Chapter 19
Nineteen
Ginny
Sadie texts me on Monday morning, just after eight.
Sadie: Brunch? My treat. You pick the spot.
I stare at the screen, thumb hovering. There’re a million reasons to say no. Awkward doesn’t even begin to cover being friends with the Paradise family’s newest soon-to-be in-law. She’s practically royalty in the very vineyard my grandmother swore to crush.
But…it’s Sadie.
My best friend. My history. The girl who used to sneak into my room with a bottle of root beer and peanut M&Ms after every one of Evelyn’s meltdowns.
Me: Match Eatery 9:30?
She sends back a thumbs-up and a heart.
By the time I get there, she’s already grabbed a corner booth. Two coffees sit on the table—mine looking exactly how I take it, like no time has passed at all.
“Still go heavy on the cream?” she asks, nudging the mug toward me with a grin.
“Some things never change,” I say, sliding in across from her.
She watches me over the rim of her cup. “You look good.”
I huff a laugh. “You look better.”
We order and talk about safe things. The weather.
The bakery down the street that’s selling moon-shaped croissants.
Beckett’s sudden obsession with patio heaters.
It’s easy. Comfortable. Like slipping into a favorite sweater I forgot I still had.
We say nothing about Ryker. Nothing about the vineyard. But he’s here anyway.
Our eggs benedicts arrive, and I’m mid-bite when she finally breaks the silence we’ve both been tiptoeing around.
“I miss you. And I know you’re helping with wedding stuff. But I miss having real talks, just hanging out together.”
I blink. “I miss that too.”
“I know me marrying Beckett makes things complicated…” Her voice softens. “But it doesn’t have to be one family or the other. You don’t have to pick sides.”
I shake my head. “Tell that to Evelyn.”
“Forget Evelyn.” Sadie puts her elbows on the table. “You get to choose your own life. And hey, this isn’t even just about me and our friendship. If you want Ryker—and I mean really want him—you’re allowed to build something that doesn’t revolve around your family’s grudge.”
My eyes widen, but I don’t say anything. Everyone knows everything around here.
“You don’t have to do it all at once,” she adds. “Just…let someone stand beside you while you figure it out.”
I look up at her, my heart swelling. Sometimes, I forget what a good friend she is. Maybe that’s the part I’ve been missing. I’ve spent so long holding everything on my own that I forgot what it’s like to have someone in my corner.
When we leave the café, she pulls me into a hug.
“Ryker’s completely gone for you, Ginny,” she tells me.
“The Paradise boys don’t fall easy, but when they do, it’s the real thing.
He’d move mountains for you. Burn the whole world down if he had to.
If there’s even a part of you that wants that, take the chance. ”
Sadie’s words from this morning are still echoing in my head as I swirl the wine in my glass over dinner, pretending to be fascinated with opening up the young cabernet Jonas ordered.
One thing I didn’t mention during our breakfast is that yesterday afternoon, I ran into Jonas Goodwin at Steaming Mugs.
It had been years since I’d seen him, and he asked me to dinner.
I heard what Sadie told me this morning, but yesterday, I was convinced I needed to get Ryker off my mind, so I said yes.
Not to mention, I’d prefer that people in town think I’m seeing Jonas, not Ryker.
And now, here we are. Jonas is the kind of man I’m supposed to want—kind, friendly, not a Paradise. And across the table he’s animated, charming, and absolutely not the man I can’t stop thinking about.
Damn you, Ryker.
I take a sip and smile when I’m supposed to.
Jonas is sweet. Tall, clean-cut, and with warm eyes that make people feel safe.
He’s a local cop now, a former hockey player, and apparently a hero too.
He’s just finished telling me how he helped Sadie get safely through her ordeal with the Tremblays.
The story should be riveting. This is a perspective I’ve never heard on the matter. But my mind keeps drifting.
That smirk that drives me crazy. Those hands that know exactly where to touch. The man I swore I wouldn’t fall for, but I did anyway.
“…it was harrowing, honestly,” Jonas says, pausing as our meals arrive. “There was a lot happening behind the scenes that most people didn’t even know. Sadie kept her cool, but I could tell she was terrified. You remember her from high school, right?”
“Yeah,” I say, blinking back to the present as I scoop a bite of risotto. “Sadie and I lived together for a couple of years in this terrible apartment downtown. We were kind of infamous for our parties—cheap wine, too many people, music until the police would come.”
Jonas grins. “That’s right. I wasn’t cool enough to be invited,” he teases.
“They were never planned. People just showed up. My older brother, Ric, got us the apartment, since both of us needed a place to live.”
Jonas nods. “In those days I was busy playing hockey. I thought I was going to be the next Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe. But I was never really that good.”
“Do you still play?”
“Sure. There’s an over-thirty league at the rec center. We may be a little slower, but it’s great exercise, and we play other teams around the valley. What do you do these days, outside of working at the vineyard gift shop?”
“I’m creating a jewelry line. It’s mostly a hobby, but I sell at the gift shop and at Tanya’s Collectables.” I don’t have the heart to tell him I also spend way too much time with Ryker Paradise.
“Nice!” he says with real enthusiasm. “Is that one of your designs?” He points to my neck.
I’m wearing a delicate gold-wire wrap with peridots and aquamarine. I touch my necklace. “Yes. It’s one of my favorites.”
“I’ve seen people wearing those around town. You’re very talented.”
“Thank you. I love it, but so far it barely compensates me for the time I spend on it. I guess at least it’s a hobby that pays for itself.”
He laughs. “My hobby is a money suck.”
“What, hockey? How much equipment does one man need?”
He laughs. “No, I also have a boat.”
I nod. “Ah, isn’t that a hole in the water to throw money into?”
He joins me laughing. “You know what boat stands for, don’t you?”
I smile. “Break out another thousand.”
He high-fives me across the table.
Ryker doesn’t own a boat. He sails borrowed yachts and has friends with lakefront mansions.
Jonas has calluses and boat shoes. Ryker has cufflinks and a big bank account.
I didn’t think that stuff mattered until now, until I realized what it meant to be around someone who has to work for every little thing.
He takes a sip of wine. “So…I’m glad to see you, of course, but what brought you back to Paradise? You always swore you were going to leave and never return.”
I hesitate, swirling the cab in my glass. “A nasty breakup.” I shrug. “I didn’t want to stay in Vancouver after that, and I didn’t know where else to go.”
He nods like he understands, and maybe he does. “Well, it really is good to see you again. You look…happy.”
I raise a brow. “Do I?”
He gives me a sheepish grin. “Okay, maybe content? Curious? Slightly tense?”
That earns a real laugh. “Closer.”
Jonas sets down his fork. “I’ve got a little girl, you know. Her name’s Maddie. She just turned six.”
The shift is gentle but unexpected. “Oh,” I say, surprised. “I didn’t know you were a dad.”
“Yeah. Her mom’s Amy Simmons.”
My jaw drops slightly. “Amy? From our class?”
He chuckles. “The one and only. We were…not exactly meant to be, but we’re good co-parents. She’s in Calgary now, married to a guy who works in oil and gas. I see Maddie as often as I can. We FaceTime almost every day.”
“That’s really sweet.”
And more than a little intimidating. Ryker never talks about kids, not other people’s kids or even if he wants to have a family one day.
He’s a pediatrician, so he must like kids, but I don’t know.
Seeing Jonas so openly proud of his daughter feels like stepping into another life entirely, one I’m not sure I’m ready for.
“She’s got my sense of humor and Amy’s bossiness,” Jonas says proudly. “Wears glitter boots with dinosaur T-shirts and corrects my grammar regularly.”
“She sounds amazing.”
“She is.” He pauses. “You want kids?”
I blink at the question. It’s not one I’ve let myself think about seriously in years. I can barely untangle my own thoughts, let alone imagine raising someone else.
“I used to say no,” I admit. “But now…I don’t know. I think I just want something that’s mine. Something that doesn’t belong to the vineyard or the Dempsey name or whatever expectations everyone’s decided I should live up to.”
Jonas nods thoughtfully. “That makes sense.”
He doesn’t make it weird. Just lets the silence settle, warm and easy between us. And still, my mind drifts back to Ryker, who drives me crazy. He has this impossible way he looks at me, like I’m the only thing he wants in the whole damn world.
I force another bite of risotto and try to focus on the man in front of me. Jonas is safe. Kind. Everything I should want.
I set down my fork and edge forward, trying to meet him halfway. “So…Maddie. What’s her thing? Dinosaurs? Dance? World domination?”
He chuckles. “All of the above. She wants to be a paleontologist one day and a princess the next. Yesterday, she told me she was going to build a glitter volcano and make it erupt over her school.”
I grin. “Sounds like a solid career plan. I’d subscribe to her YouTube channel.”
“She’s got personality, that’s for sure,” Jonas says with a soft smile. “Every time I see her, she’s changed a little. Grown up more. It kills me to miss so much, and she’s only six.”
“That must be really hard.”
“It is. But it’s worth it. Being a dad changes everything. Your priorities shift. You want to be better—for them.”