He held the ring aloft.
Abby’s breath hitched.This was it. The moment she’d longed for, day and night. Only, it surpassed even her most elaborate daydreams.
“Before you, I had nothing. Now, I have everything. And as long as you don’t have any objections, I’d like to spend the rest of my life showing you just how grateful I am.” He cracked a slow, sexy smile, and Abby barely refrained from collapsing straight into his arms. “Does that sound okay to you?” he prompted, still flashing the most adorable, endearing grin.
“I think I could learn to live with that.” She grinned back, so overcome with joy, she practically floated in midair.
Logan slid the ring onto her finger, then scooped her into his arms.
Amid celebratory cheers, he captured her lips in a kiss that brought the past, present, and future into one crystal-clear moment where time didn’t exist.
She’d just promised him forever. But even forever didn’t feel like long enough.
When their lips finally parted, their loved ones gathered around them to offer their congratulations. Max raced to give them both a hug, and as they huddled in a family embrace, her thoughts flickered to the sliver of orange sea glass encased in a glass jar on her nightstand.
Moved by love and gratitude, her heart whispered a silent prayer.
A prayer she’d repeat all the days of her life.
Thank you for the deep waters that brought me to this blessing.
And all the blessings yet to come.
Epilogue
CECE
CeCe Dupree sipped her lemonade,smiling at the evening’s events. Abby and Logan engaged. Sage and Flynn embarking on a grand new adventure. Even Sage’s mom found someone.
“Love is in the air tonight, isn’t it?” Janet Hill sidled up to CeCe at the stern and sniffed, as if she could actually smell something other than the ocean.
“For some people.” CeCe hoped she sounded nonchalant, not bitter. She didn’t begrudge anyone else’s happiness just because her own romantic life smelled more like moldy sourdough than whatever sweet scent Janet detected.
“It could be your lucky night, too, you know.” Janet’s heavily lined eyes sparkled. Behind her, the warm glow of Main Street illuminated the bluff, twinkling in tandem with the pale stars studding the lavender-gray sky.
“What do you mean?” Wary, CeCe took another sip of lemonade. Of all the meddling albeit well-meaning Belles, Janet Hill was the wild card. You never knew what she had up her sleeve.
“I want to set you up with my nephew Owen.”
CeCe suppressed an internal groan.Not another setup.
“He’s a catch,” Janet insisted. “And you two have a lot in common.”
“Oh? Like what?” CeCe asked, humoring her.
“He works in a bakery.”
“Really?”Huh.That was new. No one had set her up with another baker before. Maybe he had potential?
“Technically, he’s an accountant for a bakery chain,” Janet corrected, quickly adding, “But he’s a pastry connoisseur. And he looks like a young Robert Taylor.”
“Who?”
Janet rolled her eyes, clearly exasperated with her ignorance. “Never mind. Owen is a hunk. And he knows the difference between a baguette and a brioche. What more could a girl want?”
An image of her childhood crush, Jayce Hunt, flickered in CeCe’s mind. His dark, unruly hair that he could never fully tame, no matter how many expensive gels he tried. The tiny dent near the corner of his mouth. Not quite a dimple, but close—and distractingly adorable. Since kindergarten, no other boy could compare. But he’d never view her as anything more than his nerdy, flour-covered best friend.
As if he’d read her mind from hundreds of miles away, her phone warbled his personalized ringtone. Her heart skipped, then stumbled, like it always did whenever he called. “Excuse me, Janet. I should take this.”
