The Pact (Cedar Springs #1)

Prologue

Ava

Twelve years ago

“Come on! Come on!” Gianna shouted at me, grabbing a giant plate of chocolate chip cookies and racing out my back door. “Hurry up or we’ll miss it!”

I squeezed out another buttercream rosette onto the top of the cake I’d made just for the occasion. “It’s not even dark yet,” I called back, my focus never wavering from the cake. She probably didn’t even hear me.

Every year Cedar Lake held the most spectacular fireworks show in all of northern Indiana—not that I was biased or anything. Boats laden with fireworks anchored in the middle of the giant lake, rocketing a rainbow of colors straight into the midsummer night sky for over an hour. My parents and I lived on Cedar Lake, so every Fourth of July, my best friends and I set up a picnic on the pier and watched the show.

But this year was different.

This was the last year. Our senior year of high school had just ended. We’d been accepted to colleges across the country, and only Riley and I were attending the same one. For all I knew, this was the last time the five of us would spend an entire summer together.

As much as it pained me to admit it, it might even be the last time we watched the fireworks on the lake together. Gianna and Juliette both wanted to travel the world, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they spent their summers abroad. Riley and Vivian didn’t have the same wanderlust, but they wanted to escape small town life as fast as possible.

I was the only one who planned to stay in Cedar Springs for the long haul. Sure, I’d attend college out of town, but I couldn’t imagine settling down anywhere but here. The lake was home. But so were my girls, and I knew it wouldn’t be the same without them.

Swallowing the lump in my throat at the thought, I squeezed the last cherry red rosette onto my red, white, and blue double-layered strawberry cake. If this was the end, we would at least be celebrating properly.

This time it was Jules who popped her head back into the kitchen. “Ava!” she groaned dramatically. “Get out here already! The boats are setting up and I’m starving . Riley won’t let us eat without you, and Gianna brought pierogi. Pierogi .”

Grabbing the cake with careful hands, I turned and headed toward her. “You must really love me, then.”

“More than pierogi,” she grinned, “and that’s saying a lot.”

Floral print beach towels and a patchwork quilt littered the pier. My friends sat in a cluster, razzing each other and laughing so loud I knew it would be echoing across the lake to the far shore.

“That looks gorgeous, Ava!” Riley squealed, helping me settle the cake in the middle of the girls.

“You’re going be sharing that, right?” Mr. Beatty called from his pontoon, floating at the pier beside ours.

“Of course,” I assured him, cutting a piece and delivering it to him. In the thirty seconds it took to get back to my spot on the pier, half the cake had been distributed already.

“God, Ava, I might come back here if you do open that bakery,” Viv admitted, licking the frosting off her fork before going in for another bite. “This is incredible.”

“Worth the wait,” Jules added with a wry grin. Her lips were already turning blue from the food coloring, though it was too deep a shade to match her teal hair.

“She’s definitely going to,” Riley insisted, serving herself a second piece and stabbing some pierogi with her fork. “And I expect to know the moment you do so I can be there to celebrate the grand opening.”

All my girls murmured their agreement with mouthfuls of strawberry cake.

“Speaking of coming back to town,” I began cautiously, “I have a proposition of sorts.”

Gianna almost choked on her cake. “We haven’t even left yet, and you’re already angling to keep us here?”

My chest pinched in protest, but I pressed on. “I know you all want to leave. I get it. And I would never ask you to stay here just for me. But I had an idea. A failsafe, if you will.”

“Is this some kind of Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants scenario where we all mail around some special item?” Jules asked. “Because I would totally be down.”

“Not exactly,” I hedged. When I’d come up with it, I thought it was brilliant. The perfect way to give everyone space to grow, but there’d still be a chance that we all ended up together again. Now, with four pairs of eyes pinning me to the pier, I wasn’t so sure.

“Out with it,” Viv demanded.

“What if we make a pact,” I ventured, “that if we all are still single when we turn thirty, we’ll move back here and buy the Van Kamp home and open the bed and breakfast?”

No one said anything for a solid minute, though plenty of looks were exchanged.

“You’re serious?” Jules asked.

“I thought we were just having fun when we used to talk about doing that,” Viv hedged.

I took a deep breath, preparing to give them my final plea, but Riley cut in before I could even start.

“I don’t know about you ladies, but if I’ve spent over ten years trying to get my life going and I’m still struggling, becoming a spinster entrepreneur with Ava would be awesome.” She shot me her signature warm smile. “But only if there’s at least one cat.”

“I’m only doing it if we can all learn to knit together,” Jules declared.

“Deal,” I laughed with relief, casting a questioning look to Viv and Gianna.

“If you cook for me, I’m in,” Viv said at last.

We all stared at Gianna expectantly, but she only worried her lip more. “I don’t know, you guys. I’m going to be a lawyer, and—”

“Gianna,” I interrupted gently, “think about it. What are the actual odds that none of us will be married in twelve years?” I hated that I had to phrase it that way, because then it made me realize that this was just another silly attempt to put off the reality of losing my best friends to life, but I knew Gianna needed to hear it. “You’re going to be a kick-ass lawyer.”

A reluctant smile stretched across her pouty lips. We all agreed she had the best lips. It wasn’t even a contest.

“Fine,” she sighed, shaking her head and grabbing more pierogi. “I’m in.”

“We have to swear it,” Riley pointed out, “or it’s not really a pact.”

“I’m not slicing open my hand or anything gross like that,” Viv protested.

“Definitely not,” I agreed, stretching out my hand into the middle of the circle. “Let’s just say it instead.”

Riley’s warm palm landed with a smack on top of mine. Then Juliette’s. Then Vivian’s. And, finally, Gianna’s. We each swore to return to Cedar Lake and open a B&B at the old Van Kamp place if we were all unmarried at thirty.

The first firework exploded over the lake, sending a shower of gold across the night sky as Gianna finished making the pact.

And just like that, I felt like I’d been wrapped in a warm hug. Because even though I realized the unlikelihood of the pact coming up in twelve years, I knew that they weren’t going to go live their amazing lives and forget this town. Forget me.

This was the night that I knew, no matter where life would take us, these would always be my girls.