Chapter 15
K elly packed up her belongings and looked around the hotel room.
This place had felt like home, and she would miss it.
She had felt more in her element working briefly at the resort than she did working in her family business.
While she loved being around her family and helping at the bookstore, her heart wasn’t in it.
Ava had been pushing her to reach for her dreams, and now she understood why.
There was nothing quite like enjoying the work you do.
She had always enjoyed event planning, and this little taste of it was exactly what she needed to decide. She would talk to her family when she got back to Colorado.
A knock on her door pulled her from her thoughts. She walked over and opened the door to find Miles standing on the other side in jeans and a T-shirt.
“Hey,” she said with a smile.
“Hey. I thought I’d give you a lift to the airport,” he said.
“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”
He motioned toward her bag, so she stepped aside. He walked into her room and took the bag before walking out into the hallway. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
They stepped into the elevator and rode it down to the first floor in silence.
It wasn’t so much that she would miss Wintervale.
She would. But it was more that she would miss Miles.
In the last week, she had become closer to him.
And their close proximity while planning the wedding had her liking him even more.
The elevator arrived, and they walked through the lobby past the front desk. Emma sat in a chair behind the desk with Karen. When Emma saw Kelly, she ran out and straight to Kelly, wrapping her small arms around her.
“Bye, Kelly. I’m going to miss you,” Emma said.
Tears sprang to Kelly’s eyes. She squatted down to Emma’s level and pulled her into a hug. She would miss the little girl something fierce. “Bye, sweetie. I’m going to miss you too.”
Kelly stood and then hugged Karen, who came around the counter.
“Thank you for all you did for us,” Karen said. “We truly appreciate it.”
Kelly hugged her a little tighter. “It was my pleasure. Thank you for trusting me. I learned a lot.”
They pulled apart, and Karen kept her hands on Kelly’s arms. “Please come visit again. We’d love to see you.”
“I would like that,” Kelly said, her voice choked.
Kelly gave Emma one last hug and waved before walking out with Miles. He loaded her bag into his trunk before slipping into the driver’s seat. Kelly was trying her hardest to hold it together as she stared at the entrance to the resort.
This won’t be the last time I’m here. I’ll be back.
Driving away felt like her heart was being left behind. She couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but something about that place was magical.
“Emma asked to stay home from school this morning so she could say goodbye,” Miles said.
Kelly swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m glad I got to see her one last time.”
Miles pulled into the airport parking lot and got out. Kelly stepped out as well and frowned at him. “You can drop me at the entrance. I don’t want you to have to pay for parking.”
He smiled. “I wouldn’t dream of dropping you at the entrance and driving away.”
Her heart fluttered. He rolled her suitcase behind him, and her stomach flipped when his fingers threaded through hers. Finally, they were holding hands. Her throat clogged with emotion.
Once she got her bag checked, she stood outside the security line with Miles.
Her hand was still linked with his and when she turned to face him, he took her other hand.
She was trying everything in her power to keep her tears at bay, but they threatened to spill, and she knew he could tell.
His eyes bounced between hers, and she forced a wobbly smile.
“I’m going to miss you,” she whispered.
He pulled her into his arms and wrapped her tightly in a hug. She pressed her face into the crook of his neck and breathed deeply.
“I already miss you,” he said softly before pressing a kiss to the side of her head.
They stood there for several minutes wrapped in each other’s arms until a call for her flight came out on the overhead speakers. They would board soon, and she still needed to go through security.
They pulled apart, and he gently tipped her head up, pressing his lips to hers. His lips were soft, and the kiss was entirely too brief, ending before she had a chance to react. He released her hands and took a step back, pushing them into his pockets.
Kelly smiled at him and stepped toward the short security line. “Bye.”
“See you later,” he said. “It’s never goodbye.”
Before she could convince herself to stay, she went through security and waved at Miles one last time before disappearing down her terminal. Once she was sure he couldn’t see her, she burst into tears.
How could she ever meet another man like him?
The flight home was long, and her heart yearned to go back to Wintervale with every passing minute.
She arrived in Storyville late that night after a long layover in Denver.
Ava pulled up to the curb to pick her up.
She got out of the car and wrapped Kelly in a hug. Kelly immediately burst into tears.
“I know. I know,” Ava said. She held her for a moment until someone honked at them to move.
Once they were driving back through town toward their rental house, Kelly attempted to calm herself down. Kelly’s twin, Cole, shared a house with them, and the last thing she wanted was for him to see her in hysterics.
They parked in the driveway, and Ava helped Kelly with her suitcase. When they got inside, Kelly looked around. The place felt foreign. She half expected to find Emma coming around the corner squealing in delight and giving her a hug, but it was quiet.
A door down the hall opened, and Cole stepped out. “Oh, hey, sis. How was your trip?”
That was all it took for Kelly to burst into tears once more.
“Whoa, what’s going on and who do I need to fuck up?” Cole asked, rushing over to her.
Kelly shook her head. “No one.”
He wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned into him. “So what’s going on?”
“I think I’m in love, and he lives in Montana.”
Cole stilled. He was contemplative—working things over in his head as he usually did. He rarely said anything on a whim. Cole was the level-headed one.
“Back up,” he said. “I need you to start at the beginning.”
He led her over to the couch and sat down. Ava disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a glass of water for Kelly and then sat on her other side.
“So what happened?”
Kelly went into how she met Miles and everything that followed. “And I’ve been keeping this secret about wanting to start my own event planning business, but I’ve been worried I’ll let you all down.”
Cole tilted his head. “Secret? What secret? We already knew that.”
“What do you mean?”
Cole gestured around the room as if their entire family was present. “All of us. We’ve known that for a while. We even had a family meeting while you were in Montana about how we need to kick you out of the family business.”
Kelly’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“You may think you’re secretive, but you are the most transparent person in the world,” Cole said.
“Am not.”
Ava raised an eyebrow. “Yes, you are.”
Cole sighed. “Kel, we know you aren’t happy working at the bookstore. You always want to plan bigger and better events, but it doesn’t work for the store. So go be you. Plan the biggest events you could dream of.”
“What if”—she sighed and rubbed her eyes—“it means leaving Storyville.”
Cole wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest. “Well, you see, there’s this invention called an airplane.”
She laughed and shoved his chest. “Stop it.”
“If you want to go be with some random guy in Montana, do it. We have one life to live.”
“What if it doesn’t work out?”
“Then you can come home if you want. Or stay there. Or move somewhere else. The sky is the limit,” he said.
“It’ll work out,” Ava said. “He wants you as badly as you want him. The way he looks at you… girl, he’s in love. I can guarantee it. The two of you were made for each other.”
The three of them hugged, with Kelly in the middle. Leaving her two closest friends would be the hardest thing she ever had to do, but she knew she needed to shoot her shot and give her and Miles a chance.
“I love you both so much,” Kelly said.
“We love you, too,” Cole said.