“Did you hear about what’s been happening with the movie?” Noelle asked, touching his arm eagerly. “The film crew is here in town already, and Alexis said they’ve already been to The Lighthouse Grill, with Delilah Bates!”
“Wow.” Dean grinned. “That’s really cool.” He’d seen a few of Delilah Bates’ movies, since he’d grown up in a house full of sisters, and while he wasn’t a fan like the rest of his family was, he admired the actress a great deal. “It’s weird to think about people from Hollywood being here in Rosewood Beach.”
“I know!” Noelle gestured emphatically toward the streets around them, almost as if her hands were saying, “Ta da!” “I can’t wait to see some of them. My last client said that she sawthem all walk past her cottage on their way down to the beach. She was fangirling so hard, she said.” She laughed.
“If you see them, take some pictures for me, would you?” he asked her.
“Of course! Take some for me if you see them?”
“Of course.”
They paused at a stoplight and shared another kiss.
“I think we should go out and about this weekend and see if we can spot them,” Noelle said, looking gleeful. “It’ll be like taking a day trip to a town to walk around and explore and have fun, except it’ll be our town. Kind of like our first date.”
She smiled sweetly at him, and he couldn’t help grinning. Back when they’d first met, he’d taken her on a tour of Rosewood Beach since she’d been new to the area, and it had reminded him of what a great place his town was while showing him what a kind, good-natured person Noelle was.
“That sounds like a lot of fun,” he told her. “Let’s plan on it.”
Secretly, he was a little worried that he would feel achy and fatigued again that weekend, and he hated the thought of disappointing Noelle—and of missing out on their adventure.
I’ll just have to make sure I get plenty of rest before this weekend,he told himself.I know how to deal with my symptoms, I just forget to stop working sometimes.
“And just think,” Noelle said, lacing her slender fingers through his. “Someday we’ll be able to look at this movie and see our town in it. Thousands of people are going to get to see Rosewood Beach, even though they won’t know it’s Rosewood Beach. Our cute little town is
going to be famous.”
Dean chuckled and squeezed her hand. He thought to himself that he was the luckiest man in the world, and he couldn’t wait to make Noelle his wife.
Julia stepped inside the baby nursery, holding her breath a little. She’d been in the room countless times by now, but it still filled her with a sense of tenderness, and almost of awe. She loved looking at the crib that was waiting for their baby, and at the colorful yellow walls.
She and Cooper had decided to wait to find out the gender of their baby until the birth, and so they’d gone with a zoo animal theme for their nursery, painting the walls a darling sunshine yellow. There were bright green accents all over the room—a crocheted blanket hanging on the back of the rocking chair, picture frames hanging on the wall, and lampshade were all a shade of green reminiscent of green growing gardens. They’d stenciled outlines of various baby zoo animals along the ceiling in rainbow colors. The room felt cozy and inviting, and Julia couldn’t wait to sit down in it with her newborn boy or girl and rock them to sleep. She sat down in the rocking chair and looked slowly around the room, soaking in everything surrounding her.
Sometimes she felt torn about their decision to wait to find out the gender. She loved planning things, and not knowing what kind of outfits to buy made her squirm with impatience sometimes, but she and Cooper had both felt for a while that they wanted the moment of the birth to hold that special surprise for them. Not knowing the gender might have kept them from planning, but she enjoyed the anticipation that was building up as they waited to meet their little one.
She heard soft footsteps behind her, and a moment later, Cooper stepped inside the nursery.
“Hi,” he said, whispering as if the baby was already there asleep. Macey was downstairs watching one of her favoriteDisney movies, so his whisper wasn’t for her. Julia smiled, liking that he seemed to feel the same kind of expectant reverence in the nursery that she did.
“Hi, sweetheart,” she said, turning her face upward for a kiss.
After he’d given her a tender peck on the lips, Cooper’s eyes traveled across the room. “That mobile is cute,” he said, grinning when he saw the mobile hanging over the crib, made up of baby zoo animal plushies and colorful ribbons.
“Isn’t it darling?” Julia looked at it approvingly. “I found it online, and I thought it was just perfect.”
“It really is,” he said. “You’re a smart lady, Mrs. Harris.”
Julia’s heart still gave a shiver of happiness whenever anyone called her “Mrs. Harris,” especially Cooper. She loved her new name and everything that went with it.
She never would have believed, when she’d first returned to Rosewood Beach for her father’s funeral, that the handsome man who caught her in the rain when she tripped would one day be her husband. She’d been short with him at the time, since the paint on his work shirt had gotten onto her favorite raincoat and her emotions were raw because of the death of her father, but their paths had soon crossed again and she’d realized quickly what a kind, giving man he was. She’d decided to leave New York behind because she missed her family and wanted to help bring The Lighthouse Grill out of its financial struggles, but she’d also stayed because of her growing attraction to Cooper. Back then, she’d been worried that she didn’t know how to handle taking care of a toddler, but Cooper’s daughter Macey had immediately captured her heart with her chubby smile and her innocent joy.
Now they were going to have a second child, and Macey was just as excited about the baby as they were. Julia had felt overwhelmed and unsure of how she was going to handle it all when she’d first gotten pregnant, but her family had reminded her that they had her back and she just needed to take everythingone step at a time. Now, she was feeling ready for the baby both emotionally and task-wise, and she was becoming more excited by the day.
“I can’t believe we’re going to have another child together,” he said, stroking her cheek tenderly.
They shared a look of love and joy. Although they were already parents and they both loved Macey with all their hearts, there was something special about the fact that they’d made their next child together. Julia was excited to watch her baby grow up and take note of how many of Cooper’s features got passed down, and how many of hers did.
“I love you, Cooper,” she said, taking his hand and squeezing it gently.
