“Right.Now, without any further objections from donkeysorhumans, how ‘bout we get these lovely people hitched,” Peter calls out and once the cheers have died down, that’s exactly what he sets out to do.
Sutton is still giving me space and as much as I appreciate the sentiment, I can physically feel the distance between us. I don’t like it. It has me feeling all squirrely and unsettled. I can’t sit still. I swear my body temperature is fluctuating between hot flushes and cold chills that make my hair stand on end. All I can think about is that all of the Coopers on the ranch right now believe they were brought together with their significant others by the mountain spirit. Everywhere I look, everyone that I see, is absolutely infatuated with their partners.
And when I look at Sutton smiling as he talks with his parents and brothers, I feel the same way.
I’ve claimed a hay bale at the far edge of the newly formed clearing that has been transformed into a dancefloor, clinging to my wine glass as I try to process all of the overwhelming thoughts and feelings filling my head.
“Hey,” I hear from beside me. “I’m guessing you’re Blair?”
I look up and stare at the same face on the back of the books I now can’t stop reading. “You’re Aster.” I’d known she was here, but I never thought she’d want to talk to me.
A wry smile appears. “In the flesh. I take it you finally got around to reading the book Isla gave you?” she says as she takes a seat next to me.Alex and Cate are going to flip when I tell them.
“How do you…?” I shake my head. “Of course you know.” She winks at me. “But yeah, I did. Kind of wish I’d known the significance of her giving it to me at the time.”
Aster laughs. “Where’s the fun inthat? The journey of the Call isn’tmeantto be straightforward, and that includes finding out what it’s all about. Besides, imagine if someone had told you the day you arrived that you were Sutton’s soulmate? Can you honestly say you would’ve stayed?” I’m already shaking my head before she’s finished speaking, making her snort. “Yeah, my point exactly.”
“It’s been pretty hard to wrap my head around,” I confess. “I knew there was something different–intense–about what Sutton and I share. I never thought I would be something likethis.”
She cocks her head and arches a brow. “And yet you’re still here…”
“Yeah,” I reply. “Because IknowSutton and I weremeantto reconnect.”
“You’re right, you were. What’s left to decide is whether you can put your belief in fate and that you’re right where you belong.” I turn to look at her and find her eyes fixed on where her husband Gray is dancing up a storm with Isla’s mom, Jessica.
My eyes move to where Sutton is slowly swaying side to side with his mom, Mary-Lou. The two of them are laughing at Cap who has Isla on one arm and Birdie on the other, the three of them trying to do the Can-can and failing to get their legs to lift in sync.
“How didyoureact when Gray told you?” I ask.
“He didn’t have to. I was already too far gone to question anything other than I loved him and he loved me back.” She clicks her tongue before she chuckles. “Ididask him if he was sure about it though, because he hadn’t even lived through a period with me at that stage.”
“Nooo,” I say, snort-laughing. “What was his answer tothat?”
She drops her voice to a low rumbly tone just like her husband. “There are a lot of things we’ll learn about each other but that's the beauty of forever, we’ve got time.”
“OK, that’s pretty smooth. Are you sure he hadn’t read your books before then?”
“That’s the thing, Blair, I hadn’t writtenanyromances before Gray. That wasallhim.”
I bug out at her. “That’s… surreal.”
“My life has been nothing but that since I decided to book a trip to the middle of nowhere to find my passion for writing again.” I stare at her as her words sink in. But somehow, Aster seems to already know what I’m thinking. “Kind of crazy how similar our stories are, right?”
Then it hits me with a gasp. “You’re a Seer, aren’t you? You don’t just write about them, youareone.”
She bounces a shoulder, but the knowing tip of her lips gives me her answer. “Theydosay to write about what you know…”
Suddenly my mind is racing with all of the questions I could ask her. Just as I open my mouth to say something, I clamp it shut again when it hits me that I don’t need to hear anything Aster could tell me. It won’t change my mind or what I know in my soul. All of the decisions were made the moment I laid eyes on Sutton.
Aster watches me closely. “Judging by the look on your face, I’m guessing you don’t need my advice anymore. If this keeps up, I’m going to be a Seer without a job,” she jokes.
I shake my head. “It’s not that. Maybe just you being here has made me see what’s been staring me in the face all along.”
“Mind me asking what that might be?”
“Actually, Idohave one question,” I say, one untied string still floating in my mind.
“OK. Hit me with your best shot and I’ll try to answer if I can.”
