? I had my inheritance tucked in a bank account out of my sight, doing nothing productive other than reminding me of how worthless he’d made me feel growing up. I saved it for things I knew he’d hate but things that meant a lot to me. And trust me—nothing would have pissed him off more than to see me tearing down a house in order to build a new one when I was already going to be upside down on the land, all so I could live in sin with a woman—a Stewart woman at that.