EPILOGUE
Six months later
Benny and Bethany stood in the old tool shop hand in hand. Their gazes sweeping the empty space.
He was so proud of her. This was all hers. Her very own practice. She was going to change the lives of everyone in their town.
You’re engaged to a doctor, dude!
He still couldn’t believe it. Not that Bethany had come back.
And certainly not that he’d convinced her to marry him.
All it had taken was him sliding a ring onto her finger while she slept and a rather cheeky argument that technically she’d already agreed to marry him.
The fact that she didn’t put up a fight said it all. He was one lucky son-of-a-bitch.
Bethany squeezed his hand in excitement. “Where do we start?”
We.
He’ll never get sick of hearing that. They were a, we. A team. Partners. Soulmates.
Sappy much?
His inner voice could go to hell. He’d waited what felt like a lifetime for Bethany, he’d earned the right to be a sappy bastard.
“Wherever you want.” They may be a we, but this was all hers, she called the shots. He was just along for the ride. “You tell me what you want and in what order and I’ll find a way to make it happen.”
“How did I get so lucky?” she asked as she leaned into him.
“You are damn lucky. I’m a catch,” he teased, tugging her hand and pulling her further into the room. He dodged her swat and grinned like a fool. “Easy, NeNe, you don’t want to piss off the help, do you?”
“You’re lucky you’re pretty.” She narrowed her eyes on him but didn’t bother to hide her smile.
“No...you’re lucky I’m pretty.” This time he wasn’t quick enough to dodge the whack to his stomach.
“Okay, okay. Enough violence. Let’s check out the other rooms before the guys get here.”
They needed some sort of plan before they started delegating jobs. Benny had a few ideas, but it all depended on what they were starting with.
“Who’s coming?” Bethany’s hand fell away as she moved toward the back room.
“Well, Cody is obviously busy.” Cat gave birth to a healthy baby boy three months ago.
“And Zach and Libby have an appointment up in Goldacre.” Libby was going on seven months pregnant, so Zach was unlikely to be able to help much over the coming months.
“But the rest of the Evans brothers have volunteered to help—so Wade, Matt and Jonah will be here. Then, of course, Luke and Hunter.”
Bethany nodded to herself as her fingers ran over the dilapidated walls.
It reminded him of the walls upstairs. They didn’t look like that anymore, though.
Not after months of blood, sweat and tears.
He was suddenly grateful they’d finished doing up the apartment before they made a start on this project.
It meant it was one less thing to worry about.
“I think we should make it a blank slate. Floors first. Then the walls. Then we can add counters, shelves, cupboards after.”
“And the back room?”
“That, we’ll have to contract out—I want a kitchen, and bathrooms put in, that’s beyond our skill set.”
Fair enough. He would speak to Wade about contractors, not long ago he’d converted a barn on their ranch into a restaurant, so he was most likely to have the contacts they needed.
“It’s gonna look great, baby.” His gaze darted around the space once more. He could already picture it.
“You know the best part?” Bethany asked, swaying those sexy hips his way.
“What’s that?”
“That the fire station is just next door.” Oh, he hadn’t forgotten. “Maybe we can have sneaky rendezvouses?”
They were absolutely going to have sneaky rendezvouses.
“Damn straight.” He pulled her into him, not waiting for their bodies to even meet before his mouth was on her.
Yep. One lucky son-of-a-bitch.
***
Two weeks later
You wouldn’t think that the thick low gray clouds were out in force today.
Or that most of the Woodvalley fields lay under a blanket of ice.
Not while Bethany was in the warm and inviting home of Cat and Cody, complete with a huge fire blazing next to overly stuffed leather couches and large oak tables filled with all the essential January comfort foods.
Speaking of which, she slyly filled her plate with her third helping of chili and fluffy buttermilk biscuits.
Don’t mind if I do.
Today was a small gathering, just the guys from the fire station and their respective partners.
Oh, and Lucy, who Bethany dragged everywhere.
Cat and Cody’s latest addition to their family, baby Lucas, was ready to be shown off.
And while they’d all visited and met Lucas individually, this was his first time being around so many of them all at once.
Bethany’s gaze went to Dylan, Cody and Cat’s eldest at eleven-years-old. He seemed so much more grown up since she first met him last summer. She could tell just by the way he was holding Lucas, with so much care, that he was going to be an amazing big brother.
“I want one,” Benny whispered into her ear as he slid up beside her. Holding his own plate of chili and biscuits.
“You want one, what?” She tilted her head in question.
“A baby. I want one.”
Good thing her mouth wasn’t full, or chili would be all over the colorful shaggy rug they were standing on.
“Um.” She coughed. Am I choking on air? “Y-you want a baby?”
A sexy smirk graced his lips. “Don’t worry, I’m not talking tomorrow. My woman has got important shit she needs to do first. But in a few years, yeah, I want one. I want a mini-Bethany running around pulling my hair and calling me a doofus. Is that something you think you’d want?”
“A mini-me calling you a doofus?” She wasn’t choking anymore. She was smiling. That image alone, as dumb as it was, it did something weird to her insides. “I mean, yeah, I could want that.”
“You could want what?” Lucy asked as she joined their little huddle by the fire.
Not ready to talk babies with her bestie, she changed the subject. “Oh nothing. You try those cornbread muffins, yet? I swear I wanna bathe in that honey butter.”
“Eww.” Lucy grimaced while Benny laughed.
Benny was the one to change the subject next, asking Lucy about Daisy-Mae.
He had a soft spot for the ginger terror.
She let them talk, her eyes roaming the room as she admired her newfound family.
She’d hit the jackpot not just with her fiancé but with his friends, too.
All the women had been warm and welcoming to both her and Lucy.
And all the men were like the brothers she never had.
She was excited to do life with these people.
Her attention went to the diamond on her finger, just a few more months and she’d be Doctor Bethany Tucker. She couldn’t freaking wait.
“What are you doing here?” Cat may not have been in the room, but she was loud enough for everyone in it to hear her.
All eyes turned to the living room door, expectantly. Someone was clearly about to gatecrash their intimate gathering.
Cat reentered the room first, rolling her eyes and giving Cody a look that Bethany didn’t recognize.
Secret couple language she assumed. A moment later, a man followed behind.
And she had no doubt who she was looking at.
With the same midnight black hair as his sister, and striking blue-green eyes, she knew it was Jack.
He was taller than she expected and had some bulk on him.
Enough to stretch the crisp white shirt he had on and fill out the smart black trousers he wore.
But the biggest giveaway was probably that Lucy had stopped breathing.
A fact she felt the need to confirm as she let her gaze drift to her friend beside her.
Oh yeah, this is Jack, alright.
When Lucas arrived three months ago and Jack hadn’t, Bethany heard through the grapevine, aka Rachel, that he’d had to stay in London for work. Cat was rightly sad. Cody pissed. But clearly, he’d managed to swindle some time off if he was here now.
“Afternoon all.” With the good looks gene both Cat and Jack had been blessed with, a sexy deep voice and a goddamn British accent, she realized any woman would be in trouble around this guy.
But as Jack’s eyes and confident smile swept the room and landed on Lucy, she knew without question it wasn’t just any woman in trouble.
It was her best friend. Because that smile didn’t move on.
It stayed. And with every second, it grew wider.
Oh, this is gonna be fun.