Chapter 20
If you find someone you love in your life,
then hang on to that love.
—Princess Diana
After seeing off Emma and Simone, Lucy went to the office at the store to spend a few hours working with Cameron.
With the store’s long-awaited website due to go live on January first, they were running final tests, making sure any potential bugs had been addressed and generally being their usual anal-retentive selves when it came to launching a new site.
“This is the best work we’ve ever done,” Lucy said when they took a break after two hours of intense concentration.
If you’d told her in high school that anything would ever hold her attention for that long, she’d have said you were crazy.
But she loved her work and found it easy to get lost in the details, despite battling attention deficit disorder.
Cameron was the same way, and they’d bonded over their ADD as well as their love of technology.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever top this project,” Cameron said. “Everything else will seem boring in comparison.”
“This was a true labor of love for you, and that comes through in every page on this site. You’ll have plenty to keep you busy managing it and adding to it when the catalog comes to fruition. Not to mention the sex toys,” Lucy added with a dirty laugh.
Cameron rolled her eyes. “I can’t wait to build those pages.”
“What’s the timeline for that product line?”
“Linc is aiming for March to roll it out, which means the staff training will happen in February. That ought to be interesting. All those grandmothers who work on the floor are going to get quite an education.”
“Oh to be a fly on the wall.” Lucy checked the time. “I’d better get back to the mountain to deal with the rest of our clients.”
“How are things with the business? I’ve been so absorbed in this site that I haven’t even asked. Worst ex-partner ever.”
“Amazingly, we’re making it work. Diana has been a godsend. She’s fantastic at bringing in the new business and running the office while I’m here, and I’m doing a lot more of the hands-on development than I’ve done in years.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“I love it. That’s the reason we got into this business, and having the time to be creative and to just breathe is such a relief.”
“I know what you mean. Sometimes I wonder how much longer I would’ve been able to keep up that pace in the city if I hadn’t met Will and ended up here.”
“And look at you now—married and thoroughly knocked up.”
Cameron’s smile stretched across her pretty face. “I was dying to tell you, but we’d agreed to wait a bit. I’m superstitious that way.”
“Can’t say I blame you, but passing out in front of the whole family messed with your plans.”
“That was so embarrassing.”
“The only thing that matters is that you’re all right.”
“I’m fine, but I’m staying away from sweaters and fireplaces for the next few months. The heat was what took me down.”
Lucy stood and put on her coat. “Congratulations on the site launch, the marriage, the baby, all of it. Seeing you happy makes me happy.”
“Never could’ve done it without your support of me moving. You made it easy for me.”
“What’re we going to do about Emma, who’s gone stupid over Grayson this week?”
“I don’t know. I was saying to Will last night that theirs is a much more complicated situation with Simone in the mix. Emma can’t just up and move here, and he just left one city to move home for a simpler life. I don’t envy them that dilemma.”
“I suppose if it’s meant to be, they’ll figure it out the same way we did.”
“I guess. Wouldn’t it be something to have her and Simone here?”
“It would be fantastic, but can you picture what Troy would have to say about it?” Cameron asked of their close friend in New York.
Lucy grimaced. “Yeah, and it won’t be pretty.”
“I feel bad for him. I know how I’d feel if all you guys had moved and left me alone in the city.”
“Very true. I’ll check in tomorrow to see if you need anything for the launch.”
“Thanks again for all the help.”
“Always a pleasure to have the chance to work with you.”
“Same here.”
Lucy left the office and got into the four-wheel-drive SUV she’d bought to get around in Vermont and headed back up to the mountain where she lived with Colton.
As she drove through town to the one-lane covered bridge and then past Hell’s Peak Road, where the Abbotts lived in their big red barn, she thought about everything that’d happened in the months since she met Colton.
She’d come to Vermont with Cameron to present the first cut of the website and had taken one look at the burly mountain man, and her entire life had changed for the better.
She, who’d never needed a man to make her feel whole, now needed him as much as she needed air and water and food to survive.
He was everything to her, and the life they’d put together between Vermont and New York worked far better than she’d ever expected it to.
For the next few months, Vermont would be home during the upcoming sugaring season that she couldn’t wait to experience firsthand after hearing so much about it.
This year, the season promised to be more intense than ever before due to the additional acreage the family had procured on the mountain, adding more than ten thousand new sap-producing trees to the twenty-five thousand they already had.
In April, they’d head to the city, where she’d meet with clients and he’d work on his side business of selling syrup to a wide array of gourmet shops in the city.
When she first met Colton and was faced with the enormous challenge of how to meld her city life with his mountain life, she never would’ve imagined the arrangement they’d ended up with.
It was perfect for them, and things that had once seemed preposterous, such as the lack of indoor plumbing at his home on the mountain, now were routine.
The cabin on the mountain was home to her as much as it was to him.
He’d brought color and adventure and laughter—so much laughter—to her staid and boring existence.
A day without Colton would be like a day without chocolate, and that rarely happened.
Emma was right. It was time for her to put her cards on the table with him and tell him what she wanted.
She had nothing to fear from telling him the truth.
One thing in her life she was absolutely sure of was his love for her.
He demonstrated that love in a thousand big and small ways every day, from the way he looked at her, to the way he cared for her, to the passionate way he made love to her every chance he got.
She needed to have faith in him—and in what they’d built together—by being honest with him.
She drove up the winding road that led to home, noticing it had been sanded since she left and realizing Colton had probably done that with her in mind.
In the driveway, she parked next to Max’s Subaru.
He’d started back to work today, part time for now, until he got Caden on a more reliable schedule.
As Lucy approached the front porch of the cabin, Max emerged from the retail building.
“Hey,” she called to him. “Have you seen Colton?”
“He’s up on the hill. I’m heading up myself. Want me to deliver a message?”
“Just tell him I’m back. I’ll see him later.”
“Will do.”
Lucy went into the retail building where they’d set up an office space for her and went straight to the woodstove to add more logs. Sarah and Elmer were asleep on their dog beds. She gave each of them a scratch behind the ears before she sat down to get some work done.
An hour later, she heard Colton’s distinctive footsteps on the wooden stairs. In addition to Max, Colton had several other helpers who worked with him on the mountain, but after nearly a year with him, she could distinguish his footsteps from everyone else’s.
And no one came crashing into a room the way Colton Abbott did.
Sarah and Elmer were jolted from a sound sleep and got up to greet him. Amused, Lucy spun around in her chair. “Hi, honey, you’re home.”
“Hey, babe. How’d the send-off go? You told them I had to work, right?”
“It went fine, and I did. They said they’ll see you soon.”
He unzipped the heavy coveralls he wore to work outside in the winter and removed the first of two insulated hats. “You okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I know it’s hard for you to see them go home.”
“I’ll see them when I go down for Simone’s birthday.”
“That’s true. So what’s going to happen with Emma and Grayson now?”
“I don’t know, but she was pretty sad to be leaving him. They really hit it off.”
Now down to jeans and a flannel shirt with another layer of thermal beneath it, Colton came over to press his cold lips against her neck. “We know how that can happen, don’t we?”
Lucy jolted from the chill. “We certainly do.” There, she thought. He’s given you an opening. Take it. “Colton…”
“Hmm?” He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and leaned into her, surrounding her with the now-familiar scents of fresh air and wood smoke.
“Can we talk?”
“Any time you want.”
“About something we never talk about but probably should?”
He looked down at her, hands resting on the arms of her chair. “What’s on your mind, Luce?”
She looked up at the face she loved so much and swallowed hard. “Our wedding.”
“What about it?”
“I’m just wondering if we’re going to have one.”
“Of course we are. We’re engaged, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we’re engaged, but when are we getting married?”
“Whenever you want to. I’m ready when you are.”
She stared at him, wondering if men truly were from Mars. “We have to plan a wedding.”
“Or we can just get married. I don’t need the big production if you don’t.”
“It doesn’t have to be a big production, but I’m thinking something slightly better than town hall.”
“Whatever you want, whenever you want. Let me know, and I’ll be there.”
“That’s not how this works, Colton. We have to plan our wedding together.”
“We do? Really?”
She tugged on a lock of his hair. “Really.”